Regarding Cold Lake, the spottersday and Wittmund's future the following became clear during a visit last wednesday:
-Cold Lake: according to ATC 8 Phantoms will participate. These are scheduled to return june 2nd.
-Spottersday: they intend to park the static on the runway. June 5th - spottersday, june 6th - family day.
-Statistics: Normally 55 F-4F's are based at ETNT.
-Future: In about 1,5 years they'll start construction of Wittmund's new tower on the other side of the runway.
-SIS
6-8 F/A-18 Swiss AF are scheduled for a deployment between 20/7 - 24/8.
ETNT 06-05-2009 Log:
This wednesday started with a lot of rain and wind. When we arrived at Wittmund the weather slightly improved. The Meteo-office promised sunny skies during the afternoon. After coffee we went to the shelter area to see Phantom 37+03. This one (as shown by Mick) is a real artwork! Unfortenately it was parked inside however the maintenance crew told us it would fly later on......at the end it didn't! During recovery of the first mission we were treated on a nice ride in the Phantom simulator. A brilliant way of killing time
Remco started with a nice take-off RWY 26 heading for EHEH (I wonder why
). There he made a touch and go. Then it was my turn. I deceided to make a low-pass and this turned out a much safer solution
However the landing at ETNT went terribly wrong. After this unforgettable experience the weather improved rapidly . RWY 26 was in use and our guide positioned us at a nice spot near the QRA. During this second wave two Lechfeld Tornado’s arrived. After lunch we went to x-servicing platform. Next to the two JBG.32 Tornado’s one from Norvenich was parked. This one arrived a couple of days ago suffering technical problems. A Transal arrived just before recovery of the 2nd wave. Around 4 o’clock we went back to the QRA followed by a visit to the western shelter area. Around this time the Tornado’s left. We thanked our guide and went home with a satisfied smile! Thanks Remco for the company!
*Flying:
F-4F 37+01, 37+48, 37+81, 38+00, 38+16 JG.71
F-4F 38+29, 38+33, 38+46, 38+48, 38+50 JG.71
F-4F 38+75 JG.71
A-4N N432FS, N268WL BAe Systems
QRA flight – 37+01, 38+50
Blade1-4 - 37+48, 38+29, 38+46, 38+75
Police1 - 37+48
Police2 - 38+00
Vamp1-2 - 38+00, 38+48
*Parked outside:
F-4F 37+65, 37+77, 37+88, 38+44, 38+49 JG.71
F-4F 38+53, 38+61, 38+63, 38+66, 38+73 JG.71
F-4F 38+74 JG.71
A-4N N434FS BAe Systems
*Maintenance hangars:
F-4F 37+22, 37+26, 37+63, 37+75, 37+84 JG.71
F-4F 37+89, 37+92, 38+01, 38+42*, 38+43 JG.71
F-4F 38+45, 38+57, 38+62, 38+67 JG.71
A-4N N43.FS BAe Systems
* = Special maintenance c/s
*Shelter:
F-4F 37+03 JG.71 (special anniversary c/s)
Visit:
C-160D 50+79 LTG.63 “GAF640/Cargo”
Tornado ECR 46+34 JBG.32 “Cougar2”
Tornado IDS 45+56 JBG.32 “Cougar1”
Tornado IDS 43+02 JBG.31 “NO82”
EC120B PH-RBC Private
The colibri departed at 13:40LT to Meppen.
Others:
F-4F 37+11 Preserved special c/s
F-104G 24+43 i/a
F-4E 75-0632 i/a