2001 Hopsten Flugtag 8 September 2001 - 40 years JG72
On the 8th of September 2002 Hopsten air base opened its doors for the public to celebrate 40 years JG72. Half of the airbase was accessible: maintenance hangars and all shelters as can be seen on the map on the left side. Many F4F Phantoms were exhibited with different static topics and/ or flying - I counted a total of at least 18+ Phantoms!
. A special c/s JG72 Phantom was painted in the German black/ red/ yellow colors and a JG74 "Molders" special c/s F4F was also present. Phantom armament, maintenance and weaponry were all shown to the public.
And of course, not to forget, the Germans faciitated this day very good with refreshments and activities. I can remember eating several really good 'bratwurst' sausages! The weather during this day was complicated: some rain in the morning in between sunshine - the afternoon was sunny only.
Show report Scramble: https://www.scramble.nl/database/show-reports/germany/hopsten-2001
Besides the 'Phantom violence' many other German Luftwaffe types also participated: several special c/s Tornado's as well as the special German c/s MiG29. Among these were also a CH53G, UH1D Huey, Bo105's, Br1150 Atlantique and a C160D Transal - several were also flying demo's.
Of course many foreign aircraft attended this special JG72 anniversary day. The static presented a Swiss FA18C Hornet, Belgian F16 and A109, two Turkish F4E-2020's (which I did NOT photograph...), two Italian F104S-ASA-M Starfighters together with two MB339CD's and an AMX with Tornado, a Danish and Dutch F16 and two French Mirage F1CT's.
Among their flying displays were a Swiss FA18C Hornet, Belgian Alpha Jet, French Mirage 2000C and a Danish F16.
