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Royal Flush 5 - Bremgarten AB - May 1960 No Starfighter participated with this exercise but there was at least one F-104C Starfighter as visitor, coming from Moron AB, Spain. It was F-104C 56-909 of 476 TFS/479 TFW (see photo beneath), and it was seen on May 5th. Next month this Starfighter would be lost in a tragic accident. |
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Royal Flush 6 - Beauvechain AB - 14 till 21 May 1961 Not known if any RF-104Gs were participating but it is very unlikely. |
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Royal Flush 7 - Ramstein AB - 14 till 18 May 1962 Not known if any RF-104Gs were participating but it is very unlikely. |
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Royal Flush 8 - Wildenrath AB - May 1963 Not known if any RF-104Gs were participating but it is very unlikely. |
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Royal Flush 9 - NATO bases ending at Alconbury AB - 12 till 14 May 1964 First time that squadrons had to run the exercise operating from their own air base. No participating 104s known. |
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RoyalFlush 10 - NATO bases ending at Furstenfeldbruck AB - 11 till 20 May 1965 This recce-meet was held from various different Air Bases. At least the Dutch Air Force 306 Squadron and the Canadian 1st Wing were participating with RF-104G and CF-104 (+ Vicon) Starfighters during this meet. The ending airbase with closure ceremony for this meeting was Furstenfeldbruck, Germany. At Volkel officially participation was recorded of aircraft D-8131 (missions 11 and 18 May), D-8138 (mission 11, 12 and 18 May), D-8112 (mission 19 May) and D-8117 (mission 20 May). |
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RoyalFlush 11 - NATO bases ending at Strasbourg AB - 10 till 12 May 1966 This recce-meet was held from various different Air Bases. At least the Dutch Air Force 306 Squadron was flying around with RF-104G Starfighters during this meet from Twenthe AB including aircraft D-8117 (camouflaged) and D-8065 + D-8143 (light grey). The Canadians flew with 439 Squadron and 441 Squadron (1Wing) CF-104s from Marville AB with at least aircraft 12740. The ending airbase with closure ceremony for this meeting was Strasbourg, France held June 17th. Beneath a photo showing the 1 Wing group (thanks to Alan Archibald) and a photo showing D-8065 being prepared for a Royal Flush competition mission at Twenthe (Gerrit Boxem Collection). |
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RoyalFlush 12 - NATO bases ending at Twenthe AB - mid till 24 May 1967 This recce-meet was held from various different Air Bases. At least the Dutch Air Force 306 Squadron was flying around with RF-104G Starfighters during this meet. Other participants included RCAF CF-104 12886 and German Air Force AG51 RF-104G EA+102. Both were seen during the exercise closure ceremony at Twenthe Air Base (East side) on May 24th. |
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RoyalFlush 13 - NATO bases ending at Lahr AB - 22 till 24 May 1968 At least the Dutch Air Force 306 Squadron and German Air Force AG51 were flying around with RF-104G Starfighters as well as the Canadians at Lahr with Vicon mounted CF-104s. Aircraft included: AG51 RF-104G: EA+117. The Canadian 441 Squadron ended 1st position in 4 ATAF with 439 squadron second. |
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RoyalFlush 14 - NATO bases ending at Bruggen AB - in 1969 The German Air Force did not participate. The Canadian Air Force 441 Squadron was best Squadron overall while 439 Squadron was second. Capt Scott Clements of 439 Squadron was honored "Top Gun". |
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RoyalFlush 15 - Deelen AB - 6 till 15 May 1970 At least the Dutch Air Force 306 Squadron was flying around with RF-104G Starfighters during this meet as well as the Canadian Armed Forces 439sq which used CF-104's with Vicon equipment. Also the German Air Force AG51 was participating...for the last time with Starfighters. The 439 Squadron won the championship. Aircraft seen during this meet include: See also: http://www.thunderstreaks.com/exercises/deelen-nl-nato-royal-flush-may-14th-1970/ |
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RoyalFlush 16 - Ramstein AFB - 2 till 11 June 1971 The Dutch Air Force 306 Squadron participated with RF-104G Starfighters, the Canadian Armed Forces 439 Squadron with Vicon mounted CF-104's. The German JBG34 was official jury. Aircraft seen during this meet include: 306sq: D-8057, D-8107, D-8112, D-8127, D-8131 and D-8143. 1CAG: 104760, 104770, 104776, 104792, 104813, 104865, 104899 and CF-104D 104668 JBG34: 22+62 and 28+27 (jury-monitoring). This two-seater was on loan from another squadron. Other TF-104Gs on loan were 27+35 (AG52) and 28+20 (JBG36) Note: On the 4th of June the CF-104 104786 visited Ramstein and was not part of the RoyalFlush team. The French ER33 won the event. The Canadians were 6th out of 7 participating units. |
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RoyalFlush 17 - Florennes AB 13 till 21st June 1973 The Dutch Air Force 306 Squadron participated with five RF-104G Starfighters which arrived already on June 12th.. Aircraft were: See also: http://www.thunderstreaks.com/exercises/florennes-belgium-nato-royal-flush-june-14th-1973/ |
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RoyalFlush 18 - Bremgarten AB - from 7 till mid June 1975 It was the first recce-meet with held also night missions during the competition which was won by the American (10TRS). The Dutch Air Force 306 Squadron participated with five RF-104G Starfighters and these aircraft arrived already on May 25th. It was also the last time this exercise was held. Aircraft seen during this meet include: 306 Squadron: D-8057, D-8065, D-8127, D-8129 and D-8143, also TF-104G D-5804 was seen. JBG34: 28+13 (jury) and MFG2: 28+23 + 28+25 (jury). Beneath a nice photo taken by Gerrit Boxem of the tail with badge on RF-104G D-8127 and the special created patch thanks to Marcel Frenk. The official Royal Flush sticker was provided by Henk Schakelaar who also made the nice photo of D-8127 from above. Patch thanks to Eddie Duggan. |
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BigClick - Probably from own airbases - 1965 It is unknown if RF-104G Starfighters participated. |
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BigClick - Probably from own airbases - 1966 It is unknown if RF-104G Starfighters participated. |
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BigClick - From own airbases - Summer 1967 The German Navy MFG2 as well as the German Air Force AG52 participated with RF-104G Starfighters. |
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BigClick - From own airbases - October 1968 The German Navy MFG2 participated with RF-104G Starfighters. |
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BigClick - From own airbases - August 1969 The German Navy MFG2 participated with RF-104G Starfighters. |
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BigClick - Aalborg AB - 29 August till 5 September 1970 The German Navy MFG2 participated with RF-104G Starfighters. |
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BigClick - Sola AB - 18 till 28 August 1972 The German Navy MFG2 participated with RF-104G Starfighters and also a Danish TF-104G was seen at Sola, likely as jury aircraft. German Starfighters seen during this meet include: MFG2: 21+07, 21+14, 21+17, 21+24. Beneath a photo showing the logo for this event, thanks to Tom Svendsen. |
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BigClick - Leck AB - 26 August till 9 September 1974 The German Navy MFG2 participated with five RF-104G Starfighters. Also Danish Air Force 723 Eskadrille brought CF-104D aircraft probably used as jury. Aircraft seen during this meet include: MFG2 RF-104G : 21+17, 21+19, 21+21, 21+26 and 21+32. 723Esk : RT-655 and RT-683 Also MFG1 TF-104G 27+93 (2nd September) and MFG2 TF-104G 28+10 (3rd September) were seen at Leck AB (See photo taken by Henk Schakelaar) and this could be as jury aircraft but also a normal visit. Beneath photos of RT-655 landing at Leck, RT-683 taken during the event at Leck on September 2nd, thanks to Gunther Grondstein and also the official logo created for this exercise, found by Tom Svendsen at Rygge. And finally a photo of the seen 27+93 from MFG1 by Henk Schakelaar. |
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BestFocus 1 - Karup AB - 4 till 13 October 1976 The German Navy MFG2 participated with RF-104G Starfighters. Only Germany, Norway, Denmark and the RAF were acting during this exercise. |
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BestFocus 2 - Rygge AB - 25 May till 3 June 1978 The German Navy MFG2 participated with RF-104G Starfighters. |
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BestFocus 3 - Eggebek AB - 30 May till 7 June 1980 The German Navy MFG2 participated as only squadron with RF-104G Starfighters. Air Forces which flew missions under Best Focus came from Germany, Denmark, Norway, Canada, the US and also the UK. Aircraft seen during this meet include: MFG2: 21+09, 21+18, 21+26, 23+09, 23+16, 23+17, 23+22. Beneath a photo of 21+09 taken by Eric Tammer and 21+18 (Paul van den Elsaker collection) during the event at Eggebek on June 3rd. Best Focus 80 sticker was provided by Henk Schakelaar. |
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BestFocus 4 - Karup AB - June 1982 It is not known if the German Navy participated with RF-104G aircraft. |
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