Air Defender 2023

On Tuesday we arrived at Schleswig in the evening.

Then on Wednesday we got our ebikes, got some food and went to Schleswig-Jagel Airbase. As soon as we arrived, we got our first Tornado, the one with the special exercise tail!

We found a nice spot near the runway for the rest of the morning. There we got some excelent shots of all landings and take-off's. 

After a short trip to Rendsburg, we dropped our stuff at the hotel and went for some sightseeing. Bart wanted to see the bridge up close. We also came across a completely overgrown Great War memorial.

The bridge itself, the Rendsburger Hochbrücke was up close even more inpressive as we found out there is a suspension ferry under it!

Going for a drink, we got hold of   

Schwartzwälderkirschtorte, the cake. And being there we saw 2 cargo ships going under the 42 meter high bridge.

An unexpected, but very good non-spotting afternoon, closed by dinner and a beer in the local hotel garden. 

Note: all shots are taken with a telephone, not with a digital camera. Also, not all shots are made by me, i borrowed some from Bart.

In the preparation phase of the trip, we did not know if we would go to Hohn for only F-15's. But the US Navy F-18's made us wanting to go.
No bicycles this time, we went by bus. And a bit of walking. And it was no disappointment!

The fence is really close to the runway the whole flightline was visible: 4 Typhoons, 8 F-18E's, F's and G's, 16 F-15's, 4 F-18C's and some change... A very great day!

After staying another night in Rendsburg, it was time to go home again.

It was a very good trip, I came home with 76 different operational militairy aircraft!
This trip goes into the top 5 trips ever. 

Thanks Bart for the organisation, the wonderfully stupid company, and the knowledge of the Veldleeuwerik (Skylark).