Air Base Receives Streamer

The streamer-awarding ceremony was graced with the presence – among others – of MoD Chief of Cabinet Dr. Gábor Szarka, Col. Keith P. Boone, Commander of the Heavy Airlift Wing (HAW) stationed in Pápa, and Maj.-Gen. Zoltán Pintér, Air Force Chief, HDF Joint Force Command as well.

At the beginning of his speech praising the merits of the base personnel, Lt. Gen. Zoltán Orosz gave a special welcome to the soldiers serving on the aircraft-engineering field, who celebrated their arms day on July 2.

“A decade ago you had to create the most basic circumstances while being on the verge of disbandment. The Base has been established with new tasks and new capabilities, and as a result of a 10-year lasting dedicated work, the unit became a well-respected and recognized member of the Hungarian Defence Forces." emphasized the Lieutenant General.

He added: it is a great honor for the town and for the unit that Pápa was selected as the base of the Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) Program consisting of twelve nations. He also pointed out that the airmen have demonstrated in the recent period of time that: “Pápa and the Air Base have been good hosts to the fleet".

“The streamer tied to the unit colours bears the message that the soldiers of the Air Base with their excellent performance proved worthy to the spirit of the unit colours. They demonstrated with their service that the streamer of the President of the Republic was fully merited." – ended his speech Lt. Gen. Zoltán Orosz, then conveyed the appreciation on behalf of Minister of Defence Dr. Csaba Hende and  Chief of Defence Dr. Tibor Benkő to the personnel.

“It is good to know that our superiors acknowledge the hard work, with which our soldiers serve the Homeland" – said in his reply address Col. Miklós Domonkos, Commander of the Air Base.

In the following the Colonel summarized in a nutshell the history of the past ten years of the Air Base, right from the first “man-trying times" up to the very moment when the first C-17 transport aircraft of the Heavy Airlift Wing landed in Pápa.

After the streamer-awarding ceremony a merry family day began, where the guests could visit the technical equipment of the Base (among them one of the C-17 aircraft), and could celebrate the tenth anniversary with many a high-level program in good spirit.

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Photos by the author