On this day, Spangdahlem air base (Germany) said goodbye to its venerable F-4G Phantom II. The final four Wild Weasels left the air base, bound for CONUS. An early morning visit to the flight line, taxiway and runway yield the quartet F-4s, including this 558. This Wild Weasel was scrapped by HVF West, Tucson (AZ) by mid 2018 after a storage period at 309th AMARG, with inventory code FP1033, from 26 March 1996 up to 6 June 2018.

Former 81st FS. On this day, Spangdahlem air base (Germany) said goodbye to its venerable F-4G Phantom II. The final four Wild Waesels left the air base, bound for CONUS. An early morning visit to the flightline, taxiway and runway yield the quartet F-4s, including this 286, fully unmarked in its Egypt One color scheme. The F-4 was stored at AMAG from 28 February 1996 up to 7 November 1997 with inventory code FP1021. It was selected for the QF-4G program, and after conversion it was assigned to the 82nd ATRS and eventually shot down over the Gulf of Mexico as target drone on 7 December 2001.

This Fighting Falcon, with 52 Fighter Wing commanders markings on its tail, was written off on 14 September 2006. The F-16s left main landing gear struck a far field monitoring antenna that was part of the airfield's instrument landing system when the pilot was too low for landing. He aborted the landing but discovered the landing gear was broken. After burning fuel, the pilot made a controlled bail-out over a nearby unpopulated area and came down near the village of Oberkail (Germany).

52 Fighter Wing markings

Spearheading the Hungarian delegation to the 1992 Spangdahlem Open Day was this MiG-23UB 14 of 47 HVO. This aircraft was written-off on 13 September 1995.

One of the highlights of the 1992 Spangdahlem Open House was the visit of an Hungarian delegation, consisting of two MiG-23s and this An-26.

Spangdahlem Open House on the 4th of July 1992 showing 52nd FW's new CO-bird at the time, replacing 84-1250.

Photographer: Unknown photographer.

Slide is part of private collection, photographer unknown. The aircraft is wearing the Tactical Weapons Meet 1970 badge on its tail, provided by the Dutch Air Force team.

Photo via Coen van den Heuvel

Photographer: Rainer Haufschild.