Flying wing tip to wing tip in a rock-steady formation at a high speed of 200 to 600 kmph and from a 150-mtrs low to a high of 1,300 mtrs -- six Kiran MkII jet trainers enthralled a sizeable audience with their breath-taking display of aerobatics here.

An event, rightly described as the ultimate demonstration of man's conquest of air.

It also marked a perfect beginning to the two-day air show by Headquarters, Maintenance Command (HQMC) to celebrate the 67th anniversary of the IAF at Air Force Station, Sonegaon on Saturday morning.

Popularly known as Suryakiran, the team of highly trained pilots, led by Wing Commander Amit Tiwari, performed different air manoeuvres with precision and aplomb, drawing loud cheers from an awe-struck crowd at the venue.

The sleek white & orange-coloured jets, steaming Indian tri-colours, began with a simple loop prior to displaying a sequence of formations which essentially require an intelligent mind,exceptional coordination and a physically fit body with hours of gruelling practice, nerves of steel and millisecond reflexes. It is worth noting that even a slight error of judgement could have led to mid-air catastrophe.

The team performed the famed Yankee and Tango formations which are known for their resemblance to English alphabets Y and T. Besides, the well-known Wine Glass formation, a Double Arrow move in which three aircraft appear to fly in shape of an arrow closely followed by another three in similar shape, and the complicated Barrel Roll where the pilots perform a combination of roll and loop in horizontal flight.

However, what took the cake was the loop act followed by bombast where the aircraft move in a motion of inverted fountain after appearing to touch the skies with a vertical climb and plummet in a head-down position to finally break away. Leaving the spectators with their hearts in their mouths.

Squadron Leaders Vimal Bhat, Sandeep Bansal, T N Gopal, Akshay Subbarao, G T Kurien andVikram Rawat were part of Suryakiran which is described as one of its kind in the entire South East Asia comprising the best aerobatics team and backed by 50 highly qualified and trained ground staff.

The team has more than nine Kiran jet trainers which are normally effective for armament training and can touch a maximum speed of 780 km per hour with a weight of about five tonne each. Suryakiran has given 46 public displays since inception in 1996.

It was almost 16 years ago when such an air display was first staged by the then team of Thunderbolts.

Aerobatics were followed by sky diving and para jumping by the Air Devils which forms part of the IAF's adventure cell. Wing Commander Sunil Kumar Bannerjee led the eight-member team of divers who jumped from an Mi-8 helicopter at 5,000 ft above ground level to land at the venue with colourful parachutes and flags of the IAF and their team.

Unfortunately, wind conditions did not allow the divers to perform canopy work, involving different mid-airformations.

Corporal Santosh, Corporal Srinivas, Sergeant Francis, Flying Officers Asha Jyotirmoyee and Asha Mishra and Corporal Mishra were part of the Air Devils team that performed. All have a wide experience ranging more than 100 to 300 free falls and have participated in various meets at national and international levels.

Some of the frontline aircraft and helicopters of the IAF are on a static display at the show.