Target flight squadron 12

The Zielflugstaffel 12 (formerly Fliegerstaffel 12 ) is a militia flier squadron of the Swiss Air Force equipped with Northrop F-5 E fighter aircraft and Pilatus PC-9 training aircraft and belongs to the airfield command 7. Its home base is the Emmen military airfield .

history

Relay badge of the target flight relay 12.

A C-3605 target tug has retracted the target with the winch after its target flights and will drop it for evaluation.

In 1925 the Fliegerkompanie 12 was founded. From 1939 to 1950 the Fliegerkompanie used aircraft of the Morane D-3801 type. In 1945 the name was changed to Fliegerstaffel 12. The original coat of arms of Fliegerstaffel 12 was a white halberd with the number 12 on the blade and black wings on the handle against a red background.

With the De Havilland DH.100 Vampire, the squadron 12 received its first jet aircraft in 1952 and operated it as a fighter squadron until 1970. Then the air squadron 12 became the target flight squadron 12. They continued to operate the De Havilland DH.100 Vampire until 1990 as target aircraft. Some vampires were given a striking black and orange paint job. Some vampires were given the same black and yellow paint. In addition, the Fliegerstaffel 12 operated the aircraft of the type C-3605 as target tow planes, which remained in use until 1987. From 1990 to 1994 the Hawker Hunter replaced the De Havilland DH.100 Vampire as a target aircraft. The C-3606 were replaced by the PC-9 in 1987. In 1994 the F-5E Tiger took over the role of Hawker Hunter in Fliegerstaffel 12.

The crews of the target flight squadron 12 are former militia pilots of the front squadrons 6, 8 and 19 who have reached the age limit on the combat aircraft. The main task is to represent flying targets as an aerial threat to various units of the army. The main customer is the air defense .

The target flight squadron 12 shares the PC-9 aircraft, which it uses as a target tug, with the electronic warfare squadron 24, which uses the PC-9 with the Vista 5 Ericsson radar jammer. The Fliegerstaffel 24 was integrated into the Zielflugstaffel 12 in 1994, but operationally differs so much that it can still be viewed as a separate squadron. The future of the target flight squadron 12 is uncertain. This is because, on the one hand, the F-5E are expected to be retired in 2018. It is technically possible for the F / A-18s to take over the task, but the number of aircraft with 30 F / A-18s is very small in order to guarantee this task and its other tasks. Due to the planned introduction of modern air defense systems under the designation BODLUV2020, it was decided to discontinue target flight operations with the PC-9 at the end of 2016, since such exercises with modern systems are no longer necessary. However, since the RAPIER guided missiles will only be replaced in the BODLUV 2020 project , while the STINGER and the Oerlikon 35 mm medium anti-aircraft gun system will only be replaced by a new system later, the decommissioning of the PC-9 may be delayed. It is currently planned to continue using 4 PC-9s until 2025. Two of these machines are still intended as target tugs and the other two as radar jammers.

Incidents

Four Morane D-3801s of Fliegerstaffel 12 collided on March 16, 1946 above Guttannen am Bänzlauistock when the association wanted to fly from Sion to Interlaken.

Planes

• Dewoitine D1 +
• Dewoitine D9
• Comte AC1
• Dewoitine D-27
• Morane D-3800
• Morane D-3801
• Messerschmitt Bf 109
• C-3605
• De Havilland DH.100
• Hawker Hunter
• Pilatus PC-9
• Northrop F-5

Web links

Commons : Zielflugstaffel 12  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

supporting documents

• Target flight relay 12 on the official VBS homepage ( Memento from March 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
• Christophe Donnet: Hunter fascination. Schück, Adliswil 1995, ISBN 3-9520906-0-3
• Skynews No. 4 April 2016

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Skynews No. 4 April 2016