RAAF Roulettes, an example of what the future Patrulla Águila will look like with PC-21 aircraft

Next weekend, the Spanish Air Force's Patrulla Águila will bid farewell to its aging CASA C-101 Aviojet aircraft.

The smoke generators of the new Pilatus PC-21 aircraft of the Patrulla Águila
The Pilatus PC-21 training aircraft of the Spanish Air Force seen up close

The farewell will be in style, with the Aire 25 air show which will take place in San Javier (Murcia), home of the General Air Academy (AGA) and the aforementioned fixed-wing acrobatic patrol.

After this air show, the Patrulla Águila will begin a transition period to its new aircraft, the Pilatus PC-21 (below), which has already replaced the C-101 Aviojet (above) and the T-35 Pillán in the training of new pilots at the AGA.

The Patrulla Águila will not be the first aerobatic team to make this transition from a jet to a turboprop aircraft, a step that has not been well received by many, as the Spanish aerobatic team has lost not only a jet aircraft, but also a domestically manufactured one, in favor of a Swiss turboprop. These are the consequences of insufficient investment in defense and poor planning when replacing existing aircraft.

As we saw here in February, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Roulettes aerobatic team already made that transition in 1989, leaving behind their Aermacchi MB-326s (above) to fly the Pilatus PC-9s (below).

In 2019, the Roulettes replaced their PC-9s with the PC-21s (below), the new aircraft acquired by the RAAF for the training of its future pilots.

The Australian team flies with six PC-21s, one less than the Patrulla Águila in its current C-101 configuration.

Since they are aircraft that cannot generate contrails with their engine exhaust, the Roulettes' PC-21s use smoke generators placed under the wings, like the Sanders Smoke Technologies SCSG-5s that the Patrulla Águila will use (we saw them here two months ago). As I noted then, these smoke generators are fueled by a tank of 7.57 liters of 100-octane aviation gasoline and 37.85 liters of smoke oil, capable of operating for about 10 minutes.

Obviously, I don't expect you to be content with just a few photos. You can see the Roulettes' PC-21s in action here in a video released by the RAAF four years ago:

And here's a video from just two months ago, posted by Tonk298:

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Photos: Air Force Roulettes / Ejército del Aire.