Military Jets Photography: 2009 09 18 Tigermeet at EBBL

The NATO Tiger Meet is an annual operational exercise which will be held this year from September 14 until September 25 at the airbase of Kleine-Brogel in Belgium. The exercise is organized by the NATO Tiger Association. This organization was founded in 1961 by the French Minister of Defense Pierre Messmer. The goal of the exercise was to create solidarity among various squadrons within the NATO. The NATO Tiger Association is composed of many units from all NATO countries with in their squadron badge a drawing of a tiger or another big cat. The Tiger Meet is not a structural part of the NATO, but especially a big social happening within the air forces of all NATO countries. The 79th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS) of the United States Air Force Europe (USAFE) was the first unit that took the initiative to organize a Tiger Meet in 1961. RAF Woodbridge in Great Britain was the home base of this unit and they invited no 74 squadron of the RAF and the EC01.012 of the French Air Force. This was the first edition of the NATO Tiger Meet. France was still a member of the NATO at that time.
At this moment in September 2009, the NATO Tiger Association consists of nineteen full members from all kind of operational NATO squadrons. The subject of their badges is common; it is the tiger which is a symbol for strength, unity and a hunting instinct.
A spotters day took place on Friday September 18 which I attended in perfect weather. It promised to be a beautiful day with much flying activity. The first flight movement was immediately a nice one; a French Mirage 2000C from Cambrai in France was taxiing to the runway. The light on the aircraft was perfect and there was no heat haze above the runway. Soon, the entire flight would come out for take-off. A pair of Gripens of the Hungarian air force appeared, followed by the Belgian and Dutch Vipers right behind the first Mirage. Even more French Mirages and a few Rafales appeared behind these aircraft; the French showed a few beautiful painted aircraft, this was clearly visible. Both types of aircraft were painted in beautiful tiger colors. The Tiger Meet spirit came even more alive when a spectacular painted Mirage F-1 of the Spanish Air Force appeared.
The first Tiger Meet participants came back for the landing after about one hour of waiting. The organization had a nice surprise for us as a bonus. All aircraft which were painted in tiger colors flew low over twice in a large tiger formation. All the aircraft landed safely after their missions within a time window of one hour and then the morning mission was over. Each landed aircraft was forced by the organization to taxi along the public. They all used the taxi track which was positioned right in front of us. The helicopters were preparing themselves for a flight in the meanwhile on the platform next to us. Two Czech Mi-24 Hinds, two Belgian A-109s and one Italian AB-212 were starting up.They performed a CSAR excercise above the airfield together with some local F-16's.
The afternoon flight of the Tiger Meet was starting up at one o'clock pm. The only drawback we had for the afternoon flight was the heat haze which was over the runway. This heat haze gave us more problems with photography over the long distance. It was not longer possible to shoot the aircraft on the runway because of the heat. Again it took one complete hour before all the aircraft were airborne. Most aircraft took off with full afterburner; it really was a spectacular sight. All the participating aircraft came back for landing one hour after they started with basically the same ritual as in the morning. The last aircraft landed in at five pm and for us the 2009 Tiger Meet was over. Again it was a perfect organized event by the Belgians with many beautiful moments in it. Next year we can go out again for a Tiger Meet, because the Tiger Meet will be held at Volkel Airbase in the Netherlands.