Combat aircraft

Right: The T-6 course

gives students an

opening taste of

formation flying.

Below left to right:

A ‘Twin Dragons’

T-6A taxies out for

a mission. With

around 200 aircraft

at Sheppard the pace

of flight operations is

relentless.

A neat vic formation

of T-6s demonstrates

the demands of flying

‘fingertip’.

Students fly with a

range of instructors

from the international

pool at ENJJPT.

T-38, which has been a USAF staple for

more than 55 years — it was the world’s

first supersonic trainer. Today, as per

regular USAF training units, ENJJPT

trainees fly the upgraded T-38C.

As might be expected for a wing

with such a vast remit, the flying day at

Sheppard starts early and the pace is

relentless. ‘We have around 240 sorties

per day,’ comments Themely, ‘from seven

o’clock in the morning to six o’clock at

night for the last landing during the

summer, and in the winter we’re flying

from sunrise to sunset. When every

single one of those minutes of the

day are used for take-off and landing,

sometimes the capacity limitation is

literally just daylight.’

‘There are many aspects of ENJJPT

that make this program unique. Some

of these include having 14 different

nations joining forces to participate,

making sure that [it] goes in the right

direction with the steering committee.

[The] committee meets twice a year,

[outside the US] in the fall and then in

the spring they meet here in Wichita

FEATURE ARTICLE // EURO-NATO JOINT JET PILOT TRAINING

34 March 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net

30-41 ENJPTS C.indd 34 19/01/2018 11:09