Quatorze Juillet - Paris Air Parade Staging Base Evreux

Bastille Day - National Day Parade France

Since 1880, the France's National day — or Bastille Day — is commemorated in the morning of 14 July of each year in Paris with a military parade known in French as the "Défilé militaire du Quatorze Juillet ".

It is one of the oldest reoccurring military parades in the world and without doubt the biggest in West Europe.

The French Air Force (Armée de l'Air) attends the military parade with a massive fly-over, showing almost all of its aircraft types, together with aircraft formations by the Aéronavale (Naval Aviation Arm). This year the parade included in total 64 aircraft, 220 vehicles, 30 helicopters, and 4290 soldiers, according to the Ministère des Armées

To support this air parade, Base Aérienne 105 Évreux - Fauville (BA 105), besides participants from its resident units, hosts all the fast jets and trainer aircraft involved in the fly past. A total of around 50 aircraft of the Armée de l'Air took part this year.

Usually the fighters and trainers fly to Evreux the day before the parade, to perform a mass take-off on the day and subsequently form the formations before the flying over the Champs-Élysées in Paris. All the aircraft returned directly to their respective home air bases after the fly-past. Also, the aerobatic team Patrouille de France, which always leads the fly-over, flew from Evreux air base.

Allied participation

Among the Armée de l'Air assets, the fly-past was attended by some foreign guests, including Belgium, Republic of Singapore and Germany.

The Luftwaffe attended with the A400M airlifter, currently the most important example of a jointly developed and produced military aircraft by France and Germany, among others, as the two countries embark on new collaborative effort for a fifth generation fighter.

Two Leonardo M-346s advanced training jets belonging the No. 150 Squadron of the Republic of Singapore Air Force, which are based at BA120, Cazaux, were deployed to Evreux. One M-346 — number 324 — flew during the parade, while the other served as spare aircraft. This year RSAF marks 20 years of training at BA120 Cazaux, however this was the first time that the RSAF had taken part in the Bastille Day’s military parade fly past, also marking the debut for participation by an Asian country.

Also, two Belgian Air Component's Alpha Jet belonging the Belgium-French Advanced Jet Training School based at BA 120 Cazaux were deployed to Evreux, with one joining in the air parade and the other — featuring special artwork to commemorate 100 years of 11 Squadron — served as spare aircraft.

Last time for the Mirage 2000N

This parade was the last public appearance of the Dassault Mirage 2000N, the variant of the Mirage 2000 family designed for nuclear strike. The Mirage 2000N was officially retired on 21 June 2018 with a ceremony having taken place at Base Aérienne 125 (BA 125) Istres - Le Tubé. The last unit equipped with the type is the Escadron de Chasse EC 02.004 “La Fayette”. In the fly-past sequence over Paris the single Mirage 2000N lead a small formation with a pair of Rafale Bs, which replaced it in the nuclear strike role.

AdlA participating units

The big air base of Evreux hosts several units, but only its Escadrons de Transport took part in the air parade. Specifically, the Escadron de Transport ET 01.062 “Vercors” and ET 03.062 “Ventoux” both equipped with CN-235s and ET 01.064 “Béarn” and ET 02.064 “Anjou” equipped with C-160Rs.

Aircraft from the following Escadron de Chasse (EC - Fighter Squadrons) and training units gathered at Evreux:
• EC 02.004 “La Fayette” with Mirage 2000N, BA125 Istres-Le Tubé;
• EC 01.002 “Cigognes” with Mirage 2000-5F, BA116 Luxeuil/St.Sauveur;
• EC 02.005 “Ile de France” Mirage 2000B and Mirage 2000C, BA115 Orange/Caritat;
• EC 01.003 “Navarre”, EC 02.003 “Champagne”, EC 03.003 “Ardennes” and ETD 04.003 “Argonne” with Mirage 2000D, BA133 Nancy/Ochey;
• EC 01.004/EC01.091 “Gascogne” and Escadron de chasse EC 01.007 “Provence” with Rafale B and Rafale C, BA113 Saint Dizier/Robinson;
• EC 02.030 “Normandie-Niemen” and EC 03.030 “Lorraine” and the Escadron de chasse et d'expérimentation 05.330 “Côte d'argent” with Rafale B and C, BA118 Mont-de-Marsan;
• Escadron d'entraînement 02.002 “Côte d'or “ with Alpha Jet, BA102 Dijon;
• École de l'aviation de chasse (EAC) 00.314 with Alpha Jet, BA705 Tours;
• École de transition opérationnelle - Advanced Jet Training School — 8th WING (ETO/8ème WING) with Alpha Jet, BA120 Cazaux;
• Patrouille de France Alpha Jets, BA701 Salon-de-Provence;