"It's Better Than Eating Sand"
US pilots and
maintainers arrived at the Poznan Air Base September 4 for an
operation that puts them against the world’s foremost fighter
aircraft.
NATO Air Meet 2003, a major recurring exercise, kicked off
live-flying exercises Sept. 5 and runs through September 19th at
Poznan and Powidz Air Base, Poland.
The flying missions run the gamut of operations from tactical
air, suppression of enemy air defenses and electronic warfare, said
Capt. Derek O’Malley of the 22nd Fighter Squadron.
O’Malley is from Spangdahlem AB, Germany, and is also the
squadron’s operations officer at the meet.
“This is air-to-everything,” he said, referring to
even more missions, such as offensive and defensive counter air,
air interdiction and air-to-air refueling.
This is the first time the meet has been in Poland,
O’Malley said.
“The cooperation we’ve received from (the Polish air
force) in planning and preparing for this meet really enhances our
working relationship,” he said.
US Air Force aircraft involved in the meet include F-16 Fighting
Falcons from the 52nd Fighter Wing and the KC-135 Stratotankers
from the 100th Airlift Wing at Royal Air Force Mildenhall. The
603rd Air Control Squadron from Aviano AB, Italy, will also be
participating. The US forces will join more than 80 aircraft from
Belgium(CA)nada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece,
Hungary, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and England.
“I’m really excited to get started and looking
forward to mission planning with our NATO neighbors,” said
Capt. Matt Allen, a 22nd FS F-16 pilot. “There are F-16s here
from every European nation flying the F-16, so it will be
interesting to see how our NATO partners do business.”
The pilots especially
relish the prospect of flying missions against the MiG-29 Fulcrum,
to be flown by pilots from Poland and Hungary. The MIG-29 is the
preferred fighter some of America’s potential adversaries,
O’Malley said.
“An objective of ours is to ‘go to the merge’
with the Fulcrum,” he said. “The MiG-29 is one of the
primary threats we train against, and this is a good chance for us
to drop the simulation and fly against the real
aircraft.”
The pilots are not the only ones looking forward to gaining some
experience. About 100 maintainers and other support people from
Spangdahlem accompanied the jets and pilots to the meet. Support
airmen from Ramstein AB, Germany; Aviano AB; and Lajes Field, the
Azores, are also participating in the meet.
“I’m really looking forward to doing my job --
crewing my jet -- in a new environment,” said Airman 1st
Class Troy Heberholz, a 52nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
assistant crew chief, who is deploying for the first time.
Heberholz has already learned a lot from his fellow
maintainers.
“Some of their experiences (support of Operation Iraqi
Freedom earlier this year) are really paying off,” he said.
“They’ve been telling me how to take care of myself,
wash my hands, drink only bottled water, stuff like that. We are
definitely taking care of each other.”
The lessons learned in OIF about communicating with forces from
other nations should help at the meet, said Staff Sgt. Chad
McClure, a 52nd AMXS engine shop jet mechanic.
“We dealt with several other nations down there, and
sometimes the language barrier is the hardest part about these
kinds of operations,” he said. “At least here we
don’t have to eat sand.”
ANN extends a special thanks to Master Sgt. Sean E. Cobb,
52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs, USAF