This February I combined a week of skiing with 9 days of spotting in Switzerland (Meiringen and Payerne), Austria (Innsbruck) and Germany (Ramstein).
Because I was expected to arrive at the hotel in Wengen on the 6th (mondays) in the afternoon, I had decided to head out for Switzerland on sunday and spend some time at Meiringen in the morning and afternoon before going up the mountain. This turned out to be a good decision, even though it was extremely cold, the weather was nice and clear. So some very nice photo opportunities were had.
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_K5_1502-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_1521-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_1522-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
I left Meiringen for Wengen after the first afternoon wave took off. With temperatures between -15 and -25 on the mountain, the snow conditions were great. Plus, I found some time to snap a few shots of the BOHAG AS350 that provides sight seeing flights from Männlichen at 2230m.
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_IGP45391-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_IGP45392-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
After saying goodbye to my friends on sunday, I picked up Erwin (DIMMU83) at the trainstation of Interlaken and we headed out for Meiringen to start our spotting trip. The general idea was to start at Meiringen and find our way back home in the 9 days that would follow.
Monday morning started out pretty calm with one PC-7. While waiting for things to come at Spot 2 of the Airfield Guide, things got more exciting though. We actually encountered a horse on the loose! It managed to get by Erwin and me and decided to cross the runway at Meiringen. While half way, the taxiway turned to be more inviting than the small town of Unterbach. First time I saw a horse taxiing.
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_K5_1629-BW - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
After helping the lady, who was walking the horse, to catch the horse, the waiting game started again. After the horse, no more action in the morning. Which actually meant, lunchtime! And meeting/getting to know, Marcel, Iwan, Frank and Koji.
The afternoon had some more movements with one F-5E and several F-18's followed with F-18 night flying activity at 18.00 and 21.00.
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_K5_1718-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_1756-B- 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_1782-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_1823-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_1852-B - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_1854-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
Tuesdays brought us back to Meiringen again:
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_K5_1870-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_1916-BW - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_1954-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_1976-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
On Wednesday morning the amount of snow that fell during the night and was still falling when we jumped in the car, made us decide to drive to Payerne. Since neither of us (Erwin and me) had been there before, we decided to start off at the official viewing point.
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_K5_2034-BW - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_2058-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
During lunchtime, great was our surprise to see Marcel, Iwan, Frank and Koji again. With their directions, we were also able to find our way to the ammunition bunker in the afternoon.
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_K5_2159-BW - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
20. No real emergency, but an excecise for a student pilot converting to the Hornet.
_K5_2169-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
Thursdays we returned to Payerne. Thanks to information Frank, Iwan, Marcel and Koji had gotten, we knew 2 pilots would be doing a cable landing that afternoon. Unfortunately, I missed both.
Anyway, spending the day together was great fun, and some nice photo opportunities were still had.21.
_K5_2262-BW - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
22. Marcel and Iwan at work
_K5_2270-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_2331-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_2358-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_2415-BW - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_2480-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
Fridays we took another shot at Meiringen, also because the weather had turned for the better! As it turned out, the flying started early, the first Hornets returned before 09.30. Two F-5E's in Patrouille Suisse colors were in use for target towing. Also, some of the student pilots from Payerne came by to perform touch and go's.
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_K5_2506-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_2529-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_2562-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_2585-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
We left Meiringen at the end of the morning to go and see if there was still some helicopter action at Alpnach. During the week, 2 German CH-53's were operating from this base. While driving to Alpnach, we got a call from Iwan that the Germans had already left and no action was to be seen. We payed a short visit but decided to move on to Innsbruck shortly after arriving.
Saturdays started out cloudy, but things soon cleared up and we had a very nice day out there.
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_K5_2635-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_2791-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_2868-A - 1200px - Explored! by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_3066-A - 1200px - Explored! by Ghanzer, on Flickr
Sundays had us travelling again with Ramstein as our destination. Frank had given us directions to a hotel in Landstuhl, which turned out to be located perfectly! After the driving Innsbruck-Landstuhl in one go, I needed a walk, so we took our gear and checked out the hotel surroundings. We found a nice spot overviewing the Air Base.
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_K5_3134-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_IGP45583-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
The next day we payed a visit to the Bismarkturm and watched the movements from there. Oscar01, thanks for the info you provided!
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_K5_3157-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
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_K5_3178-A - 1200px by Ghanzer, on Flickr
Greetz,
Hans.
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