On the 4th of October the 5 jets participating in this years NATO Tigermeet in Albacete, Spain, returned to the German Air Base Manching. Starting on the 25th of September untill the 1st of October the 321 Tigers participated in an international exercise, which is not only known for its good possibilities of cooperation concerning flying business, but also its traditions and its social aspects.

With 11 aircrew and round about 80 technicians and OPS personnel the LECHFELD TIGERS where one of the biggest participating units. Especially for the young WSO´s and Pilots, who were first time participants at a TIGERMEET, it was a great experience and a good possibility to get one step further in their flying training.

During the "International Night" every participating nation offered a variety of typical food and beverages for the other countries. Of course offered the LECHFELD TIGERS the typical Bavarian 'Weißwurst' (a white sausage) with 'Brez´n' (pretzel) and Bavarian beer.

A lot of fun stuff came up at the "Skitnight" where everybody had a great time laughing and joking about the clichés of the other nations. Some squadrons put a lot of effort into the making of great videos and skids. This, in combination with a good performance in the other events (flying included), would bring one of these squadrons the SILVER TIGER by the end of the week. 2004 the 321 TIGERS won this trophy for the first time. But because of a lot of commitments this year the preperations for the NTM 2006 were not good and intense enough to give the 321TIGERS a chance to win.

Besides the 4 COMAOs (Combined air operations) and ACT (Air Combat Training) Missions there took a lot of activities place during the free time. At the end of the week the 321 TIGERS could at least win the TIGERGAMES consisting of paintball, bicycle-BFM and bull riding. Special thanks here go to our technical personal.

Bottom-line is, that the TIGERMEET 2006 was success and we are all looking forward to meet again in Norway 2007.

For more general and specific information please visit the website of the NATO TIGER Association!