European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 11, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                April 1985 the stars and stripes Page 9 photos by Jean Albright staff Donna Stevens checks the underside of a tighter left while Clay Gallagher and German 2nd Zigmar Hammesfahr watch a Dutchie ground realistic Dutchie flights keep skills Sharp by Jean Albright Pitburg Bureau chief dec 1 mom Ann u Sardinia four heading for Points lift off and Fly toward an area where enemy fighters May intercept ahead of them Are four Friendly which suddenly fall Back and then sweep Over the bombers should threatening aircraft appear and attempt to Block their the bombers will continue into and through the danger while the fighters run interference for while the aggressors and defenders in the bombers pass through twelve american and German aircraft created this scene last week at the Airt air Range near dec Moman no a on the Island of including bombers made the scenario the most realistic Ever at dec Moman said Hank Range manager train twice a year Safe fighter pilots whose units have an air superiority or air defense Mission Are required to train twice a year with dissimilar for practice is conducted in designated where pilots can and where aircraft control Manu Evering instrumentation monitors and records what they 1 Learned a said 1st Tim a Pilot using the am i for the first time since flight training it was the first time in a Multi threat before id seen four planes in the at Lynch there were Al new like com keeping track of targets and accounting for the other Guys on my own while flight training school uses the Lynch said the instrumentation is also valuable for More experienced those who Are More familiar with the subtleties of their planes than those just getting to know we Learned to Fly and Man Euver faster Here had in order to it was very much like it would be if we Ever had to he the often called just operates the Only Ami facility in Europe for visiting British and italian it is operated jointly by commanders from each of those the airspace dedicated to such realistic engagements is Northwest of the last weeks Mission was a the fighters face other fighters posing As they plan and practice Battle tactics without a subject for the fighters to protect and the aggressors to members of bit burgs 22nd tac fighter so were at Dutchie for two weeks ending last pilots from All three squadrons of the 36th tac fighter Wing made the trip during the last six this is my second each time you go has new said Mark As a flight i use this to test and perfect my Airt ground missions Are Black and but air to air is All every Mission is half of our pilots on this Mission were on their first such training after flight and it was Good to see the learning curve of the new Jefferson after Airt air combat the pilots need More than Good memories to reconstruct the action and learn from the Ami meets that forgetting nothing and forgiving while the recent Airt air Battle went the system followed the action and showed it As compute generated images on two giant television screens and four Small Complete with the housed in trailers on records everything it hears and sees for replay when the pilots the system computes the position of each air Craft by transmissions from pods they the pods transmit position and Angle of flight electronically to receivers Bobbing in the retransmission of the signals from the buoys tells the Ami where each plane is in relation to the Shoreline and to the other the screens display images of each to identify a number floats near each cartoon like image As it Good Guys and bad Guys Are shown in different in the overhead the f15 and f5 images Are shown flying at the proper Speed and distance from each from up the different altitudes Are not obvious it can look As if one plane passes through rather than passing feet Over but a flip of a switch on the and the entire picture Rolls viewers see the pattern from the As a Pilot in flight might see another screen View puts the viewer into any one of the with aircraft images Angling across the As transmissions indicate that the aircraft out front makes a Sharp turn to the right and viewers see the images Angle and size change the right Side and top of the plane Roll into View As the figure turns and get smaller As it moves the screens can also go to a View that enlarges the images and cuts out the surrounding Range and Shoreline refer ence it can focus tightly on any quadrant in its coverage two Large screens and four Small ones can show any combination of these plus a screen of numbers showing All the broadcast during in four viewers in the trailers acting As ground the pilots voices come Over the radio and controllers warning them of threats to the controllers also advise pilots whether a shot fired has taken out an enemy using distance and Speed the Ami decides whether the shot would have hit the other had it been real rather than an electronic controllers pass on the decision and remind pilots when an aircraft they can Sec is counted As dead planes Are marked on the screen with the outline of coffins floating around the dead move out of the fray after a specified period of arc also on the screen is a Large representing the which influences the accuracy of the its Loca Tion is no Small since it influences heat seeking when the scenario includes such a pilots dont fire at jets too closely in line with the the computer also has to decide which aircraft was in the most logical position to be if a shooter Aims at a less logical the computer will record the shot As a miss although it might actually have been a but John commander of the Pitburg pilots visiting says that the vast value of the system makes such drawbacks look any computer will sometimes Launcr we figure in real a missile would occasionally pilots accept aircraft characteristics imparted the computer also contributes to a fiction that enhances the aggressors Fly Only As part of the the computer imparts to them some characteristics of aircraft that real aggressors Are Likely to the pilots Complete the picture by using tactics that intelligence reports say such planes Are Likely to their knowledge of those according to John assistant operations officer of the 527th aggressor is one of the squadrons greatest contributions to the education of fellow our Job is to do what enemy aircraft would said we want to give them a real i hate to see a great aircraft flown the f15 is a great but even a great in the hands of a Ham can go the fliers Are based at Raf but they dont spend much time there arc at least six aggressors at 50 weeks a and several More constantly on Road visiting bases in England and Spain to play the same breakdowns done ground eagles Tor Long by Jean Albright Pitburg Bureau chief each Crew of the 22nd aircraft Maint unit readied f15 eagles for an average of three sorties a Day during a month of temporary duty at Decimo Mannu according to 1st Kenneth officer in charge of the they did it in spite of several parts we had nine out often planes in the air on most he when a plane suffers a we use its parts for the that Way most of the planes stay in the air and just one Waits for All of the parts we he fast engine changes and parts exchanges were routine during the duty at according to we can move an engine from one Craft to another in under three we did it several times in the said on temporary duty missions such As extra parts Are brought with the f replacement parts Are brought from the Supply depot at Aviano by c130 Hercules in emergency by the c23a the Sherpa flies on request from we Bruecken and picks up parts at Home one aircraft sat for nearly two weeks after its Generator was discovered broken on it became a parts a Generator problem is a pretty serious you have to drop a lot of other parts to fix it took a few Days to get the by then we had used its other parts to keep a lot of other planes to ready All of the squadrons aircraft for the flight Home a run by the Sherpa was requested on it was the second run requested during the stay of the according to Crew chiefs helped out on other planes while their own was but they kept a close Eye on the one assigned to he the Crew chiefs care about their planes and work Long hours to keep them said they look at the paper work and watch very closely what parts Are