Air Defender 2023 Hohn
Hohn airbase
Hohn airbase was a temporary inactive airbase activated especially for Air Defender 2023. Formerly operating C160 Transalls of LTG63 this airbase has a single runway which can be entirely seen from the Southern side - perfect for photographing. I also found this to be the best airbase during this exercise: it would be the homebase for a large number of Air National Guard F15 Eagles and US Navy Super Hornets and Growlers of the USS Gerald R. Ford. Next to these exotic types/ units a detachmentof Finnish (legacy) Hornets and British RAF Typhoons operated out of Hohn.
The US Navy aircraft consisted of some special aircraft; one of them being the (Growler) CAG-bird. The ANG Eagles also came with two aircraft with other (very rare/ special) unit markings: one with ZZ (Kadena airbase 44FS - Japan) and one with OT (Nellis AFB, 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron) markings - both extremely rare to be seen in Europe.
Small account of F15C photo's can be seen beneath - click here for the complete F15 Eagle photo report
All participating F15C's of the 131th Fighter Squadron / Massachusetts Air National Guard:
84-0010 / MA | 84-0016 / MA | 85-0101 / MA | 85-0110 / ZZ |
85-0126 / OT | 86-0154 / MA | 86-0163 / MA | 86-0168 / MA |
All participating F15C's of the 122nd Fighter Squadron / Louisiana Air National Guard:
82-0009 / JZ | 82-0010 / JZ | 82-0017 / JZ | 83-0010 / JZ |
83-0036 / JZ | 83-0041 / JZ | 84-0022 / JZ | 85-0112 / JZ |
Small account of US Navy Super Hornet and Growler photo's can be seen beneath - click here for the complete F18 photo report
All participating aircraft from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) (all part of Carrier Air Wing 8 - NAS Oceana):
EA-18G | VAQ-142 "Gray Wolves" | 166943 / AJ-500 | Commander Air Group bird |
EA-18G | VAQ-142 "Gray Wolves" | 168271 / AJ-503 | |
F/A-18F | VFA-213 "Black Lions" | 166626 / AJ-210 | |
F/A-18F | VFA-213 "Black Lions" | 168930 / AJ-213 | |
F/A-18E | VFA-31 "Tomcatters" | 166781 / AJ-305 | |
F/A-18E | VFA-31 "Tomcatters" | 166840 / AJ-307 | |
F/A-18E | VFA-37 "Raging Bulls" | 169398 / AJ-404 | |
F/A-18E | VFA-37 "Raging Bulls" | 166867 / AJ-107 |
*side note: VFA-37 "Raging Bulls" also participated the Volkit exercise held in 1992 at Volkel air base, 31 years ago. See the Volkit photo report for photographs of the legacy F/A-18C this unit flew during the 90's era.