The Bastille Day parade opens with the precision flying of the eight-jet Patrouille with. They perform a low-level run down the Champs Elysées with their trademark tricolor smoke trailing in the Parisian sky.

The 2010 squadron is lead for the first itme by a woman, Captain Virginie Guyot. The eight-jet Patrouille is one of the best precision jet team in the world and in the elite company of the United States of America Air Force’s Thunderbirds and Britain’s RAF Red Arrows. Its tight formation aerobatics is breath-taking, daring and unforgettable. Every Batille Day their flight over the city of Paris is one of the highlights of the parade.

Fighter pilot Virginie Guyot completed the French Air Force Academy and flies the Mirage F1 CR, Reims. She has had two missions in Afghanistan, including one recently in the dangerous region of Kandahar.