siren wails. It’s not a constant tone
but an alternating ‘hi-lo’ signal.
This means an imminent threat of
attack. It’s followed by an announcement:
“Attention, everyone: exercise, exercise,
exercise!” Now everything has to happen
fast. The entire air base is put on standby.
To remain combat ready, Spangdahlem
Air Base, Germany – home of the US Air
Forces in Europe (USAFE) 52nd Fighter
Wing (FW) – underwent a base-wide
readiness exercise from March 5 to 16.
Daily flying operations were stepped up
accordingly. In the second week of the
manoeuvres, the resident 480th Fighter
Squadron (FS) ‘Warhawks’ conducted
more than half the missions they would
normally undertake in a whole month.
For Capt Casey ‘Fist’ Watts, 480th FS F-16
pilot and former T-6 instructor pilot, a drill of
this intensity was a new experience. ‘Fist’ has
spent a year and a half at ‘Spang’ and now has
around 450 flying hours on the ‘Viper’. “But this
is the first time I’ve been involved in an exercise
of this order of magnitude,” he admitted.
These large standby exercises involving the
entire air base take place twice a year. Besides
the 480th FS, the 112th Expeditionary
Fighter Squadron (EFS) ‘Stingers’ of
the Ohio Air National Guard also
participated on this occasion,
bringing 12 F-16CM Fighting
Falcons and 250 airmen.
The ‘Stingers’, home based
at Toledo Air National GuardStingers at Spang
Spangdahlem Air Base hosted
a Combat Readiness Exercise
in March, when ‘Vipers’ from
the Ohio Air National Guard’s
112 t h Fighter Squadron touched
down in Germany. Adrian
Stuermer and Dalibor Ankovic
were there.entire air base take place twice a year. Besides
the 480th FS, the 112th Expeditionary
Fighter Squadron (EFS) ‘Stingers’ of
the Ohio Air National Guard also
participated on this occasion,
bringing 12 F-16CM Fighting
Falcons and 250 airmen.
The ‘Stingers’, home based
at Toledo Air National GuardA
Right: A pilot runs pre-fl ight checks on F-16CM 91-
0340 ‘SP’ inside one of the Spangdahlem shelters.
Below: The pilot checks the busy fl ight line as
F-16C 90-0701 ‘OH’ taxies out for departure from
Spangdahlem’s runway 23. Main image: Ohio ANG
F-16C 90-0700 ‘OH’ tucks up its gear on take-off.
All photos Dalibor Ankovic/DA Photography96 // JUNE 2018 #363 http://www.airforcesmonthly.comOhio ANG in Europe