Thousands of aircraft enthusiasts gathered around Leeuwarden Air Base from 11 to 22 April 2016 for the 13th edition of the annual exercise Frisian Flag. The airbase was again home base of approximately 50 aircraft from seven different countries. Together with the local F-16’s they participated in the exercise, flying two missions a day.

The exercise
The training involved realistic and challenging scenarios, such as large-scale bombing raids and air-to-air battles. The experienced fighter pilots learned to come up with a mission, and how to develop and execute it. The focus of the exercise was on international cooperation and leadership. Frisian Flag was again a great success; all planned training missions were flown and valuable knowledge and experience was gained by the participants.

The aircraft
This year’s Frisian Flag saw the participation from Dutch, Belgium and Polish F-16’s, German Eurofighters, Finnish F/A-18’s, French Mirage 2000D’s , British Tornado GR4’s and F-15’s from the Massachusetts and California Air National Guard.