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February 2001For 2001 we are delighted to announce the creation of a new 2-ship aerobatic team – the only professional civilian team in the UK. Sponsored by Microlease Plc, the team will fly a pair of new Extra 300L’s. This web page has not been created yet, for the good and adequate reason that our new aeroplanes are to be delivered by Extra Flugzeugbau in March 2001. What you don’t have yet, you cannot take pictures of! The team is new but the pilots are not – Brian Lecomber will be flying lead, with John Taylor as # 2. Brian and John both have display careers going back 20 years, and between them have flown more than 1,300 formation aerobatic displays and have won just about every UK award for contest and display aerobatics. Brian has been British Freestyle Aerobatic Champion.
July 2001Britain’s new formation team, the Denham based Microlease Aerobatic Team, flew their debut displays at the Biggin Hill Air Fair on June 2 and 3 – and were promptly awarded the “Shell Battle of Britain Memorial Trophy” for Best Display Team at the show. Although tragically marred by two accidents this year, Biggin Hill has for decades been one of Britain’s largest and most important air shows. The Microlease Team’s accolade is something of a one-two, since lead pilot Brian Lecomber won the Best Solo Display award at Biggin Hill last year. Flying a brand new pair of Extra 300L aircraft, the Team’s dynamic performance includes many unique figures – manoeuvres like the Mirror loop, synchronised tailslides, formation vertical roles and weird-looking knife-edge flick rolls. Sponsored by Britain’s leading electronic rental company Microlease, the team is an upgrade from the Pitts and latterly Extra solo Microlease aircraft which have been popular air show performers for more than a decade. Based at Denham Aerodrome, the Microlease Aerobatic Team is the only professional civilian pure aerobatic team in the UK. The team is new, but the experience behind it is vast. The pilots are Wendover-based Brian Lecomber and John Taylor, who between them have flown more than 3,000 aerobatic displays in front of some 80 million spectators, spanning 15 countries. Brian began his professional display career 23 years ago with the Rothmans Aerobatic Team. A former British Freestyle Aerobatic Champion, he was recently awarded the Guild of Air Pilots’ Sword of Honour, and has also won awards for best display at the Royal International Air Tattoo and at Biggin Hill. John Taylor started display flying in 1977, and following a period with the Marlboro Aerobatic Team founded the unique Skyhawks, dancing a trio of motor-gliders to music. The Team Extras are specialist world-class aerobatic aircraft. The wings and tails are carbon-fibre, making for a lightweight airframe stressed to operate to plus and minus 10G. Powered by 300 hp Lycoming engines – power plants more normally used in four or six-seater aircraft two or three times the weight of the Extras – the 300L’s have a climb-rate of 3,000 ft/min (at a 45 degree angle) and a roll rate of a staggering 400 deg/sec. Lecomber says: “The new Microlease Team is wonderful news for us. Our philosophy is that display choreography is everything; we aim to be thoroughly innovative and at the same time very tight and fast-paced. The power and agility of the Extras give us the opportunity to do just that” This page will be updated as time goes on.
To find out more, or to book a display, contact Firebird at:
Firebird Aerobatics Ltd Tel: 44 (0)1844 273002 e-mail:[email protected]
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