The Black Eagle aerobatic team of the South Korean air force, flying a T-50 training aircraft, reportedly arrived at Kaohsiung International Airport in the city’s Xiaogang District on August 18 at around 11 a.m.
Black Eagle landed in Taiwan
The group flew to Taiwan for a four-hour layover after giving a performance in the Philippines. The team’s ground personnel and equipment were flown first by a C-130 transport aircraft. Six T-50B Black Eagle jets followed that with a series of descents.
Before departing again for Seoul, the plane refuelled at Kaohsiung International Airport. According to military analysts cited by UDN, the South Korean crew decided to refuel in Kaohsiung because the flight from Manila to Seoul was outside the T-50 aircraft’s range.
However, Taiwan’s military chose not to provide any additional information, stating that the rule applies to all stopover flights made by foreign military aircraft into the country.
The team’s KAI T-50B Golden Eagles, an aerobatic plane developed by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Lockheed Martin, attracted a large number of military personnel and aviation enthusiasts to the best viewing areas near the airport early that morning.
As part of their 365-day world tour, the group has been performing over the skies of the UK, Poland, and Egypt. The most recent refuelling stop for the “Black Eagles” Aerobatic Team before heading to the Singapore Airshow was in Taiwan in 2018.
The team recently took a flight to India for refuelling and maintenance
The German Air Force intends to fly close to Taiwan once their multi-country duty in the Indo-Pacific region is complete in September.
The largest overseas deployment of German military aircraft since World War II occurred on August 16 when the German air force deployed fighter jets to Asia for the first time in order to participate in exercises in Australia.
This occurs after Speaker of the US House Nancy Pelosi’s visit on August 2-3, when the Taiwan Strait was tense due to incursions by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) across the median line.
According to Ingo Gerhartz, head of the German air force, the aircraft wouldn’t cross the Taiwan Strait and would “barely touch” the South China Sea because they would remain on international borders.
“These are obviously the sticking points in the region. They are the planes’ flight path and Taiwan’s proximity to the South China Sea.”
Gerhartz, head of the German air force
After that, he refuted the claim that his involvement in the military training exercises in Australia “sent any hostile message towards China.”
Black Eagle Team of South Korea
The aerobatic team known as the 53rd Air Demonstration Group, or the Black Eagles, was founded in 1967, disbanded in 1978, reformed in 1994, and disbanded once more in 2007.
In 2009, the squadron was reactivated. The squadron received the current fleet of T-50B Golden Eagle aircraft, which have fuselages painted in white, yellow, and black.
The ROKAF aerobatic squad, which is based in Gangwon Province, has participated in numerous events and airshows around the world. Black Eagles pilots fly T-50B aircraft at air shows.
Together with Lockheed Martin Corporation, an American company with expertise in aerospace, arms, defence, information, security, and technology, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Korea Aerospace Industries developed the T-50 Golden Eagle family of South Korean supersonic advanced jet trainers and light combat aircraft.
Recently, Black Eagles took part in an air show in the Philippines. For the first time in more than 30 years, an international aerobatic team performed in the Philippines on August 15 at the Basa Air Base in Floridablanca, Pampanga, with the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) Black Eagles.
“The last time we had an international (aerobatic) team in the country was 33 years ago when the Red Arrows (UK) were welcomed at the Villamor Air Base.”
“We’re thrilled the Black Eagles are coming in”
Due to the unfavourable weather, the aerobatic team was unable to perform a number of manoeuvres, including loops, turns, and barrel rolls.
Only eight of the 24 formations and manoeuvres that were originally planned, according to Black Eagles Squadron Commander Kyu-Yong Shim, were actually executed.
Four PAF FA-50PH Fighting Eagles joined the Black Eagles in a “friendship fly” before the roughly hour-long air show came to an end.
The planes were delivered between November 2015 and May 2017 and are among the twelve FA-50s that the Philippines purchased from South Korea during the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III.
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