The weather forecast was terrible with a prognosis from all meteorological stations going from bad to worse, rain and thunderstorms with heavy showers. Perhaps not the best conditions for celebrating a birthday, especially when the guest of honour is one of Europe’s major air forces, in this case the German Luftwaffe. Fortunately Saint Peter doesn’t care too much for weather forecasts and provided brilliant sunshine on the special day of Saturday the 19th of August. Laage AB in Northern Germany was the venue with more than 100,000 spectators taking advantage of wonderful conditions at Germany’s most modern Air Force base. Announced as an open day, the Luftwaffe used Laage AB and Jagdgeschwader 73 “Steinhoff” as the platform for the official (and one of the biggest) celebrations commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Luftwaffe with almost everything within the Luftwaffe’s inventory made available for display to the general public. High-ranking guests, from both the military and political arenas such as the MoD were in attendance, with Dr. Franz Josef Jung and the Inspector of the Luftwaffe (comparable to Chief of Staff), Lieutenant General Klaus-Peter Stieglitz providing a highly official and very special thyme.

 Guests from almost every European air arm were well represented within the static displays demonstrating a broad range of aircraft, including some real highlights, much to the admiration of the thousands of enthusiast’s in attendance. As Laage AB was the host base of the German MiG-29`s, the appearance of a Hungarian MiG-29UB was definitely one of the highlights. The well known Polish Su-22 M3 “Fitter” with its special paint scheme was also another popular highlight while two Austrian Air Force Northrop F-5E Tiger II and one Swiss Air Force Boeing F/A-18D Hornet were the only non -NATO participants. Few civilian aircraft were present, however two very special aircraft represented the Luftwaffe historically in the form of a privately owned Dornier Do-27A and a Piaggio P-149D, both being widely used by the Luftwaffe and still sporting their Luftwaffe markings. Another feature of the static displays were two beautifully painted Alpha Jets of the ASAS de Portugal.

Flying displays were carried out by Luftwaffe aircraft, which some enthusiasts, quite wrongly, complaining about the lack of foreign aircraft flying. While it was neither an international airshow nor a normal open day, it was basically an exhibition of the Luftwaffe aircraft and nothing more. And what a fine one it was!
The main component of the flying display was what is known as a SNAP exercise. SNAP stands for Significance of National Power and means the deployment of all available assets to counter any perceived threat. Adopting a real world scenario, for example the evacuation of civilians from a hostile area, the Luftwaffe soundly demonstrated its capabilities to the general public. The entire scenario was controlled by a Boeing E-3 AWACS from Geilenkirchen.

The first part of the excercise was an interception performed by a McDonnell Douglas F-4F Phantom II of FW 71 “Richthofen” acting as the “bogey” accompanied by two Eurofighter EF-2000 of FW 73 “Steinhoff”. Various Panavia Tornados were next on the scene in the tanker, fighter/bomber, and reconnaissance roles. In the event of ECR, Tornados of FBW32 in Wild Weasel configuration were also available. Paratroopers were droped from a Heeresflieger (Army Aviation) Sikorsky CH-53G while later a C-160D Transall performed an airdrop which shortly after performed a “Khe San” style (also known within the Luftwaffe as a Sarajevo approach) landing. Heavily armed forces secured the landing zone while the “civilians” where guided to the belly of the Transall which took of shortly after the last “evacuatee” was safely on board. In the meantime, two armed Bell UH-1D’s were responsible for air coverage of the landing zone.

Enemy forces have been supressed and the civilians who had been at risk are now safely on their way home – well that’s the theory. However, the Luftwaffe definitely has the capability to extract German citizens under any circumstances. After the participants of the SNAP exercise landed, a Eurofighter EF-2000 performed a solo display – the first with a Luftwaffe pilot at the controls (all public displays were previously flown by EADS testpilots). In the afternoon the whole procedure was repeated, so if the morning display was missed, he or she got the chance to witness another display in the afternoon. In summary, the 50th anniversary of the Luftwaffe was a very different show, but also a very dynamic one. The four ship formations (followed by a brake off by each aircraft) flown by the Eurofighter, Phantom and Tornado made an impressive sight. Apart from the aircraft on flying display the public could see lots of interesting displays on the ground, including the first of the new DCRC (Deployable Control and Reporting Center) mobile Command Posts that was commissioned Dr. Jung of the MoD. The superb organisation by the men and women of JG 73 “S” (FW73) made this event unforgettable for all who attended – from die-hard enthusiast to the general public!

Robert Kysela (corrected by Rob Hynes)

Release 4.0/2008

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