Rotations & Exercises  Volkel AB,  2-19 October 2000

The month October brought a lot of nice visitors to Volkel AB. At that time I was working with Air Traffic Control at Volkel AB which gave me lots of nice photo opportunities from various locations.

Monday the 2nd of October three MiG-29 Fulcrums from the Slovak airbase Sliač arrived for a "Partnership of Peace" exercise with the 312 Sqn. During the arrival I had afternoon shift at the tower, which was really unforgettable. The MiG-29UB reported initial for the runway 24R, but we couldn't see him anywhere. Suddenly it came from behind the trees at 100 ft, made a roll halfway the runway, and turned to downwind. Wow!!

During the week, the single seat Fulcrums flew two missions a day fighting against two F-16s of the 312 Sqn. The two seater flew only one mission a day, with one of the Dutch pilots in the backseat. The dogfights didn't last very long as the range of the MiGs is very short. Only fifteen minutes after they arrived in the exercise area the MiGs reported 'low on fuel' already. On Friday the 6th, the three Fulcrum and its support  went back to Slovakia.

That same week, on the 3rd, four Spanish EF-18s arrived for a squadron rotation with the 312 Sqn. Earlier this year the 312 visited Torrejón de Ardoz, and now it was their turn to come to Volkel AB. The Hornets flew two missions a day against some of the Dutch F-16s. After a long stay, including the weekend (to party in Amsterdam) the Hornets left on the 10th. This brought again some nice support aircraft to Volkel AB.

 

On the 9th of October again some really nice visitors came to Volkel AB. A total of four F-16s from the Hellenic airbase Nea Anchialos stayed for two weeks to take part in the exercise 'Falcon Nut'. The first week of their stay the only flew three mission to train Air-to-Air Refueling with the Dutch KDC-10. The second week they flew two missions a day, taking part in the Falcon Nut exercise. After a stay of ten days, they left for Greece again.

 

The pictures you see on this page are taken from various positions on base during the two weeks.                         (Click here for my log of these two weeks)