JUNE 2014 NATO TIGER MEET JAGEL AFB
PHOTO BY DIEGO CROTTI
Copyright (C) Diego Crotti
TIGER MEET PROGRAM
Tiger Meets are the Associations reason for being. While in the early days the Tiger Meet was mainly a social get together from Tiger squadrons things changed rapidly and tactical flying exercises were soon implemented into the Tiger Meet program.On a typical Tiger Meet flying program you will find missions like: range firing, air-to-air, low level nav and COMAO missions... all of them with briefings and debriefings. Due to the growing helicopter force within the Tigers they are intigrated within the mission as Forward Air Controllers or in a CSAR role. Besided their work within the COMAO's the helicopter force ofter practices with local army (special) forces.The last 4 NATO Tiger Meets were even incorporated into larger scale exercises like AIRNORTH's Clean Hunter 01 and Daring Eagle 02. During an avarage Tiger meet not less then 250 sorties are flown by the Tigers. No need to say that people involved in mission planning and aircraft maintenance also have a busy working schedule.So what's the program of a typical 8 day NATO Tiger Meet? Well it all starts of with the arrival of the participants and an opening ceremony were all flags are raised till the last day. From then on the operations start. In the morning most participants fly local missions among each other, while in the afternoon the COMAO's are flown against 'red forces' which are in most cases units from the host nations country acting like 'enemy forces'. No need to say that all these missions are carefully planned, briefed, executed and debriefed. This schedule is followed for most of the flying days.By the end of the OPS week it is time to tighten social strenghs between all participating units. It is during these days that the well known Tiger Games are executed. Tiger Games are mainly a mix of fun and sports. The Tiger Meet is always closed by lowering the flags, after that cermony the tradional farewell party is started an various awards are handed out, of which the Silver Tiger Trophy is the most important one.
HISTORY
When 74 squadron first re-equipped with the Lightning in 1960, John Howe had been well aware of the US Air Force Tigers at Woodbridge, the 79th TFS of the 20TFW. Correspondence between the two units had been going on since the first contacts had been established during Keith Haselwood’s time, and occasionally a social meeting was arranged. On impulse on that, John picked up the phone to speak to his counterpart at the Suffolk base, perhaps with a subconscious idea to set the ball rolling on some sort of operational exchange rather than a purely social one so that 74 could show off their new mount. What he was not aware of at that time was that an old friend fo his, Ed Rackham, had just taken command of the 79th TFS. Their meeting again after almost ten years prompted the idea of the two squadrons getting together on a regular operational basis.In 1962 the Tiger Meet was a much bigger affair and eight squadron were represented; the credit to this goes again to Mike Duggan, who had spend a large part of his time identifying Tiger Squadrons in all the European and European Based airforces.74 was heavily involved in the workup for Farnborough at the time and, sadly, this commitment allowed the squadron to send only officers to observe and to participate in the social activities, although, as we have seen, it was able to display the lightning at the end of the Meet. Activity was not confined to the air, for apart from a full flying programme, a series of conferences was held which dealt with a variety of problems and activities within the sphere of NATO operations. Neither were social aspect overlooked. Receptions and dinners were organized for air as well as ground crews; and at the final banquet the guest of honour was General Anderson, the SHAPE Air Deputy, who by his very presence underlined the importance of the Tiger Meet in the eyes of the Highest command. In his speech, General Anderson put into words for perhaps the first time the underlying aims and objectives of the Meet - The promotion of NATO solidarity, the achievement and maintenance of firmer professional relationships amongst NATO personnel and the creation of better understanding of NATO military objectives and the problems of NATO partners. These objectives remain as valid today as they did 45 years ago
TIGER TROPHIES:
Silver Tiger Trophy: Fliegerstaffel 11 Switzerland
Best Flying Unit: 6 Fighter Squadron Poland
Tiger Games winner: Escadron de Chasse 1/7 "Provence" France
Best Skit: 59/1 Puma Squadron Hungary
Best looking Uniform: Fliegerstaffel 11 Switzerland
Most fancy paintscheme: Jagdgeschwader 74 Germany
Copyright (C) Diego Crotti