It is with great sadness that I learned today that Bernard Chabbert had passed away, aged 78.
Chabbert was a legend in the European aviation scene, a pilot, a journalist and writer, but most of all an incredibly talented storyteller, and a staple of many airshows for decades, captivating crowds all over Europe with his stories, his anecdotes, his passion for flying machines and the men and women who build, maintain and pilot them.
Back in the 90’s, he created and presented a TV program called Pégase, and it was through this show that I learned about the incredible adventures of how the 747 and the Concorde came to be, or how some guy in Spain was building his own plane from scratch in his garage, that I discovered the Waco, probably the most stylish biplane ever made (the footage of a red Waco taking off from a grassy strip on a misty morning is burned in my memory…), that I watched gliders soar over the Alps, powered by nothing but wind and air pressure… and so many other things
I listened to him tell his stories in so many airshows… the Rassemblement International d’Hydravions de Biscarrosse show in 2012, Flying Legends at Duxford in 2015, our very own Féria de l’Air in Nîmes in 2015 which I helped organize, the Temps des Hélices at Ferté-Alais in 2018, Air Legends in Melun in 2021… But I only had the chance to meet him once, when he was signing, along with illustrator Romain Hugault, his book about Saint-Exupéry, at that last meeting in Melun, in 2021. It was, in every sense, like meeting a childhood hero. He signed my book and we exchanged a few words, then the same happened with Hugault, and I walked on clouds for the rest of the day. It’s no exaggeration to say that airshows won’t be the same without him.
I was hoping there would be more opportunities. I will cherish the one I did have.
Blue skies, Bernard. And thanks for the memories.