2014 Schleswig Jagel exercise Nato Tiger Meet

The NTM of 2014 was held at Schleswig-Jagel Luftwaffe air base. The day started somewhat cloudy/ rainy but during the day the weather became much better. 

Schleswig-Jagel is home to the Taktische Luftwaffengeschwader 51 "Immelman"- formerly known as the Aufklarungsgeschwader 51. In the past it flew the RF-4E Phantom, after which it saw many different roles. MFG1 was dissolved into AG51 and used Tornado's (IDS/ ECR) with recce pods and as fighter bombers. Later it would also cover the maritime strike role and SEAD. Right now it also covers Tornado flying crew training and uses IAI Heron drones to support its other roles. In 2014 the TLG51 hosted the annually held Nato Tiger Meet.

The NTM's are not just a 'social' exercise but also have a tactical exercise element and several competitive awards. The goal is to train together, bond between NATO units and maintain a high overall standard of some of the European most elite squadrons.

Besides the hosting TLG51 with its Tornado's the Luftwaffe participated with TLG74 Eurofighters, among them the 'Bavarian Tiger' c/s EF2000. Another German (HEER) most interesting participant was a Tiger UHT, which is not a common sight.


Really cool participants were the French with a Navy 11F Rafale M group of 4, another 3 Rafales from EC1/7 and 3 Mirage 2000's of ECE5/330 and EC2/5. The French Navy Rafales only had black&white tiger fuel tanks - no overall special c/s. I always like the Rafale M-model with the buffed up Nose Landing Gear for carrier operations. The Armee de l'Air Rafales had one aircraft with special red/golden c/s and the pilot had a stuffed animal tiger toy in the back of the cockpit! The Mirage 2000-5's were of the special Mont de Marsan experimental unit. Their almost completely black c/s Mirage with lightning really stood out.


One can not deny the ever fierce attitude of the Polish Air Force (viper) pilots! As it was the case during NTM2014 - they had two really neat tiger c/s F-16's (a C and a D) and were promoting their squadron and nation as none other, holding a XXXL sqaudron badge in the cockpit and another a large Polish flag! Talking about FOD (well at least these are difficult to lose in the cockpit...). 3 F-16C's and 2 F-16D's of 6Elt participated.

5 Belgian F-16's of the well known 31sm of Kleine Brogel were also present - flying one nice 31sq Tiger tail aircraft. Two other F-16's had the '31 tigers' logo and diagonal band only on their tails.


To be honost, my favorite tail/ badge of this day was Czech 211tl JAS39 Gripen 'Tigerhead'. Their badge was a copy of their special tail depicting a skull morphing with a tiger... Besides the skull tail aircraft the Czech also had another special tail c/s - this time some colorful art kind of tail, completely the opposite of the skull tail. Pilots wore Mohican haircuts on top of their helmets and deathshead scarfes over their oxygen masks.