Tim Lami a~

p 3 q
AEROSPACE
tiger now art, an F 4 E Phantom ti of
the 141st Tactid Fighter Sqwdcw.
108th T&d F i l k Wi w Xor
P- of ho 2.30-4% GI st& 0"
m* for RAF U p W a d and the
1990mrmTlgerhdm Thislrmits
the ody khpter e qq$ member
d the hger hakmty ( H d / m e l
Right Ihe Ihe bWyellow sdrw
applied by EC 51330 d th Fwn&
Ai r Fa r r ts this Mirw 2WO was
O.e14T@T'kprrthsaWvi~iM
s e n ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ t b i 6
book! (7imkifdw>
Contents
Introduction 6
United States Air Force 8
United States Navy 33
Royal Air Force 34
Royal Navy - Fleet Air Arm
46
L'Armhe de 1'Air 48
Ahronautique Navale 5 8
Force Ahrienne Belge/Belgische
Luchtmacht 62
Forca Aerea Portuguese 84
Ejercito del Air 92
Aeronautica Militare Italiano 94
Turk Hava Kuwetleri 104
El l i i i Aeroporia 105
Swiss Air Force 106
Royal Norwegian Air Force 110
Koninklijke Luchtmacht 114
Canadian Armed Forces (Air) 116
Royal Australian Navy 128
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An official Tigmaub' member since 1468. the W3rd BS fell vtctim to 115
.
budgn cuts and was &sbandpd in 1990 Pea- AFB war dored and the hgmr
may well have s e n the law of the393rd (Ttm inmtng)
Whereit dstatted; thelgth TFSiso;sdikdwiththemiginal& e f r e t hg q
~ a H g f f f n t e m i ~ w ~ ~ i n 1 9 ~ ) . s f i n ~ m u c h i n ~ a t & A F U p p e r
:wrd m Ddordshin, the qadmn is psrt of the 20t hTPWd *opentea the
F-IIIE Ship W D 2 dkplaysearly white tail mdes, now applied in bh& W y
CJnd-sm Col1.~mrl
An F-15D combatzapable tnincr of the 53rd TFS. United Sratc~ Aiz Forcer
Europe, m f i d a p p c h to itr hr cat Bitburg mGamany. Apmi horn the
m h h f u a l tank Thiskin-stick Fagleis i n c h w&uratiun -or ia I
Them's a Sidewinder AAM up h e somewhere (Chndtm Gmvd, VDL)
I
I
Positioned in front of Bitburg's control tower, an F-15A Eagle air superiority
fighter of the 53rd TFS stands ready. A long-time partidpant at annual Tiger
Meets, the squadron operated the F-105 Thunderchef, F-4D and F-4E Phantom
11s before re-equipping with theMcDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle in 1977. The
53rd TFS is one of four US Air Force air defence squadrons permanently based
h Europe
Royal Air P-
Unhlre many of their NATO ~mbxpmb, ECIn2 lus not wqletely tiger-
shiped any of thar & m e they operated the Super Md r e . The nearest
the rmit have mme (ro Isr) ho ado- o Muage F 1 in suh c o h wS
which appeared at the I979 Ti@ Meet aosecmnination afthi s $ a t a d
meal that membw of No 4.39 Sqh Cmdau b d h s have Wf
visited t hs Mmge mth a pant hmh ( Pad W
UP h e the deudr m its nehual elawt the deck &ce F I loah ~VCN ~~-~
in& *fighter, B&-in inrnament ir a pair of 30 mm DEPA -on (each ~ i &
I35 rounds of u s d y high-explosive zmm-, snd tk missile& is
typically two wingtip MatraRWO Msgici&d-@ded M M s , d o r h v o
Maiktr. ? mp~ 5 3 OFr a d u W &AM. The bolt-on @@d r dkk probe is
d y fitted when a mission qui r e s tanker mppmt. If youle a head for figuree.
Youmightme ton* that theembmisaSNECMAAter9LSOtUrboidwith
ama&um(afkrburr(er) thrwt ofi5673lb i bat l we~ ~lthoughnot in the
samadsssartheF-I&orMna~e2oOD theFl i seol bl edtahne&&~
gmund ron of lust over 2 ~ 0 f i . dimblng to an & olffi.000"ft and
leadung speds m excess of Mach 2 (SIKPA.AIR)
and opraks fmm the sircrsff-&ier C k m as qd. The unit badge
fc-ahue a m horn-not @e a tiger, but me o n e b v a e d thnt the h e d
~ n b h of the wurhia i l indeed a (iuu. The nst is h o w Wrap-d
Rather more mundane, FA 72 sits on the Gmbriu&ght ght d- ths 1986
Tlger Meat wearing the standard Belgrw m force cam&errhame (indeed
theaLncptwdF-Ibwlour&zix) At b t theintakeunmaddradsnh
of& K%dm eanOd/WL)
I
Two Fighting F a l w Imm the 3M SmaEk.1 B$gM AjrFotce, &about todrpart
Imm t h e hawe b a ~ it Kleine %el. The wingman lo& MFOSS the l eak on
hir nght and with a nod of &ation the bnJres u. relead in u n m
( d y ) , followed by a blast of powerimm the F-16'. Patt k Whi hxqFl OO
twboian. The blue6nmmrLingi~thatofthe 10th Pi ghkrhber Wing, d
which the 3Ist is s component squadmn [-fa* &st attended a Tigg. Meet in
1962, the squadron ha. been aregularpartidpmt in t i i events e m since
(fnmk V k )
The Lu&mfft hnr pdadualh, applied s highly effective 'Uzard'cmouAsgc
nchem lo rtl Brrt of Alpha Jet attack -aft (Chndim Gnurdl YDLl
I.b& 43 cekbrated itr 25th smuvmsa~p on I0 Nwanber 1981 tn traditional
h f h @ k ? x ~n . one of the&* Alpha JaS (40 + 44) m~ l i v d a
cmmemnbve EO~OUI +. Bein@ (he WU$I debration bther than the
there -'t r trace of a hgo shzpmpeanphere on the &u& (E
An W
.
The G.91T two-seat hainer retains the same Orpheus turbojet as fitted to the
single-seat Gina. Derived kom the North American P-86 Sabre, the G.91 was
developed as a direct result of a joint NATO requirement foi a light hghter and
tactical support aircraft inrued in 1953. So who ssid the Zurofightef was a new
ideal (Frank VilJer)
This Vought A-7P Corsai ir belongs to 304 Lqwdra; judging by the badge on
the fire 304 is at least an'unoffidal' tiger squadron However, the word is that
when theG. 91~ are finally withdrawn from service, thisunit may well assume
the role of being Portugal's of f i d tiger squadron. I wonder if we will see a
tiger-striped Corsair? (had Vlsrrr)
Outride 21' Gruppa's officers, an F-I046 strikes a suborbital pore wearing the
colour scheme introduced at the 1988 Tier Meet (GimppeFmn')
b . - .
. .\
-
Turk Hava Kuwetleri
The T h h &force also operates n krgp B e t af F-I&, hhding Smsdels
A k d t w72ofthe 19zFzb uana-LufkwfFFIMG, asrevealedbythe
gnen/ %~y s p k b ramaulbge a d day& wfngfip t s h The Twks hsve yet
to a& thm fBB 8hare d involvemwt m ttner r H e s and 192 %am
r&reen at other NATO arbbases, which u"a great &me, e l p a d y rf you
happen tu be a S&&tn addla (Rnbbs yllwl
Once upon tima, the vaatamlvdy ofNAT0's &dnt-Lne@krhher
~q& wme equcpprd w~b the Loekheed F- %f f i Shrfighta. Consequently,
mom h a httle space on the BBT Mept ramp was v ~ e d by me w
St&$tershom d&mat rnVnmwalUIov&h the F-I04 w dowly hdq into
hstm M less than three Hger q d mm wMhnued t o o w e the type m
1991 Bmed st l\r-one auchdl s 335 Mfaof the G ~ ~ P o I E ~ .
DespIk hawngpned the Hger hat mt y in19rL the tltoltnrtk - l y atknded
mual TIger M&. But 435 Mn. hsw occagiody displayed smne hser
spmt check art the m y tales
under the cm&~e~of ttdr TF-~Q$G
I' &..-WW
Swiss Air Force
Formed in 1949, No 336 had the honour ofbeing the first Norwegian squadron
to become operational with jet aircraft (de Havilland Vampires). Later
equipment included the F-846 Thunderjet and F-86 Sabre. This vnit also had
the distinction of owratine the air force's one-and-onlv serobatic team. 'The
u
FI)tng :okerr', m s l ~ l l ~ hirh the r d 6 a d 1Lrc.r r l v 1 5 O ~ r d f rnerqoaJruns
b-jH~ornbat :ramerr rharer chramp wlrh 1 Ld&n~cF- ; F Phan!om I I K~ I
Anothcrvlewof~~~~aftMmberWI,~~hmcasrth~tkhpdh
m w o w tar& in northem Nmway The rep"& d m dm
scheme has nncg b m replsced h$ gloss Wtgreys (&I Simonwn)
Canadian Armed forces
Ut*~-U-u-~~~.,v"ulh.d.h.dacn
~ * c - m * . ~ r i b b u 4 b u 4 b u 4 b u 4 b u 4 b u 4
~ m * " i a u o l o x r ~ . 4 - p , ~ - ~ ,
J.. .
i..i.
DM to the wagah of muaft=-* and the mhne of reaLshc sir mht
&+Ie trainen Lkefhis CF-1LIB m a m m i h e gown wllh the
Msedempht I f w o a ~ b l s a q w ~ W R t ~ ~ a ~ t e r t o U I ~ M E e t ~
that ether tiger pi& have ln.opprhmty toexp&m &rent typn of
lud (Chnr BatmItl
h4ay 11990, andNo 439 Sqnhe up m h n t of three CE-18s m happer times
before the Tlgen deployed to the Gultdunng the Iraq-Kuwart cnns Uocl
Ship 188922 is one of 24 CF~I8Bcombat-capable trainers delivered to the
Canadian ArrnedForcer. Both the CF-18A and the B model differ indetail from
the rtandardFIA-I8 Hornet operated by the USNsvy andMarineCorps; a
spotlight is mounted in the forward fuselage in order to visually identiiy airmatt
at night, and a runway instrument landing system is fitted in place of its carrier
equivalent Uens Sihmidt~e")
Baden Sollingen no longer e r h w to the distinctive wail of t hef f - I04
Starfighter's GenedElechidOrenda 179 turbojet, but them's atill an
ahnosohare of &ion for thie fm a i d . Ship 104815 is a 'standnrd'
v - I ~ ~ G , -us the w a n d forward fuselage ECM f amgr retrofitted to moot
of +he Starfinhters whch m e d mth the 1st Ca d a n Air Grow The overall
-
green patnrwork on this aircrah was aometh~ng d a n lntmim meawe. IPDMIW
tho yrarr brhvccn the early natural metal schemes and the hnal dirruphve
pyI gr e e n camouke IKa, An d 4
I
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* Royal Australian Navy
One of the Ism-kown tiger squadrons, the &busten of the RDyd
f
Australian Navy's VS-816 only e v e r a t W one Tiger Meet. the 1977 went
at RAF Greenhrm Common in Batshire VS-816 oparated Gmmma T &
fmmNASNom and weredeployed on the a u d e a n w W MrIbwme.
The T r a h ad the Mehaurn are hstory now (via k k Vke)
HIGH-PROFILE COMBAT AIRCRAFT SQUADRONS
I N TIGER MARKINOS
I
Combat Aircraft titlw from Osprey Aerorpace
TOMCATS mmR
De v Mf &mwn&R~ FDor r
MiE-29
sOvietSu&Mw
Jon Lake
MlRAOEl
D8ssauws Math z WlWiOrs
~ D u c h a i e a ~ & ~ ~ H u u t s s
NAw ATTACK
Spada Swcootenrsl Whalw
RonB J ~ m Y I o n & ~ B L e w i s
~ M C W a A R o S
G mw s G mw s a p p a r s & ~
*ud JFranuRm&*B EM
Sol edhbuwrs for the USA