In order to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Tactical Leadership Programme (TLP), the Spanish Air Force and the TLP itself carried out an Open House, to show its missions, its equipment and how is their day to day to the general public.
The static display included a good number of aircraft from various TLP member nations, there were three Tornados (one each from UK, Germany and Italy), two Eurofighters (Germany), and AMX (Italy), two F-16C (USAF), one C-295 (Polish) an helicopter NH-90 from Spanish Army, and a good representation from the Spanish Air Force, that included one C-101 Aviojet, one EF-5BM, one EF-18M and two Eurofighters.
Even more impressive than the static display was the dynamic display, that included an Spanish EF-18M solo display, the Coteau Delta Display Team with two Mirage 2000D, and the Rafale Solo Display Team from France, the always impressive Mig-29 Fulcrum from the Polish Air Force, one AV-8B+ Harrier II from Spanish Navy, and to close the show, the spectacular display carried out by the Spanish Air Force Eurofighter from the local unit, 14th Wing.
The open house was succeed, thousands of people visited the Air Base and were delighted by the air show and the static display. The only that should be improved was the distance between the crowd line and the flying display, which was a bit too far away.
The TLP is an organization formed under a Memorandum of Understanding between 10 NATO nations. The objective of the TLP is to increase the effectiveness of allied tactical air forces through the development of leadership skills, tactical flying capabilities, mission planning and tasking capabilities,
and conceptual and doctrinal initiatives. TLP is based at Albacete Air Force Base in Spain and its two operational branches – Flying Branch and Academic & Concepts and Doctrine Branch- are staffed by experienced personnel from the member nations.
Photos (by Edilia Luis):
