Unfortunately, the French Air Force's Tigers did not attend only the French Navy did, the Turkish Air Force Tiger squadrons did not attend the event. The MiG-29 fighter aircraft of the neighboring Slovakian 1st fighter squadron (1. taktická letka) did not even made it to Poland either..
Tiger Meet had two missions per day between 10 am and 3 pm and 6 pm. Almost every squadron attending had a specially painted aircraft for the meeting. The aircraft flew with practice armaments and with one or two drop tanks. The GFD Ltd. Learjet's flew with their targeting equipment to simulate the enemy.
Twenty-two flying squadrons from Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom and Partners Austria and Switzerland as well as a NATO Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) plane – in total approx. 70 aircraft and ten helicopters took part in this largest air training event of the Polish Air Force in 2018.
The home 6th Squadron had planned a spotter day for Friday, May 18th. During the day, aviation enthusiasts and photographers could take photos of dozens of aircraft taking off and landings many of them, as usual, had amazing tiger schemes.
The spotters were placed facing into the sun across from the control tower, and they were not happy about this. In fact between the waves of flight they moved to end of the runway which provided a better location.
There were two waves of flight, the first wave was started by the Hungarian 59/1 Puma squadron. During the break between the two waves, we could see the C-295 transport aircraft of the Polish along with the L-410UVP of the Czech the AN-26 of the Hungarian Air Forces.
Better organization could have improved the experience for the spotters/photographers who paid extra fees for better access. Not too mention accreditation for many Western European correspondence was a disaster and many did not attended.
Over all it was quite poor as Tiger Meets go!
The next NTM will be in France at Mont de Marsan.
Those who missed out on the Spotter day and on the NATO Tiger Meet had a chance to see many of the aircraft flying at International Air Show on Poznan on Saturday and Sunday
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An International Airshow was scheduled at Poznań-Ławica Henryk Wieniawski Airport, approximately 20 km from the 31st Air Base. All the specially painted Tiger aircraft will present themselves to the public in a special flyby over Ławica. According to the organizers, more than 10 hours of events with dozens of aircraft participating were planned.
Several members of the Polish Air Club flew during the Air Show. The Polish Air Force F-16 Tiger and the MIG-29 demo also flew. A dynamic demonstration by the Czech MiG-15UTI and Polish TS-11 Iskra were seen by the public. Preodactyl Aviation performed a First World War dogfight
Among the veteran WWII fighter aircraft the British Supermarine Spitfire XVI and an Australian Boomerang flew.
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