The Berlin Airshow was a very enjoyable week. My wingman, Garrett, and I landed early Monday morning at Schoenefeld Airport about 1 hour before the show started. The support personnel quickly fueled our jets and towed them into position with the rest of the US Air Force aircraft. The USAF had a C-5, C-17, KC-135, 2 B-1s, an F-15C and E and our 2 F-16s. There were also fighter from Germany, France and Hungary. This event was more than just an airshow. It was also an international trade show for countries around the world to attend and see the latest and greatest technology as they consider buying new military equipment as well as show off what equipment they had to offer. Many countries are considering upgrading their fighter aircraft and those up for consideration usually are the French Rafale, US F-16 and Swedish Gripen. The Eurofighter is also a player, but it's more expensive then the other three. It did give quite an impressive flight demo along with the Dutch F-16 demo team. In the years ahead, the F-35 will be the new fighter around and hopefully I can make a transition into flying it. 
With this being the case, Lockheed Martin (maker of the F-16) had many of their potential buyers stop by our jets for some "show and tell" time. I'm probably not the best salesman there is, but having flown the jet quite a bit I could offer my fairly credible opinion. Lockheed paid for our hotel rooms and even put on a big dinner for all the USAF personnel staying at the hotel. In addition to the potential buyers, there were some big wigs walking around. General Brady, USAFE commander, the US Undersecretary of Defense and a couple other generals stopped by. The German chancellor attended the show too. So, needless to say it was important we were ready at all times. Once the important people would move on, it was then time to show the local attendees the jets and let them take pictures. Many young kids had a great time being so close to a fighter jet, and I put some of the smaller ones in the cockpit so they would have a great memory in the years ahead.
As most Americans know, Berlin was the center of a mass airlift operation after WWII by the US and British Air Forces to supply the local population with food and supplies since the Russians had cut off all supplies to the city...it was called the Berlin Airlift. Temelhof Airfield was the center of this effort and over 5,000 tons of goods a day were flown in. As we traveled around Berlin, we saw remains of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie and a bombed out church left standing in order to never forget what happened during the war. Reading the stories of families being split by the wall were very sad, and many we shot trying to escape East Germany. It was great to travel to another part of Germany with Lana, and she enjoyed the fact I was able to learn more about her country.
Besides the historical things, we saw Alexanderplatz where a few scenes from The Borne Ultimatum were filmed and many other interesting places around the city. Lana and I took a day trip to the Potsdam Palace, which is located to the southwest of Berlin. It was completed in 1769 by Frederick the Great. Over the years it had been used by the royals and kings of the region...a very nice area.
The airshow finished on Sunday with Monday being a US holiday. So, our squadron director of operations wanted us to get some extra flights by flying somewhere in Europe. Our plan took us to Leeuwarden Air Base, Netherlands for one night and then through Garons Air Base, France on the way back to Aviano. It was my first time to the Netherlands; another new and interesting culture. This wrapped up a great week and another great experience for Lana and I as we continue along in our Air Force journey. Enjoy the pictures!
More Pictures:
As most Americans know, Berlin was the center of a mass airlift operation after WWII by the US and British Air Forces to supply the local population with food and supplies since the Russians had cut off all supplies to the city...it was called the Berlin Airlift. Temelhof Airfield was the center of this effort and over 5,000 tons of goods a day were flown in. As we traveled around Berlin, we saw remains of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie and a bombed out church left standing in order to never forget what happened during the war. Reading the stories of families being split by the wall were very sad, and many we shot trying to escape East Germany. It was great to travel to another part of Germany with Lana, and she enjoyed the fact I was able to learn more about her country.Besides the historical things, we saw Alexanderplatz where a few scenes from The Borne Ultimatum were filmed and many other interesting places around the city. Lana and I took a day trip to the Potsdam Palace, which is located to the southwest of Berlin. It was completed in 1769 by Frederick the Great. Over the years it had been used by the royals and kings of the region...a very nice area.
The airshow finished on Sunday with Monday being a US holiday. So, our squadron director of operations wanted us to get some extra flights by flying somewhere in Europe. Our plan took us to Leeuwarden Air Base, Netherlands for one night and then through Garons Air Base, France on the way back to Aviano. It was my first time to the Netherlands; another new and interesting culture. This wrapped up a great week and another great experience for Lana and I as we continue along in our Air Force journey. Enjoy the pictures! More Pictures:
No comments:
Post a Comment