Take offs and landings from outside the base

After we left the base we searched for a nice place along the fence. Unfortunately we were just a few minutes to late to take pictures of the departures of the second wave. However we were able to take some good shots of these Phantoms during landing. The Skyhawks of BAE Flight Systems flew pretty good. Four of these former Israeli AF jets flew several local missions during the day, including one in a very nice camouflage color scheme.

Due to the lack of air traffic controllers the Phantoms didn't fly any local missions in the afternoon. Besides the A-4 Skyhawk that flew in the afternoon, only three Phantoms departed. Two of them were the QRA-aircraft and the other one was the orange Phantom of WTD 61.

As you can see below we had the opportunity to take some nice shots of the Phantoms and Skyhawk. Of course the weather helped a lot as it was nice sunny and 25º C during the day. Around four o'clock we left Wittmund and drove back home where we arrived five hours later. Mike and Niels thanks a lot for again a nice day.

History of Jagdgeschwarder 71 "Richthofen"

Jagdgeschwader 71 “Richthofen” was Germany’s first operational jet fighter unit. The unit was formed in June 1959, equipped with 50 Canadair Sabre Mk.6s and stationed at the former RAF Ahlhorn. The highest-scoring fighter pilot of all time, Erich Hartmann, flew the Canadair Sabre, and aircraft such as the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, in the newly formed wing in the late 1950s. On 21 April 1961, the 43^rd  anniversary of the death of “Red Baron” Rittmeister Manfred Von Richthofen, JG 71 was given the honorary title of “Richthofen” by Federal President Heinrich Lübke. On 26 April 1963, JG 71 transferred from RAF Ahlhorn to Wittmund.

Only a few days later the first Lockheed F-104 Starfighters started their careers with the Luftwaffe and landed at Wittmund. On 31 August 1973 the first pair of McDonnell Douglas F-4F Phantom II’s landed at Wittmund. These two jets were mainly used for training the ground crews in how to use the new weapon systems.  By 7 March 1974 the first Phantoms were assigned to JG 71 and on 19 September that year the unit’s Starfighters were withdrawn from use.

In 1988 the Wing's secondary role of Fighter Bomber Attack was given up so that JG 71 is now exclusively a Fighter Wing. The Phantoms are due to be decommissioned and replaced by Eurofighter Typhoons by 2012. There was also a Jagdgeschwader 71 serving in the Luftwaffe for a short while during World War II. It consisted of I. Gruppe, with a Gruppenstab and two squadrons. It was created on 16 July 1939 in Schleissheim, and served until redesignated II./JG 51 in October.