«Ladies and gentlemen, good evening. Our Air Force colleagues were asked to present an aerial demonstration program but as they did not have the … guts, we took over from Aéronavale!“, Is heard from the microphone installation at Araxos airport. The … comrade teasing brings laughter throughout the mission of the Flottille 11F Squadron but also to the pilots of the Escadron de Chasse 3/30 Squadron of the French Air Force who have poured into the area, watching two fighters perform with a deafening roar a coordinated aerial closed rotation in the Greek sky. At the same time, dozens of men and women in distinctive navy uniforms, the French Navy Squadron technical staff, proudly look at their colleagues tearing the air. The audience applauds as the French “Top Gun” demonstration program has begun.
The spotlight may fall today on the grand premiere of the most expensive and technically daring film focusing on US Navy fighter jets, but in our country were found for 11 days in a NATO exercise the only non-US pilots operating in the same way as the Americans from the deck of a European but aircraft carrier.
The French Top Gunners of the Flottille 11F Squadron with the Rafale M [σ.σ από το Marine (Ναυτικού)] They crossed the blue Greek sky in the most impressive way, practicing with the most elaborate maneuvers until the 20th of May. But there, they left the best impressions on the day of the Air Show. Then they proved that “… European aviators complete even the most demanding missions”, as they stressed, speaking to APE-MPE the two French pilots who carried out an aerial demonstration program without, as they explained, having been specially trained for this purpose.
Could a French “Top Gun” film carry their work around the world? “If such a film project started, of course, we could participate. After all, in Flottille 11F (11th FLT), when we operate from the French aircraft carrier “Charles De Gaulle” we use the same operational technologies as those of the US Navy. “Our planes are launched and landed in a conventional way, a catapult and a mechanical landing system (arrestor hook, tailhook system), like the Americans,” explained the French pilots, who said they were excited that a movie fiction will present to the general public their work on floating “cities”, the huge aircraft carriers.
A “prestigious” Fate with 100 years of history
This particular squadron of the French Navy has a huge history since it was founded in the distant 1919. It is the most historic and most honored Squadron of the French Marine Nationale. In 1940 he took part in the Battle of France, from May to June, on a Dewoitine D-520 aircraft to fly to South Africa and then to Karouba, before moving to Casablanca and Port Lyaute.
When the hostilities ended in 1945 and after a brief period of integration into the French PA, it was reactivated by Seafire aircraft. From 1950 to 1954, the 11th Flottille completed two campaigns in Indochina with 344 combat missions and 950 flight hours with F-6F Hellcat aircraft.
In 1960 he was placed on the legendary aircraft carrier “Clemenceau”, while on April 1, 1963 he made the leap and welcomed the Dassault aircraft “Étendard IV M”. In 1978, the “Étendard” gave way to the “Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard” aircraft, while the most modern revolution of the 11th FLT was in May 2019. It then became the first Squadron to receive the latest version of the French fighter, the Rafale F3-R aircraft, the fighter that in its “earthly” version – without the special modifications needed to take off from an aircraft carrier – was acquired by Greece this year.
“We are very happy that the Hellenic Air Force has decided to fly the same aircraft as well,” the ground narrator stressed to more than 5,000 people at the time of the air show, while the French Navy duo was in the air. air. A little later, after landing, our discussion will move from the show to the substance and the exercise. “The experience as a whole, for the exercise and today has been amazing. We gave our best, even though we are not – both of us – demonstrators of a Demo Team!”, Commented the French hippocampus pilot, who combined with an image of a tiger in his flight uniform.
The 11th Flottille was, after all, between the military units hosted by the Greek Air Force and the 116th Infantry Division as part of the “NATO Tiger Meet 2022” Exercise, although it does not have a tiger in its symbol (s.s. crest) but the impressive seahorse. . The reason he was accepted into the NATO Tiger Association is the ship from which he was operating as the Clemenceau aircraft carrier, which had a tiger on its coat of arms and thus the 11th FLT was accepted into the NTA. When the “Clemenceau” was withdrawn from service in 1997, the French Navy’s Ace Squadron was allowed to retain its status as a “tiger” as they had “… proved that they have the spirit of a tiger throughout the years”.
The static presentation of the colorful decorated aircraft of the French Navy as well as the aerial demonstration of the French Top Gunners was to take place in Greece just 24 hours before the film premiere that the pilots of the French Marine Nationale themselves told us that they are looking forward to. Should a well-known French director undertake to shoot our “Top Gun”? Why not! “, Said the French pilots excited about Greece.
The “Rogue Spartan” of the French Squadron Escadron de chasse (EC) 3/30
On the opposite side of the static presentation were the people of the Rafale C Squadron of the French PA, who was the recipient of the … teasing of the Top Gun pilots of the French aircraft carrier. With their seven aircraft that arrived in Greece, the EC 3/30 executives had, on the other hand, their own great success in NATO Tiger Meet 2022. The Escadron scadron de chasse 3/30 (EC 3/30) Lorraine not only did he bring to Greece two impressive aircraft – with the “Rogue Spartan” especially becoming a point of photography for many – but after two weeks of training he also swept the prizes that were on the “table” for the participants.
Squadron EC 3/30 was awarded the “Silver Tiger” prize for their professionalism and extroversion, the “Best Tiger Aircraft” award for its impressive Rafale C “Rogue Spartan” with its ancient Greek-inspired design “Tiger”, as well as the award “Best Uniform”, after its staff was judged to have come in the best “Tiger” uniform in Greece.
Proud of the performance of his EC 3/30 Squadron, pilot, subcommander (!) Meyer “Tepal” will comment, for his part, in the best words, speaking to APE-MPE, the overall experience of the PA of his country in Greece during the two weeks of exercise. “We are very happy to be in Greece to be trained with NATO Squadrons. The cooperation we had these days was very good. We came with an aircraft specially painted for Greece, on which there is the “signal” of the Squadrons, the “difficult to remain humble”, painted in Greek! Greece is a wonderful place, it was very beautiful to fly over your country, the sea, its islands. It was the first time I was in your country, in a successful “Tiger Meet”. “Successful in flights but also in the field of cooperation, in the socialization of all of us who participated”, commented “Tepal”.
Shortly before the reunion with the French “Tiger”, our question about where his nickname comes from received a humorous answer from the pilot himself. My last name (s.s. Meyer) in French sounds just like the word “best, meilleur”. So my colleagues chose to combine it in a pun with “Te pa le mellieur (you are not the best)” in their own … teasing “,” Tepal “will answer before preparing for another day of flights in Greece .
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