Patrouille Suisse

Unlike many other military display teams, the Patrouille Suisse pilots fly their routines in actual fighter planes: six Northrop F-5 Tiger IIs - unarmed, of course. The display team was founded in 1964 to commemorate fifty years of the Swiss Air Force. For the first 14 years, the pilots of Patrouille Suisse were only permitted to perform in Switzerland on the grounds of their strict neutrality. The team only began performing throughout the rest of Europe from 1978. Some of the members of Patrouille Suisse are military pilots of the Professional Aviators Corps or members of Swiss air traffic control who take on this additional role during the relevant season.