Strana 11
After flying and the subsequent flight
debriefs, we were taken by bus to our
accommodations, which were a complex of
modern hotels not far from the base. Together
with our colleagues from Čáslav, we occupied
one floor of the hotel with members of the
Signal Corps of the German Bundeswehr. They
turned out to be very sociable and friendly,
so our informal get-to-know-you party,
combined with tasting our national dishes and
drinks, lasted well into the night.
The German commander, a captain originally
from the former GDR, was properly exhausted
by the combination of the Spanish climate
and our excellent Moravian plum brandy and
chilled Pilsner beer, so he had his subordinates
line up in the corridor and he ceremoniously
handed over the command of his unit to me,
along with his rank insignia. I searched my
memory and put together a few sentences in
German, saying that I was proud of my new unit
and promised them that we would continue our
meetings as long as our supplies lasted! In the
morning, we met some of them for breakfast,
they looked very exhausted and sleepless, and
they graciously declined our offer of another
flight debriefing in the evening after the flying
had been concluded.
The atmosphere was absolutely excellent
throughout the fourteen days; never before or
since have I encountered such friendliness and
willingness from all participants. Gradually,
after our machines had flown off on their
mission, I walked around the apron and took
pictures of the interestingly colored machines
of the event participants. They greeted me
everywhere with a smile and offered me the
opportunity, if possible, to sit in the cockpit
and take pictures of more or less whatever
I wanted. In return, I invited them to a reciprocal
visit and get up close and personal with our
helicopters, and we exchanged more patches
and various other souvenirs. Most of them
actually stopped by our little corner of the field,
inspected our machines, sat in the cockpits
and took pictures. Some lucky ones even got
the opportunity to ride in one of our machines.
That is why you can see stickers of some
participating squadrons whose members flew
with us on the left side of the Mi-17 under the
pilot's canopy. The event went off without any
major problems, and the winners in the various
competition categories were announced.
The Silver Tiger Award for the overall winner
was awarded to the 31st Squadron of the
Belgian Air Force from Kleine Brogel, flying
F-16A/B MLU aircraft.
REPORT
INFO Eduard
11
February 2026