Yoshihide Muroya
is one of the most focused and hardest working pilots in the Red Bull Air Race. He took his first podium in Croatia in 2014. The acrobatic ace, better known by his nickname “Yoshi”, is the first Asian pilot to take part in the world championship and has helped raise the popularity of the sport in East Asia, especially in his home country of Japan, where he is the best aerobatics pilot in the country. Muroya has brought numerous innovations to the sport, such as introducing a form of pre-race meditation called Zazen. He has remained one of the most stoically optimistic pilots in the field despite enduring several untimely mechanical problems that sidelined him for part of the 2010 season. But he has always trained hard in order to come back in good shape after his enforced absences, and recently he has focused on improving his fitness to better cope with the high Gs that are an intrinsic part of the race. Muroya started glider flight training in 1991 at the age of 18 at a university glider club, as an inexpensive way to start flying. Four years later, he took third place in the Japan glider championship before going to the US to earn his pilot’s license in Los Angeles at the age of 20. He started aerobatics flying in 1996 under the tutelage of aerobatics instructor Randy Gagne, and took part in the Advanced World Aerobatic Championships a year later in 1997. Muroya started flying at air shows in Japan in 1998 with an Extra 300L and North American T6 Texan. In 2002, he changed to a Sukhoi Su-26 in Unlimited Aerobatics and in 2003 took part in the Unlimited World Aerobatic Championship. Since 2006, he has been taking part at air shows worldwide, from the UAE to Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Spain – more than 220 in total.
Yoshihide Muroya JAPAN AIRCRAFT Zivko Edge 540 V2 BORN January 27, 1973, Nara, Japan LIVES Fukushima, Japan WEBSITE yoshi-muroya.jp RED BULL AIR RACE RESULTS 2014: 9th; 2010: 12th, 2009: 13th
Photography: Red Bull Content Pool
PAUL BONHOMME
is the most successful pilot in the history of the Red Bull Air Race and the only pilot to have taken part in all 58 races since 2003. The Brit has a record 15 victories and 39 podiums to his name. The double World Champion (2009 and 2010) took second place in 2007 and 2008 before finishing third in 2014 in an increasingly competitive field. Bonhomme’s elegantly smooth flying style has been widely imitated, and he is no longer the man to beat, but he still has the skill, experience and determination to win any race. Always popular among the sport’s fans, his fellow pilots and the media, Bonhomme can eloquently explain the finer points of racing. But this friendly nature masks a fiercely competitive spirit and a tireless drive to succeed, which has helped push the entire sport forward during his nine seasons of racing. When he’s not racing, Bonhomme is a commercial airline captain, flying Boeing 747s around the world. His love of flying has clearly come from his family: his father was a pilot, his mother was a flight attendant and his brother is a commercial pilot. Paul Bonhomme got his start as a 16-year-old, cleaning hangars, polishing aircraft and refuelling them at White Waltham Airfield in England before getting his private pilot’s license at 18. He was soon working as a flight instructor and later became an air taxi pilot before flying charter flights. His aerobatics career took off in 1986 and he has been taking part in air shows ever since. He flew the Yak 50, Extra 300 and Sukhoi 26, and from 1991 began displaying vintage fighters from Duxford. Bonhomme lives in Cambridge with his wife, stepson and three young daughters. After his Championship win in 2009, he was awarded the Segrave Trophy by the Royal Automobile Club and in 2010 the Guide Sword of Honour by the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigation.
Paul Bonhomme UK AIRCRAFT Zivko Edge 540 v2 BORN September 22, 1964, Buckinghamshire, UK LIVES Cambridgeshire, UK WEBSITE teambonhomme.com RED BULL AIR RACE RESULTS 2014: 3rd, 2010: 1st, 2009: 1st, 2008: 2nd 2007: 2nd, 2006: 4th, 2005: 5th, 2004: 5th
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