Blades of Portugal

The Rotores de Portugal (Blades of Portugal) aerobatic display team is among the lesser known aerobatic teams in Europe. Formed in April 1976 by order of the Air Force Chief of Staff, the team made its debut during an air show at Sintra. At that time it formed part of Esquadra 33 at Tancos airbase and flew four standard SE3160 Alouette 3 helicopters for their display routine. For operational and budgetary reasons they were disbanded in October 1980, but reformed again only two years later with a two-ship display as part of Esquadra 552. In 1991 the team moved to Esquadra 111 (still at Tancos) made up of instructor pilots, but after two seasons ...