AirForces Monthly – July 2018

AFM

http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #364 JULY 2018 // 71

Austria sent a pair of Saab 105OEs, with one
wearing the same tail artwork seen at last
year’s NTM. At least two other squadrons also
still displayed schemes from previous meets.
One of the NATO E-3s was marked with
orange and black tiger stripes. Although it
only flew from its home station, it performed
a couple of flybys at the end of sorties.
The 211. taktická letka (211. TL, 211th
Tactical Squadron) of the Vzdušné síly
Armády České republiky (Air Component
of the Army of the Czech Republic) was
represented by two colourful Gripens. One
had a tiger’s head on the tail, while the
second wore a red, white and blue design
marking the centenary of the air component.
Several helicopters also displayed attractive
schemes. The 3e Régiment d’Hélicoptères
de Combat (3e RHC, 3rd Combat Helicopter
Regiment) of the Aviation Légère de l’Armée
de Terre (ALAT, French Army Aviation) at Étain-
Rouvres brought an SA342M Gazelle with the
forward portion of the helicopter painted silver
and with a huge tiger on the rear fuselage,
extending along the tail boom. The Royal
Air Force’s No 230 Squadron sent a Puma
HC2 painted pale grey with black tiger stripes
and the ‘RAF100’ logo to commemorate
the centenary of both the service and the
squadron. Italy’s 21° Gruppo provided an
HH-212 ICO with extensive black and yellow
artwork. Its tail boom carried the legends ‘50
Years in Grazzanise’ on one side and ‘100 Anni
Nella Gloria’ (100 years of glory) on the other.

Army interaction

The NTM also enabled the host nation to

employ a variety of additional assets for

training within a multinational environment.

Other Polish military involvement included

air defence units and army elements. The

latter featured Mi-8Ts from the 1 Dywizjon

Lotniczy (1st Air Squadron ) at Leźnica Wielka

and W-3PLs from Inowrocław-Latkowo. Both

flew alongside rotorcraft from NTM members.

Poznań-Krzesiny is a large air base but was

transformed by the arrival of an additional 1,500

personnel and the vast amount of equipment

needed to support the exercise. In addition,

hundreds of Polish service people were drafted

in from almost all air force facilities across the

country. On May 19 it was announced that

the 2019 event will return to familiar territory,

being staged at Mont-de-Marsan, possibly

in May. Such is the importance of the NTM

that planning for next year began almost as

soon as the latest event had concluded.

Among the helicopter participants were HH-212

ICO MM81151 from 21° Gruppo at Grazzanise,

Polish Mi-8T 648 from the 1 Dywizjon Lotniczy

at Leźnica Wielka, No 230 Squadron Puma HC2

XW224 from RAF Benson, Oxfordshire, and

Czech Mi-35 ‘Hind-F’ 3366.

Above: Czech Mi-35 ‘Hind-F’ 3366 received its ‘Alien Tiger’ colours for the 2016 Tiger Meet in Spain. The

aircraft, c/n 203366, is operated by the 221. vrtulníková letka (221st Helicopter Squadron) at Náměšť

nad Oslavou. Below: Recently delivered Eurofi ghter C.14-31 ‘14-31’ is the latest Spanish ‘Tiger jet’ from

Escuadrón 142 at Albacete. Escuadrón 142 joined the NATO Tiger community in 1986 as a Mirage F1

operator and began its transition to the Eurofi ghter in 2011.