Swallow-tailed Magisters

The Irish Air Corps bought six Fouga CM.170 Super Magister jet trainers in 1975, and a four-ship formation of them first displayed for the corps’ 60th anniversary in 1982, according to the English-language Wikipedia; other accounts date the team from 1986, starting with three aircraft and adding a fourth in 1987. The name, taken from the silver aircraft and the Magister’s V-shaped tail, was given at the Baldonnel Air Spectacular in August 1987. The team first displayed abroad at RAF Brawdy on 26 July 1990, and at the 1997 Royal International Air Tattoo it won the Lockheed Martin Cannestra Trophy for best flying demonstration. It was disbanded in 1998 as the Magisters neared retirement.

The centenary revival

From 2004 the Air Corps flew formation displays in its Pilatus PC-9M trainers without the old name. For the centenary of the Air Corps in 2022 the Silver Swallows were formally re-formed with four PC-9Ms, and their first full display was at the 2022 Royal International Air Tattoo, 25 years after their last visit. Green, white and orange smoke had been added to the PC-9M displays in 2016. In 2026 the team flew in formation with an Aer Lingus Airbus A321XLR at the Bray Air Display and was billed for its first appearance at the Ayr show on 5 September.