Last year I had the opportunity to visit the French air force, BA113 (Base Aérienne 113) at Saint Dizier to do a photoshoot with the magnificent Dassault rafale.
At the gate of St.Dizier we were welcomed by two friendly communication ladies who checked us in at the safety officer. Dropped our gear in the white renault caddy and drove us to the mission headquarters to visit the briefing room. The woman who drove the white renault wasn’t really driving but grazed over the hot concrete, like a scene out of the movie from Louis de Funes. Once over there we had a short briefing about the do’s and don’ts about the visit. St.Dizier has a flight line decorated with two types of shelters and some other shelter complexes which are divided by the conventional area and the nuclear area, the last area was a no go. We did a quick round up with a Rafale B who checked out and with was airborne within 10 minutes. My god, what a flying activity on this base. The night before they scheduled some night flying including 15 aircraft, so St.Dizier is a very busy base with a lot of activity. Back to the day. Around 10 aircraft flew out and within 1 hour they all returned. With my belly on the taxitrack for some nice low head on shots the heat of the concrete was pouring down my nose. We also had a nice chat with a Rafale pilot and like many pilots he did his basic training (1997-1998) on the TB30 Epsilon at Cognac airbase, then advanced training (1998-1999) on the Alpha Jet in Tours and Cazaux airbase. From 2000 to 2004, he flew the Jaguar, and got his 4-ship lead qualification (2004), and his MC (Mission Commander) graduation at the TLP 2003-3, in Florennes AB. Now he flies the the Rafale since 2008, and got 1700 hours on it, from a total of 4000 hours more in Air Force.
The Squadrons of BA113:
EC 01.007 Fighter Squadron "Provence” Rafale B/C
SPA.15 Heaume d'argent
SPA.77 Croix de Jérusalem
SPA.162 Tigre
EC 01.091 Fighter Squadron "Gascogne" (rafale F3)
SAL.28 Elephant
SPA.79 Loup
BR.66 Faucon Egyptien
Here are some teasers I shot, on my flickr account you can view the hole story.
Hope you can enjoy them.
Cheers
Reinier
1. Dassault Rafale B full frontal, EC01/91
Dassault Rafale, BA113, St.Dizier, FAF by Reinier Bergsma, on Flickr2. Navy Dassault Rafale M in shelter
Dassault Rafale, BA113, St.Dizier, FAF by Reinier Bergsma, on Flickr3. Dassault Rafale B take off, EC01/91
Dassault Rafale, BA113, St.Dizier, FAF by Reinier Bergsma, on Flickr4. Dassault Rafale B on taxiway to shelter, EC01/91
Dassault Rafale, BA113, St.Dizier, FAF by Reinier Bergsma, on Flickr5. Dassault Rafale B on taxiway to shelter, EC01/91
Dassault Rafale, BA113, St.Dizier, FAF by Reinier Bergsma, on Flickr