In 2014 4Aviation had scheduled a tour to the spotter’s day during the NATO Tiger Meet again. This year this took place at Schleswig and for the exercise two spotter’s days were organised. 4Aviation opted for the second one, on Monday 23 June. The double decker bus first picked up people on Sunday evening 22 June, starting from Nijmegen. The last of 76 participants of the tour were met early on Monday morning at the border between Oldenzaal and Bad Bentheim.
After an easy ride the bus arrived at the parking lot for the spotter’s day well in time. Access to the base was very well organised and fast and we were among the first to be on base and could choose our favourite spot within the area that was created. Not long after that the visiting Portuguese F-16s took off, after which the morning wave of the Tiger Meet took to the air. Dozens of aircraft taking off after each other; always a treat. As expected many of the units had applied tiger markings to one of their aircraft (or parts of it). Taking pictures of the take-off was fine but the sun was not really cooperating at that moment. After recovery the major part of the aircraft came close by. A large number of the pilots parked his or her aircraft nicely so the best shots could be made.
After lunch, catering was provided (but not free), the wave took off for a second time. The sun had moved to an unfavourable position by then but that yielded other sights/photos. Furthermore most choppers come by very nicely in the afternoon. Around 5 PM the activity was slowing down and all were expected to have left the base by 6 PM. After that the bus headed south again, heading for the Netherlands with a lot of happy faces on board. The final participants were dropped off at Nijmegen-Dukenburg well after midnight (on Tuesday 24 June by then).
