Phantom Fever: Wittmund Air Base by André Jans. Additional photos by Dirk Ressel, Klemens Hoevel and Uwe Steenweg

The McDonnell F-4 Phantom will mark the 50th anniversary of its first flight in May 2008. Even at this advanced age, the F-4 is expected to labor for a few more years before finally retiring. The F-4 has even outlasted some of its successors, like the US Navy’s F-14 Tomcats (retired in September 2006) and the Royal Air Force’s Tornado F.3s (soon to be replaced by the Eurofighter Typhoon).

One of the main users of the Phantom today is the German Luftwaffe, which has now concentrated its F-4F Phantom operations at Wittmund airbase in the country’s northeast. The resident F-4 squadron, Jagdgeschwader 71 “Richthofen,” has more than 40 Phantoms on strength. Although the Luftwaffe is well on its way to replacing the F-4F with the newer EF2000 Eurofighter, JG-71 is not expected to stop flying the F-4F before 2011.

JG-71 is the Luftwaffe’s sole F-4F Phantom squadron, following the closure of Hopsten airbase and the conversion of both JG-73 and -74 to the Eurofighter. JG-71, named after the famous World War One ace Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, is part of the NATO Immediate Reaction Force (IRF), for which it is trained to deploy its jets to forward locations with short notice. JG-71 also maintains Quick Response Alert (QRA) duty for Northern Germany. Two fully-armed aircraft are kept ready to launch within 10 minutes to intercept unidentified aircraft in German and NATO airspace. QRA was a hot item during the Cold War; although its importance faded a bit with the fall of the Iron Curtain, in the post 9-11 era the mission has once again become important.

JG-71 deploys often to Decimonmannu (Deci) in Italy for live-fire training. It will deploy aircraft to the Baltic States this coming summer, to provide a QRA force as part of the NATO commitment to these new member nations.

A milestone in German Phantom history was reached on June 8th, 2007, when airframe 37+48 logged the F-4F’s 250,000th flight hour of in Luftwaffe service. The aircraft involved reached 7000 flight hours itself on the same flight. It was flown by deputy JG-71 commander Oberst Leutnant Gerhard Roubal and WSO Leutnant Gerrit Mehnert. The numbers 250,000 and 7000 were part of the colourful markings this aircraft received for the ceremony.

Although the F-4F Phantom still has some years left to serve, JG-71 is already preparing to receive the Eurofighter at Wittmund. Some 105 million Euro will be invested in new infrastructure. A new Eurofigther simulator is already under construction; according to base commander Oberst Christian Badia, by 2009 the facility will be able to provide 2000 simulation training flights each year. The base is to receive a total of 35 Eurofighters.

In addition to the Luftwaffe, BAE Systems also has a presence at Wittmundhafen. Unofficially known as 713 Dartziel Staffel, the BAE flying unit provides aerial target services for the Luftwaffe and other NATO air forces, using the classic Douglas A-4 Skyhawk.

Acknowledgments: Thanks to Luftwaffe.

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