We were in a 'Red Air' flight with 2 F/A-18s and 2 F-5Fs flying against another 2 F-5s and 2 F/A-18s of 'Blue Air'. The plan was to have three fights: one 'warming-up' and two real fights. Our specific mission was to escort the other F-5F, which was equipped with the Vista-5 electronic jamming pod under its left wing.
I hope you like the few shots I was able to take.
Lining up for takeoff. Interesting weather inbound..
On our way to the holding area..
Close-up, still heading to the holding area..
Holding over the Alps..
Overhead Meiringen airbase..
Breaking away to enter the fight..
Luckily for me (
), we were shot down quite early during the first two fights, which meant we could go back to the holding area and wait for the next fight. The third fight was cancelled because Blue Air had already achieved its goals.Nice vertical break after the third fight was cancelled with some fuel left
Shortly after the fights weather deteriorated dramatically with rain and thunder & lightning coming in so no shots from that part of the flight. Still quite a nice experience, flying between the mountains over a lake and seeing a thunderstorm rolling towards you. We also did some fun stuff on the way back, such as a slow barrel roll over the mountains, full acceleration/breaking and some really close formation flying through the cloudes (like 3-5 feet below the other F-5F).
Wanna read/see more of the F-5s? Check out next month's AirForces monthly, which features my article about the Swiss F-5 Tigers and their future. It will be in stores from tomorrow..
Still a great looking design today!
