for all pictures Vincent van der Meer ©
The unit was founded in 1925 as Fliegerkompanie 11 and was equipped with Fokker CVs until 1938. In 1938, Fliegerkompanie 11, switched to the EKW C-35. In 1945 the Fliegerkompanie 11 was renamed to Fliegerstaffel 11. From 1946 to 1959 the Fliegerstaffel 11 used the De Havilland D.H. 100 Vampire from the Alpnach Air Base. From 1959 to 1975 the squadron flew the Hawker Hunter from the new home base Meiringen, afterwards from 1975 to 1979 Alpnach was again the home base. Afterwards, now at Dübendorf Air Base, the training was carried out on the F-5 Tiger and the Fliegerstaffel 11 used this aircraft type from 1979 to 1997. Under the command of Werner "Höffi" Hoffmann, the Fliegerstaffel 11 transferred from the F-5 Tiger to F/A-18 Hornet in 1999.
On Friday, 16 December 2005, the Fliegerstaffel 11 was transferred to the present homebase, Meiringen Air Base, under the commandant Peter «Pablo» Merz from the Dübendorf Air Base (who was not an airbase for wartime operations in the jet age). Peter Merz as a backseater and Michael «Elvis» Rainer as a pilot carried out the last take-off, of an F/A-18 from Dübendorf with the F/A-18D J-5235. The Fliegerstaffel 11 is the only F/A-18 squadron in the world to be operated from a Aircraft cavern in daily operation. Because Dübendorf was the homebase of the Fliegerstaffel 11 largest number of pilots in the Air Operations Center and the Air Defense & Directions Center in the Skyguide Building and the Berufsfliegerkorps at Dübendorf are from the Fliegerstaffel 11. The Commander of the Patrouille Suisse Nils «Jamie» Hämmerli, PC-7 Team Daniel "Stampa" Stämpfli and the co-founder of the F/A-18 Hornet Solo Display and former commander of the PC-7 Teams Werner «Höffi» Hoffmann are pilots from the Fliegerstaffel 11.
Although Switzerland is not a NATO member, the Fliegerstaffel 11 is a member of the 'Tiger Association', which links all the squadrons with a tiger as a squadron emblem. The Fliegerstaffel 11was the first time as an observer on the NATO Tiger Meet1981 at Bitburg. The pilots traveled with the Beechcraft Twin Bonanza A-711, this aircraft with the yellow bottom was adorned with tiger stripes, on the engines and a red shark mouth. As of 1991, Fliegerstaffel 11 was no longer just an observer at the Tiger Meet but as a full member with the F-5E. However, there was no special paint, only a new, color-changed squadron emblem on the front. In 1994 and 1996, the pilots from Fliegerstaffel 11were again only as observers with the Learjet 35 T-781 at the tigermeet. From 2002 on as active member with the F / A-18.
The Fliegerstaffel 11 won the award Silver Tiger Trophy in 1982 and 2008. From 24 to 27 March 1983 and from 17 to 21 October 1986, the Fliegerstaffel 11 was the host of the Mini Tiger Meets at Meiringen. From 11 to 14 March 2005 the Fliegerstaffel 11 was the organizer of the Snow Survival Exercise in Sion. Because of these Tigermeets usually one or more aircraft of “tigersquadrons” received a special "tiger" painting. In 2003 it was decided to do it as well with a F/A-18C for the Fliegerstaffel 11. The choice was the F / A-18C with the registration J-5011, the 11 for theFliegerstaffel 11. However, the machine received no major change for the first time, only the additional tank and the AIM-9 Sidewinder dummys on the wingtiprails got a tigerstyle paint. In 2004, the aircraft received a permanent color scheme. This machine is used for TigerMeeting events. In normal flight operation the J-5011 is given priority to the squadron commander of Fliegerstaffel 11, but is also flown by other pilots. If the current F/A-18 Hornet Solo Display pilot is from the Fliegerstaffel 11, he will fly the J-5011, if possible. Fliegerstaffel 11 was the first squadron of the Swiss Air Force which received an aircraft with a permanent special painting, and a few years passed until the Fliegerstaffel 17, Fliegerstaffel 18 and Fliegerstaffel 19 also got their own squadron aircraft.
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F-5E J-3092 AT GILZE-RIJEN 1997 |
THE 1STF FLAGSHIP J-5011 AT THE NTM 2009 KLEINE BROGEL |
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THE SAME FLAGSSHIP IN OTHER SCHEME NTM 2011 ORLAND |
AND A 3TH SCHEME DURING LANDIVISIAU NTM 2017 |
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