There has never been a NATO Tiger Meet at the airbase in Neuburg an der Donau until 2019. The new members of the NATO Tiger Association, the Bavarian Tigers, changed this recently and are very committed in their new role. With pride they show their tiger spirit, which they took over from the 1st Squadron of Fighter Bomber Wing 32 on 18.03.2013. They organized the “Medieval Mini Tiger Meet” at the airbase Zell from 04. to 08.07.2019. It is the second Mini Tiger Meet in 2019, after the “Swiss Snow Tiger” Meeting in February of that year in Alpnach, Switzerland. In addition to the resident Eurofighter Typhoon of the Tactical Air Force Wing (TaktLwG) 74, the following squadrons with guest aircraft took part:
– TaktLwG 51 “Immelmann” with 2 Panavia Tornado ECR
– 36° Stormo “Riccardo Helmut Seidl” with 4 Eurofighter Typhoon
Tiger crews from Portugal, Belgium, the Czech Republic and Switzerland arrived without aircraft. The motto of the Mini Tiger Meet was probably not chosen by chance, at the castle festival taking place at the same time in Neuburg. The exchange of crews also continued at the Tiger Games on the weekend. The flying competition was a flight in the Eurofighter Aircrews Synthetic Training Aids (ASTA) simulator, which the Portuguese pilots won. Maybe a good sign, as the NATO Tiger Meet 2020 will be held in Beja.
The main goal of this exercise, however, remained the joint flying of missions (COMAO) in order to optimize the processes between the air forces. Most of these things are already regulated by NATO standards (STANAG). In practice, however, there are always differences between the individual units and states in the way they are carried out. A high degree of interoperability is essential, since today’s missions are almost exclusively conducted in cooperation with friendly nations.
For spotters, the so-called Spotter Hour took place on July 5th at the airbase in Neuburg. The special tiger paint schemes of the hosts of the NATO Tiger Meet 2019 in Mont-de-Marsan and two colourful Eurofighter Typhoon of the 12° Gruppo were presented. In addition a private S-211 (I-MJET) of the Cuban 8 Squadron from Augsburg flew some missions. Also an H145 of the nearby Airbus Helicopter factory in Donauwörth made a short fly-over. The helicopter will later be delivered to the Serbian Air Force.
Air Superiority Photo 