Fantastic Day in and around Wittmund

I got up this morning at 0752 local time! Mom and I are staying for a day or two at the Uekermanns' residence. This morning, I got up and took a shower, changing into my day clothes, and I was very excited! For today we would visit JG-71 at Wittmund AB, the last German squadron to fly the F-4 Squadron in northern Europe!

At 815, Mad Uek, Mom and I went to the Market to purchase cheese, bread and other things for our German breakfast! Then we headed back, had breakfast with the Uekermanns', which for me consisted of scrambled eggs, cheese, and bread, with Nutella, a chocolate-nut based spread!

Then after talking over our plans for the day, we did a short stop at Witmmund, to see the Tradition Room, where they had WWI, WWII and post WWII JG-71 memorabilia, which was very interesting.

Then we headed to the coastline to see the North Sea and saw the fishing town, and looked at the pumping station that pumps water from the river into the North Sea, and the floodgates that close when the harbor floods.

After that, we went back down to Wittmund, and visited JG-71, getting to go into the squadron building and see the operations center, and meet the Wing Commander and the schedulers. We had coffee and ice cream in the pilot's lounge! Then we met some of the pilots, and went on down to watch the F-4s take off.

We watched them do their thing Then we went back to the base, where Mad Uek called the simulator people, and they said that I might get to fly in the F-4F ICE simulator, which would be really nice! I wasn't counting on it though. He came back to us and said that I would get a chance to get into the simulator later!, then we headed to a German snack bar and ordered curryhurst, which is cut up sausages with curry and fries alongside.

When we got back, we got our base passes and made a beeline to the simulator, where we waited for the B-Course (Basic Course) pilot to finish his checkride in the simulator! Then, Mad Uek and I hopped in, I at the front, and Mad Uek in the rear. I did the whole flight from take off the landing, did several approaches and acrobatics, without crashing once!

For a 14Mb movie of Jack in the SIM, click here (m4v)
For a 38Mb movie of Jack in the SIM, click here (m4v)

This is the sim that the German pilots use to qualify on the F-4F Phantom! It was a rare opportunity!

We then went out to watch the F-4s at night, which with their afterburner was really impressive! After watching the 6 take off, we went out to a cafe to eat "Spagetti Ice Cream" Which is ice cream in noodle form, like the dinner dish! After dessert, we went back home, and have been watching F-4 movies ever since!.