In the Company of Tigers

Woodbridge, England – 1961: the 74th Squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF), the 79th Fighter Squadron of the US Air Force (USAF) and the EC 1/12 Squadron of the French Air Force conduct a short, one-day exercise. Each of these three squadrons has a tiger emblem. They did not know that they were making history – or rather, using their “tiger’s claws", they scratched their names into the annals of aviation history. One of next year’s pages in this chronicle informs us that NATO

Tiger Meet, perhaps the most special exercise and celebration of fighter pilots of the Alliance, is marking its 50th anniversary in 2011.
Tiger Meet is much more than a friendly exhibition of airplanes painted with every conceivable marking of the “Tiger Spirit" – it is a very demanding, two-week multinational exercise featuring several types of aircraft in which the pilots of participating countries are tasked with flying almost every kind of mission imaginable. This means that organizers have much of work to do, as the crowded European airspaces make it difficult to plan those flights that are intended to be very complex yet must be completed safely. Moreover, the nature of air combat has changed: these days there is much more to it than Offensive Counter Air (OCA) carried out by the Red Force enemy aircraft formations and the Blue-Force fighters on Defensive Counter Air (DCA) in the Combined Air Operation (COMAO) phase. The enemy can be a simulated state-of-the-art Sukhoi Su–35 Flanker or even a terrorist who uses innocent civilians as a human shield.

In order to make the training scenario more realistic, Special Forces ground units and support aircraft also join the exercise, and the organizers also try to “incorporate" into the planning of the missions the lessons learned in Afghanistan and Iraq. We have to accept that these two areas of operation will present several challenges to NATO’s strike fighters, support aircraft and helicopters over the coming years, so it is not surprising if the pilots and soldiers attending the Tiger Meet program show a great interest in the skills, advices and lessons learned by those pilots who have deployed (possibly more than once)to these two theaters.

In 2010, the event was hosted by the 313th Squadron of the Royal Netherlands Air Force at Volkel Air Base, welcoming Tigers from Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, France, Hungary, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, and Turkey. The number of sorties was considerable as 60 planes, 250 pilots, 400 technicians and other ground crew arrived to join the two-week event. They did not have the time to get bored, since a total of 750 flights had been planned for the exercise, of which 644 were actually flown. Airborne surveillance and command and control (C2) was provided by an E– 3A Sentry from No. 1. Squadron of the NATO Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) fleet taking off from Geilenkirchen Air Base in Germany. Air-to-air refueling was carried out by a KC–135R Stratotanker of the 121st Air Refueling Wing of the Ohio Air National Guard – this aircraft took to the sky from the Eindhoven Air Base.

The “Tiger Spirit" lies in the hearts of the participants, and is also depicted on the bodies of the planes, which is one of the most appealing features of Tiger Meets. Be it a re-painted whole aircraft, a fin, a nose or a squadron emblem, it is the intention that matters. But to the visitors, the end result also matters – a unique and imaginative painting naturally represents a meaningful victory for the crew, the unit and the given country. Interestingly, the older, colorful and bright-toned creations are nowadays complemented with a growing number of markings using various shades of grey.

Tiger Meet 2011 will be held in Cambrai, France, and according to plans, Monte Real (Portugal) in 2012,while in 2013Araxos (Greece) will host the bright “Tiger fighter jets" with roaring engines, including (hopefully) the Hungarian Gripens, too. Following a professional performance worthy of Tigers at this and last year’s exercises, having the necessary references (from nations participating as full members) and having completed a two-year probationary period the “Puma" (Cougars), the 1st Tactical Fighter Squadron of the HDF 59th Szengyörgyi Dezső Air Base, Kecskemét may attain full membership of the NATO Tiger Association (NTA) at the 50th Tiger Meet in 2011. (Let’s not forget that cougars are also big cats!).

In 2010, the nominated airmen from the Szentgyörgyi Dezső Air Base, Kecskemét joined Tiger Meet flying two An–26 transport aircraft as well as two single-seater (side No. 32 and 36) and a two-seater (side No. 42) Gripen fighters.

Photo: NATO-archive