The Wings of Storm (Croatian: Krila Oluje) is the official aerobatic team of the Croatian Air Force. The team currently fly six standard Croatian Air Force PC-9M Swifts. They are best-known for their highly sophisticated and challenging display routine, including mirror flight and formation stalls. Aircraft are drawn from the air force’s regular training fleet.
Active: 2003-present
Country: Croatia
Home base: Zemunik Air Base
Operator: Air Force
Size: 6 aircraft in display
AIRCRAFT FLOWN
PC-9M Swift (2003-present)
History
The Wings of Storm were founded in 2003 and made their debut performance with four PC-9s in Zadar in 2004. The team grew to five aircraft by the end of 2005, and six in 2009. In March 2015, all six pilots abruptly left the team and moved to Qatar, where they established the Qatar Display Team, a six-ship team flying the PC-21. The team was quickly reformed and appeared as a five-ship team in 2015, returning to full-strength the following year. A smoke system was added for the first time in 2020.
Display
Krila Olije’s display is highly sophisticated and challenging. After several six-ship manoeuvres, the team break down for further manoeuvres, mostly as a three-ship, two-ship or solo aircraft. These include:
- Three vs. three opposition barrel rolls
- Two-ship turn in Mirror formation
- Two-ship formation stall turns
- Three-ship formation tailslide
- Two-ship slow formation aileron roll in Mirror formation
- Four-ship outside turn in Box formation
- Six-ship Mirror formation pass
- Six-ship bomb burst