September 2008 Cover Story:
Tiger Meet 2008: A Photographic Essay

Story and Photographs by Simon Gregory/JetwashImages.com

The NATO Tiger Association is a group of squadrons who all share one common bond… a unit badge which displays a tiger or big cat design.

Each year, these units meet for a week of fun, games and a serious exercise known as “Tiger Meet”. The 2008 event took place over the week of June 22, 2008 at the French Naval Air Station of Landivisiau, located in Northwest France. The meet was titled “Ocean Tiger” to reflect the maritime background of the host unit, Flotille 11F.

Tiger Meet guarantees one thing, stunning one off paint schemes, and 2008 was no exception with the units all competing for the Tiger Trophies that are awarded to the unit displaying the best paint scheme. The host unit decorated two of their Dassault Etendards in a striking black and red scheme and won the “Best Skit” trophy. Winner of the “Most Fancy” scheme went to the French Air Force Squadron 05.330 for their simply stunning Dassault Rafale. The “Silver Tiger” trophy was deservingly won by the Swiss Air Force with their McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18C of 11 Staffel and, whilst not winning a prize, the black and white tiger scheme adorning the Nord 262 of French Flotille 28F and the “Ocean Tiger” Dassault Mirage F1 of Ala 15 Spanish Air Force were well deserving of an award.

Flotille 11F did an amazing job of organizing the event at short notice and thanks go out to their public relations officers for hosting a fantastic enthusiast’s day. The meet was scheduled to take place at Lechfeld, Germany, but due to operational commitments they could not host the event. Flotille 11F stepped up as this year would be the only opportunity for them to host a meet. They are normally a carried based unit on the aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle but with the ship in dry-dock for a 12-month period the opportunity was too good to miss.

Tiger Meet 2009 will be hosted by the Belgian Air Force at Kleine Brogel.