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Jaroslav Špaček
Senior NTA Advisor
Photos by Uli Metternich,
Katsuhiko Tokunaga, Remo Guidi.
This EF-2000 Typhoon from the German 74th Squadron
was awarded the best adorned Tiger aircraft.
The other Italian unit that is a member of the NTA (NATO Tiger Association)
is Gruppo 21, which is based at Grazanissa. In its arsenal, the old Agusta
-
-Bell 212 helicopters were replaced last year with the modern three-engine
AW-101 Merlin modified for Combat SAR missions, which is called the
HH-101A Caesar. The history of this unit is more than interesting. It was
established on May 25th, 1918, and for a long time it was a ‘winged’ squad
-
ron (a unit using fixed wing aircraft). From 1963, it was based at Cameri
Airport and was armed with the F-104 Starfighter of various versions until
1996. It was then re-armed with leased British Tornado F.3 aircraft. On July
29th, 1999, the squadron moved to Gioia del Colle Air Base, where it was
disbanded on March 1st, 2001 and it was this squadron that was the ‘real’
Italian Tiger squadron... However, it was subsequently reactivated on March
23rd, 2006 at Grazanisse to become a purely helicopter unit armed with the
above-mentioned rescue AB-212COs. This photograph of the machine before
sunset shows one of the first helicopters delivered, which were black
in colour, while newer acquisitions have been delivered in grey.
Thirty-five years after the Tigers last met
in Italy at the base in Camari, Gruppo XII,,
they again hosted the annual NATO Tiger
Meet, this time armed with Eurofighters.
This is part of the historic 36° Stormo,
the 36th Wing, whose history dates
back to just before the Second World
War, when it was established at Milan
on February 1st, 1938. A total of 21
squadrons from 14 countries participated
in this year's NTM with a total of 67
combat aircraft, 9 helicopters and
4 support machines, namely KC-130J
and KC-767 aircraft, AWACS from the
1st NATO Squadron out of Geilenkirchen,
and a GFD Learjet for the simulation
of threats in the framework of radio
electronic warfare. Here, we take
a look a the most interesting
participants in the following
photo report.
Tigers in Gioia del Colle
Tigers in Gioia del Colle
HISTORY
INFO Eduard26
March 2024