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Founded in 1911, The Turkish Air Force holds a long history of aerobatic teams. Already in 1954 the team MILLI performed aerobatics on the F-84 Thunderjet. Since then, the Turkish Air Force has known six demonstration teams flying.

This team is the seventh formation. Under the command of Cmdr. Halis Burhan preparation started in 1992. Home for the new team is the Third Main Jet base, KONYA.
The first performance for authorities and guests took place at June 19th, 1993 at Akinci/Ankara airbase. After the show the team takes the Squadron status and the TURK YILDIZLARI are born, outside Turkey better known as THE TURKISH STARS. Their first public display was performed on October 5th, 1994. The team flies the NF-5A and NF-5B in a very striking red and white colourscheme, the colours of Turkey.
Gradually the Turkish Stars grew from 4 to 8 jets, so they are not only one of the youngest supersonic teams but also the biggest supersonic team in the world! On August 24th, 2001 the team performed for a record crowd of over 1 million! People in Baku, Azerbaycan.

At their homebase Konya, the 134th Acroteam Squadron Command now has 14 F-5 jets, both single and dual seats.
Altough the Turkish Stars fly 8 aircraft, they have 11 demonstration pilots. Some of them can fly in different positions in the formation, and the team also has the unique configuration of a spare leader. When new pilots are chosen, they will train in the actual formation, flying in one of the two backseats. There is not a traditional two or three years 'tour of duty' with the Turk Yildizlari, most pilots stay a lot longer.
The background of the pilots is similar, they all come from operational fighting squadrons flying fast jets as the NF-5 Freedom Fighter, F-4 Phantom or F-16.
Unlike other big teams, the line-up of pilots can change during the displayseason.

Depending on their needs, the team can fly their trainingsessions as an 8-ship formation, the complete airshow routine or in smaller groups with only the solo pilots. During my stay in Konya several training sorties were only flown by the solo pilots, as they perform some beautifull, but very demanding flight manuals.
Because the Turk Yildizlari not only represents the skills and capabilities of the Turkish Airforce, but also their country, they will traditionally proudly show their flag in the open cockpit after the airshow.
The first part of the airshow is a presentation with an 8-ship formation, with a very large and impressive victor formation to open the show. That manual was flown especially from a different direction, so we could have a photo of the team with the blue sky!

The solo pilots perform one of the closest mirror formations in the world, and a very original negative G-turn. Actaully, these are the number 5 and 6 pilots, while the number 7 and 8 pilots are also a solo pair in the show flying the crowd thrilling cross manoeuvres.
All photographs in this report were taken at their homebase Konya in 2007, and during the teams three international performances that airshow season: Aalborg ( Denmark ), Volkel ( Netherlands ) and Kecskemet ( Hungary )
Unfortunately not all the mecanics were at Konya airbase during my visit; in full strength, together with the C-130 support crew, they are with 55. At the Kecskemet airshow I finally managed to make some unique photos of the entire 134th Acroteam Squadron Command.

Before we took these familypictures, of course we needed a fine background so some of the F-5's had to be put in a correct position.........

Official site of the Turk Yildizlari team www.turkyildizlari.hvkk.mil.tr

 

 
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