Monday 19 June was our first rebound day! We were greeted at the gate of Malbork by our contact person and he had good news. There would be a lot of flying! In the meanwhile, we had learned that due to runway repairs at their home base, 11 MiG-29s from Miñsk Mazowiecki would deploy to Malbork airbase for a stay until August. What a start of the morning! As the first activities could already be seen at the flightline of 41. Eskadra Lotnictwa Taktycznego (41.elt), we headed out for a spot close to rotation point to photograph the first take-offs of the day. The return of the mission was photographed near touchdown point at the beginning of the runway. With all MiG-29s returned to base we decided to take some pictures at the flight line before the afternoon mission began.
We heard that the MiG-29s from Miñsk (1. Eskadra Lotnictwa Taktycznego or 1.elt) would arrive shortly after lunch so we positioned ourselves close to the touchdown point again for some action pictures. In the meanwhile, the based MiG-29s were flying again as well so there was a lot of action going on. With so many smoking Klimov RD-33 engines used at one base, Malbork was dubbed ‘Marlboro’ for the occasion.
After the final MiG-29 had landed we called it today. Unfortunately, we had learned in the meantime that Świdwin would be having a non-flying day at Tuesday (again) so no Su-22s this trip as well. Due to the enormous hospitality form the guys at Malbork we were given the chance to come back to their base the following day instead.
