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The Patrouille Cartouche Doré is a French aerobatic team created in April 1989 on the BA 709 of Cognac to celebrate the 100 000th flight hour of the Socata TB-30 within the French Air Force. Strong of 6 aircratfs whose only 3 are used in display, this little aerobatic team is often nicknamed the "little sister of the Patrouille de France" as it's also an aerobatic team which represents the French Air Force and is present on all kind of aviation related events, on the contrary of the Patrouille de France, thanks to their aircrafts which can land on any kind of airfield.
The name of Patrouille Cartouche Doré comes from the radio indicatif of the TB-30s of the EPAA (École de Pilotage de l'Armée de l'Air - Flying School of the French Air Force), "Cartouche" (litteraly "cartridge" in english), and Doré because of the colour of the first paint scheme of the aircrafts used to celebrate the 100 000th flight hour which were painted in a black and golden livery, gloden which is the english for "Doré" though, those who know a bit of french would notice that "Doré" is masculine while "Cartouche" is feminine, it's because in french, aircraft is masculin and that "Cartouche" doesn't designate the object but designate the aircraft by its indicatif.
During the 27 years of activity of this little aerobatic team, three paint schemes were worn by their TB-30s, the black and golden livery which only was used for the celebration of the 100 000th flight hour of the TB-30 before to adopt a white, blue and yellow livery that they get for the 50th Normandy landing commemorations in 1994 and then they changed in 2011 with the livery that you can see on this photo.
During its whole life time, the Patrouille Cartouche Doré have lost two of its pilots, the Lieutenant Christophe Farnier, killed in the crash of his aircraft in 2004, the other pilots of the team will dedicate the 2004 season to him, and the Lieutenant Xavier Chavarot, killed on 14th March 2007, both were killed during training flights on their home base, the BA-709 of Coganc-Châteaubernard.
The pilots of the Patrouille Cartouche Doré are also quite unique as they don't wear any anti-G suits while they often find themself in several aerobatics which expose them to around 7Gs during the 17 miutes of their display, it's estimated that during each one of their display, the pilots lose around 1.5L of water because of the hot air of the cockpit and of the physical effort requested.
As for their aircratf, the Socata TB-30 Epsilon, it's a light training aeroplane designed in the 80s by the French society Socata, descendent of the former aviation pioneer Morane-Saulnier. The aircraft is powered by a 6 cylinders engine Lycoming AEIO-540 L1B5D of 300hp and has an automatical variable pitch system. It has a weight of 932kg when empty for a wingspan of 7.92m and a lenght of 7.59m, its maximum speed is of 520 km/h and a maximum ceiling of 7 000m for a range of 1 295 km with 150L of fuel.
The Epsilon only entered in service in the French Air Force in June 1984 when it did its first flight in December 1979 but it had, then some little problems which needed to be corrected. The Espilon serves since 1984 to the formation of the French Air Force pilots, before they know which kind of aircraft they will be flying, to learn how to fly and to, later, train the future fighter pilots in the aerobatics and in the tight formation flights. Since 2007, some GROB 120 bought by the French Air Force (and we still wonder why) are "helping" the Epsilon of the EPAA on the BA-709 for the formation of the new pilots. In all its operational activity, only four Epilons were victims of technical problems while flying but always have been crash landed without killing anyone, the responsible of those accidents is a problem in the CHRISTEN system, an engine lubrification system, which result of the lack of a piece during the construction. The Epsilon suffers of a little problem, it's the cockpit which is quite often hot because of the lack of a proper airing system as the only one in the whole aircraft while in flight is a NACA air intake on the right side of the fuselage but which blows the hot air of the engine in the cockpit when the air speed is high enough, plus, the large canopy acts as a hothouse and get the average cockpit temperature in summer at 45°C, or around 115°F.
And it was also with a a great sadness that I officialy learnt this morning that the Patrouille Cartouche Doré was put on abeyance on 23rd October 2016 after the Saint-Maxime airshow and 27 years of activity, the Defence Ministry didn't gave any reason to this decision and talked about a reactiviation without giving any date nor if they will still flying on TB-30 Espilon or of if they will be affected to the GROB 120 or to the Sirrus 22 nor if they really will be reactivated one day. This announce ends the rumour like what the Cartouche Doré would have won a deferment year.
The Patrouille Cartouche Doré was led by the Capitaine Wilfrid Blanquer who has as n°2 and right wingman the Capitaine Gatien Regent, as n°3 and left wingman the Lieutenant Julien Mochino and a as both right and left wingman, the Capitaine Nicolas Chapelle.
Here are the official presentation video of the Patrouille Cartouche Doré made in 2013 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTiEH8PEBE4
And here's my own version, made with fragment of videos taken at the La Ferté Alais airshow, the Couhé Vérac airshow 2014 and at the Légend'air en Limousin 2016 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1viQqZHY9_4
The name of Patrouille Cartouche Doré comes from the radio indicatif of the TB-30s of the EPAA (École de Pilotage de l'Armée de l'Air - Flying School of the French Air Force), "Cartouche" (litteraly "cartridge" in english), and Doré because of the colour of the first paint scheme of the aircrafts used to celebrate the 100 000th flight hour which were painted in a black and golden livery, gloden which is the english for "Doré" though, those who know a bit of french would notice that "Doré" is masculine while "Cartouche" is feminine, it's because in french, aircraft is masculin and that "Cartouche" doesn't designate the object but designate the aircraft by its indicatif.
During the 27 years of activity of this little aerobatic team, three paint schemes were worn by their TB-30s, the black and golden livery which only was used for the celebration of the 100 000th flight hour of the TB-30 before to adopt a white, blue and yellow livery that they get for the 50th Normandy landing commemorations in 1994 and then they changed in 2011 with the livery that you can see on this photo.
During its whole life time, the Patrouille Cartouche Doré have lost two of its pilots, the Lieutenant Christophe Farnier, killed in the crash of his aircraft in 2004, the other pilots of the team will dedicate the 2004 season to him, and the Lieutenant Xavier Chavarot, killed on 14th March 2007, both were killed during training flights on their home base, the BA-709 of Coganc-Châteaubernard.
The pilots of the Patrouille Cartouche Doré are also quite unique as they don't wear any anti-G suits while they often find themself in several aerobatics which expose them to around 7Gs during the 17 miutes of their display, it's estimated that during each one of their display, the pilots lose around 1.5L of water because of the hot air of the cockpit and of the physical effort requested.
As for their aircratf, the Socata TB-30 Epsilon, it's a light training aeroplane designed in the 80s by the French society Socata, descendent of the former aviation pioneer Morane-Saulnier. The aircraft is powered by a 6 cylinders engine Lycoming AEIO-540 L1B5D of 300hp and has an automatical variable pitch system. It has a weight of 932kg when empty for a wingspan of 7.92m and a lenght of 7.59m, its maximum speed is of 520 km/h and a maximum ceiling of 7 000m for a range of 1 295 km with 150L of fuel.
The Epsilon only entered in service in the French Air Force in June 1984 when it did its first flight in December 1979 but it had, then some little problems which needed to be corrected. The Espilon serves since 1984 to the formation of the French Air Force pilots, before they know which kind of aircraft they will be flying, to learn how to fly and to, later, train the future fighter pilots in the aerobatics and in the tight formation flights. Since 2007, some GROB 120 bought by the French Air Force (and we still wonder why) are "helping" the Epsilon of the EPAA on the BA-709 for the formation of the new pilots. In all its operational activity, only four Epilons were victims of technical problems while flying but always have been crash landed without killing anyone, the responsible of those accidents is a problem in the CHRISTEN system, an engine lubrification system, which result of the lack of a piece during the construction. The Epsilon suffers of a little problem, it's the cockpit which is quite often hot because of the lack of a proper airing system as the only one in the whole aircraft while in flight is a NACA air intake on the right side of the fuselage but which blows the hot air of the engine in the cockpit when the air speed is high enough, plus, the large canopy acts as a hothouse and get the average cockpit temperature in summer at 45°C, or around 115°F.
And it was also with a a great sadness that I officialy learnt this morning that the Patrouille Cartouche Doré was put on abeyance on 23rd October 2016 after the Saint-Maxime airshow and 27 years of activity, the Defence Ministry didn't gave any reason to this decision and talked about a reactiviation without giving any date nor if they will still flying on TB-30 Espilon or of if they will be affected to the GROB 120 or to the Sirrus 22 nor if they really will be reactivated one day. This announce ends the rumour like what the Cartouche Doré would have won a deferment year.
The Patrouille Cartouche Doré was led by the Capitaine Wilfrid Blanquer who has as n°2 and right wingman the Capitaine Gatien Regent, as n°3 and left wingman the Lieutenant Julien Mochino and a as both right and left wingman, the Capitaine Nicolas Chapelle.
Here are the official presentation video of the Patrouille Cartouche Doré made in 2013 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTiEH8PEBE4
And here's my own version, made with fragment of videos taken at the La Ferté Alais airshow, the Couhé Vérac airshow 2014 and at the Légend'air en Limousin 2016 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1viQqZHY9_4
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