NATO Tiger Meet 2018 – Poznan

The annual Nato Tiger Meet was held at Poznan-Krzeisny AB in Poland, hosted by 6ELT, Polish Air Force.

Much was expected for this first meeting at a former eastern bloc location, with the Polish having a reputation for good access for photographers – however, this turned out not to be the case :-(.

From the very start, communications from the organisers left a lot to be desired – they had decided not to use the services of the usually excellent Nato Tigers Spotters Organisation. A lot of people had booked travel and accommodation and were anxiously waiting for confirmation of acceptance right up until the last moment.

Things didn’t improve when everyone met at the designated parking location for registration and coaches to the airfield – here’s what we were greeted with arriving at 7.00am Registration.

It took almost 2½ hours to get to the base – and then we were greeted with a spotters enclosure which was facing the sun, not near any taxiway or the runway, too far down from the rotation points and too small for the number of people to each have a spot at the front. Couple this with the usual people who believe they should have 6ft step ladders at the front of the line and you have a recipe for some very unhappy people!

The participation by the squadrons was up to the usual standard, with many aircraft sporting special schemes. A few visitors during the day also helped add to the variety.