Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 73

Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader (Tactical Air Force Wing) 73 "Steinhoff", formerly known as Jagdgeschwader 73 (Fighter Wing 73), is a fighter wing of the German Air Force. The wing is based in north-eastern Germany at Rostock-Laage Airport near Rostock. Its role includes general air defence as well as training for the Eurofighter Typhoon.

Tactical Air Force Wing 73
Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 73 "Steinhoff"
Active1 April 1959–present
Country Germany
Branch German Air Force
RoleAir Defence, Training
Part ofAir Force Forces Command
Garrison/HQRostock-Laage Airport
PatronJohannes Steinhoff
Commanders
Current
commander		LTC Joachim Kaschke
Aircraft flown
AttackFormerly: Fiat G.91
FighterFormerly: Canadair Sabre, Mikoyan MiG-29, F-4 Phantom II
Presently: Eurofighter Typhoon,
ReconnaissanceFormerly: Fiat G.91

On 1 October 2013, the unit was renamed in the course of adaptations to the new structure of the German Air Force.[1]

History

On 1 April 1959 JG 73 was formed at the former RAF Ahlhorn and Oldenburg, using Canadair Sabre aircraft.

In 1964 Close Air Support was added to the role of tasks with fighter-bomber support for the German Army. Thus a change of aircraft to Fiat G.91 was conducted and the Wing was renamed to Jagdbombergeschwader 42 (Fighter Bomber Wing 42). In 1967 Tactical Reconnaissance became another task of the Wing and a new renaming brought about the Leichtes Kampfgeschwader 42 (Light Combat Wing 42). With the introduction of the RF-4E to the Luftwaffe in 1971, the Wing's role of reconnaissance became redundant and on 1 April 1975 the Wing was named Jagdbombergeschwader 35 (Fighter Bomber Wing 35).

After the reunification of Germany in 1991, the Wing began to take over MiG-29 aircraft from the Air Forces of the National People's Army, the former East German Air Force. The East Germans had flown MiG-29s with Jagdfliegergeschwader 3 at Preschen Airfield. In October a test wing with MiG-29s was formed at Preschen and in February 1993 it was decided to merge this test wing with the then Jagdbombergeschwader 35, to be named Jagdgeschwader 73 once more.

In 1994 the first MiGs were stationed at Laage to form an alert flight for Air Policing. The relocation of the F-4 Phantoms was eventually conducted in 1997 which meant the formal decommissioning of air base at Pferdsfeld. In September 1997, the joint operations of MiG-29s and F-4Fs were taken up at Laage. On 18 September 1997 the Jagdgeschwader 73 was then officially commissioned by Minister of Defence Volker Rühe. At the same time, Rühe awarded the name "Steinhoff" to the re-formed wing.

In March 2000 the 2nd Squadron (F-4F Phantom II) was decommissioned and after a short break it was then re-activated as a training squadron for the Eurofighter. JG 73 received its first six (twin-seat) Eurofighter Typhoons on 30 April 2004.[2] Only a few months later, in August 2004, the last remaining MiG-29s in the Luftwaffe were sold to Poland where the majority continue to fly operationally with the 41st Tactical Squadron stationed at the 22nd Air Base in Malbork (as of 2010).

June 2019 accident

On 24 June 2019, three Eurofighters from Laage conducted a training mission, during which two of the aircraft collided. One pilot ejected and his parachute activated; he was caught in a tree, where he remained for about 20 minutes until rescued. The other pilot was killed, despite his ejection seat and parachute activating.[3] One of the aircraft crashed near the town of Jabel in trees, the other crashed to the south at the edge of the Nossentiner Hutter village. The crash zones are about 10 km apart and both aircraft were unarmed.[4]

  • Black-Red-Golden MiG-29 from Laage
  • Mig 29 with special painting
  • Eurofighter
  • Eurofighter during take-off

Sources
gollark: ...
gollark: In practice, they might not really work, I mean.
gollark: Well, yes, but I mean it would be probably problematic to convert them.
gollark: - that would either involve erasing i.e. killing all extant humans, or overwriting/meddling with their minds and bodies (so basically the same thing) - obviously problematic- anthropomorphic animals probably wouldn't work very well either, inasmuch as most animals are quadrupeds and we're bipeds, along with probably a ton of other things- Marxism bad
gollark: no.

References
  1. Schwarz, Karl (20 September 2013). "Luftwaffe: Verbände in 'Taktische Lufwaffengeschwader' umbenannt" [Luftwaffe: units renamed to 'Tactical Air Force Wings']. Flug Revue (in German). Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  2. "Eurofighter Flies Home". www.eurofighter.com. Eurofighter GmbH. 30 April 2004. Archived from the original on 11 November 2006. Retrieved 1 November 2006.
  3. Pilot dies, another survives after German Eurofighter jets collide, Associated Press / ABC News Online, 2019-06-25
  4. ZEIT ONLINE: Bundeswehr: Ein Pilot bei Eurofighter-Absturz ums Leben gekommen. In: Die Zeit. 24. Juni 2019, ISSN 0044-2070 (zeit.de [abgerufen am 05. Juli 2019]).

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.