http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #354 SEPTEMBER 2017 // 63

drop our ordnance over Syria and Iraq.

“For the southern route, we have

co-operation with Israel, Jordan and

Iraq. This route allows us to ‘go in the

back’ of Syria, in the Raqqa and al-Tanf

areas, and it also allows us to get to the

northern part of Iraq, including the Mosul

area. At the same time, we have Cyprus

co-operating with us in administration

support and rescue operations. It is very

comfortable operating here in the eastern

Mediterranean. It is a crowded area,

but it is a comfortable crowded area.”

Russian rendezvous

Operations in the Mediterranean – the

Sixth Fleet area of operations (AOR) –

present CSG-2 and the embarked Carrier

In the wake of the first US kill of a

manned aircraft since Operation

Allied Force in 1999, AFM’s Vangelis

Antonakis went aboard USS George H

W Bush in the eastern Mediterranean

to hear a first-hand report of the shoot-

down at a time of escalating tensions

in the region.

FREEDOMFREEDOM

AT WORK

Above: In the cockpit

of a C-2A fl ying over

Crete on the way to

USS ‘George H W Bush’.

Frequent fl ights were made

between the carrier and

Souda Bay. Flying time

between Crete and the

carrier was around two

hours. All photos Vangelis

Antonakis unless stated

Below: An F/A-18F assigned

to VFA-213 ‘Blacklions’

prepares to launch from

USS ‘George H W Bush’

with a full load of ten

1,000lb GBU-32 JDAMs.

US Navy/Mass

Communica-

tion Special-

ist 2nd Class

Hank Gettys