Airlift Season 7
The Lufttransport Staffel 7 (LT St 7) is a militia squadron and belongs to the Flugplatz Kommando 7 (Flpl Kdo 7). It is stationed at the Emmen military airfield . As a coat of arms , it bears a dark blue side view of a Pilatus PC-6 next to which two parachutists are visible in free fall in front of the yellow letters LT Staffel and two lines forming a / against a blue background and a yellow circle. As with all air transport squadrons there is also a camouflage version, this has a dark green background, the writing and the double 7 are white, the side contour of the PC-6 is traced with white. In the past, the LT Staffel7 had a coat of arms that shows a Globi on a red / white parachute in front of a light blue background and the black inscription: Lufttransport 7 Staffel / Firma.
history
Air transport squadron 7, formerly also known as Leichte Fliegerstaffel 7, is the only air transport squadron of the Swiss Air Force that exclusively uses fixed-wing aircraft. The pilots are mainly former militia pilots who no longer work for the militia combat aircraft squadrons for reasons of age. At the time, the Pilatus Porter was the first helicopter with its considerably higher load capacity, making it an ideal transport aircraft. In 1967 the first batch of 12 Pilatus PC-6 porters was procured. This version of the PC-6 H2M was still equipped with a piston engine. With the procurement of a second batch of 6 new turbo porters from 1978 onwards, the first piston porters with turbine engines were also converted. At times, Dornier DO-27s were also used by Air Transport Squadron 7. In earlier years, the «Leichte Fliegerstaffel 7» operated the porter not only to drop the remote scouts of the time. The aircraft could be converted into a water tank for fighting forest fires, but this was given up when it was possible to drop larger quantities more precisely with the Alouette III and the Bambibucket . Even training missions such as spray flights with chemical substances for AC training of troops could be carried out. However, this is no longer practiced today. Lufttransport Staffel 7 has always carried out its flight operations from makeshift airfields in the field. Your home base is since 2000 the Emmen airbase , before the was military airfield St. Stephan the home base, this was abandoned by the military.
Air transport squadron 7 drops parachute scouts from heights of up to 8000 meters above sea level. For tactical use, it carries out STOL take-offs and landings from makeshift landing sites in the area. In addition, people and material transports and connecting flights are carried out for a wide variety of locations. The service of the 7th Squadron is not limited to the repetition of Parachute Reconnaissance Company 17 . Throughout the year, the pilots ensure the jump service of the Parachute Reconnaissance School 83 in Locarno with individual working days. The creation of aerial photographs (not to be confused with aerial photography for mapping) also belong to the diverse range of tasks.
Today, Air Transport Squadron 7 still operates 15 Pilatus PC-6s, 14 of which are painted in olive green camouflage. The Pilatus PC-6 with the registration V-622 is provided in the colors of the Patrouille Suisse and, in addition to the tasks of the LT7, serves as a liaison aircraft for the commander of the Patrouille Suisse.
Planes
- Pilatus Porter (PC-6 with piston engine)
- Dornier Thu 27
- PC-6 / B2-H2M
Web links
- Official DDPS page of Air Transport Season 7 ( Memento from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- Air transport squadron 7 Hermann Keist
- External location LT St 7 2018
- External location LT St 7 2017
- External location LT St 7 2014
