C-27 Spartan (Unusual Aircraft Collection)

It's not often that you see a large aircraft upside down, but it's a regular part of the airshow act of this Italian Air Force C-27J Spartan.   This Spartan is the support ship for the Frecce Tricolori jet display team, accompanying them like the Blue Angel's C-130 support plane, Fat Albert.   Both support planes perform a display, but Fat Albert never did anything like this!

In spite of what you might think, most large aircraft can do barrel rolls or even loops (most helicopters can't, though the Bo-105 is an exception).   When the Boeing 707 was first flown in public, its pilot Alvin Johnston twice did barrel rolls at low altitude in front of amazed crowds.   Even more impressively, the supersonic Concorde airliner was repeatedly barrel rolled when it was being tested.

The Spartan was derived from the Italian designed G222, which also flew some wild maneuvers at airshows.   Not all of these were intentional, and certainly not the dramatic landing accident at the 2002 Royal International Air Tattoo in Great Britain which resulted in lots of sparks, flames and smoke, but no injuries.