Swiss air force

[Ayahuasca]

As CH is so small and landlocked, do they fly their F35s and F18s round and round in circles or do they have agreements to routinely overfly neighbouring countries ?

[aeropilot]

Ayahuasca said:

As CH is so small and landlocked, do they fly their F35s and F18s round and round in circles or do they have agreements to routinely overfly neighbouring countries ?

Only fly within Swiss airspace, but they have a lot of mountains to use as large chicanes

And they have F-5's and F-18's.......it will be another 4 years at least before they take delivery of their first F-35A.

[Ayahuasca]

Thanks, makes you wonder why they bother, the French, Germans, Austrians or Italians are hardly likely to invade, and if they are only going to intercept baddies who have crossed the border I doubt they have time to scramble and get to altitude before the baddie has dropped its bombs and gone.

[rallye101]

Russia......prey Putins gone in the next month or so....

[aeropilot]

Ayahuasca said:

Thanks, makes you wonder why they bother, the French, Germans, Austrians or Italians are hardly likely to invade, and if they are only going to intercept baddies who have crossed the border I doubt they have time to scramble and get to altitude before the baddie has dropped its bombs and gone.

Buying a super expensive stealth jet in the F-35 does seem rather pointless, as they are hardly ever going to do Day 1 strike on anyone......
But I suppose, as they can afford nice toys, why not!
You would have perhaps thought the new F-15EX might have been more suitable for their needs.

[trashbat]

aeropilot said:

Buying a super expensive stealth jet in the F-35 does seem rather pointless, as they are hardly ever going to do Day 1 strike on anyone......
But I suppose, as they can afford nice toys, why not!
You would have perhaps thought the new F-15EX might have been more suitable for their needs.

There are various arguments about this, but by several accounts, the F-35 is cheaper, which doesn't surprise me at all given its brief.

[Mogul]

Must be a tough life getting paid to fly fast jets over the Alps…

But they do now have to provide 24/7 cover!

https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/26815-no-more-o...

[lipadier]

The jets are mainly for air policing. Which is an important part of neutrality.
And since Switzerland has no unhabitated terrain apart from the mountains they do their low level flight training in Sweden.

[Simpo Two]

Ayahuasca said:

Thanks, makes you wonder why they bother, the French, Germans, Austrians or Italians are hardly likely to invade

Better to have the kit and not need it, than to need it and not have it. If the st hits the fan you can't buy an entire set of armed forces on Amazon for next day delivery... especially if you ordered from Germany...

[protemporum]

Simpo Two said:

Ayahuasca said:

Thanks, makes you wonder why they bother, the French, Germans, Austrians or Italians are hardly likely to invade

Better to have the kit and not need it, than to need it and not have it. If the st hits the fan you can't buy an entire set of armed forces on Amazon for next day delivery... especially if you ordered from Germany...

According to Wiki ; the Swiss operated 10 Messerschmitt 109 D-1 variants, 89 E-3a, 2 F-4, and 14 G-6.
The Swiss bought them from Germany before 1939.

I recall reading many years ago, that the Swiss Air Force shot down several Luftwaffe bombers that Herman Goering had ordered to take a shorter route to bomb French targets.
Hitler had to tell Goering to stop ....he was keen to invade !
The Swiss operated 109's until 1950's.

[Ayahuasca]

protemporum said:

Simpo Two said:

Ayahuasca said:

Thanks, makes you wonder why they bother, the French, Germans, Austrians or Italians are hardly likely to invade

Better to have the kit and not need it, than to need it and not have it. If the st hits the fan you can't buy an entire set of armed forces on Amazon for next day delivery... especially if you ordered from Germany...

According to Wiki ; the Swiss operated 10 Messerschmitt 109 D-1 variants, 89 E-3a, 2 F-4, and 14 G-6.
The Swiss bought them from Germany before 1939.

I recall reading many years ago, that the Swiss Air Force shot down several Luftwaffe bombers that Herman Goering had ordered to take a shorter route to bomb French targets.
Hitler had to tell Goering to stop ....he was keen to invade !
The Swiss operated 109's until 1950's.

They also shot down a few RAF and USAAF aircraft.

[aeropilot]

protemporum said:

According to Wiki ; the Swiss operated 10 Messerschmitt 109 D-1 variants, 89 E-3a, 2 F-4, and 14 G-6.
The Swiss bought them from Germany before 1939.

I recall reading many years ago, that the Swiss Air Force shot down several Luftwaffe bombers that Herman Goering had ordered to take a shorter route to bomb French targets.
Hitler had to tell Goering to stop ....he was keen to invade !
The Swiss operated 109's until 1950's.

Well, the D's and E's were ordered before 1939, but a lot of the E's were not delivered until 1940.

The two F's I think were interned Luftwaffe aircraft, and the G's were delivered late in 1944 in exchange for the Swiss destroying a 110 nightfighter that was interned with the latest (at the time) Luftwaffe radar equipment after emergency landing in Switzerland. They hated the G's as they were poorly built and nothing but trouble.

They didn't quite operate the E's until the 1950's though.......almost. The last E's were retired from service in December 1949.

[swampy442]

They were in the UK before Xmas doing night flying training, because they cant do it over there lol

[Dr Jekyll]

aeropilot said:

Well, the D's and E's were ordered before 1939, but a lot of the E's were not delivered until 1940.

The two F's I think were interned Luftwaffe aircraft, and the G's were delivered late in 1944 in exchange for the Swiss destroying a 110 nightfighter that was interned with the latest (at the time) Luftwaffe radar equipment after emergency landing in Switzerland. They hated the G's as they were poorly built and nothing but trouble.

They didn't quite operate the E's until the 1950's though.......almost. The last E's were retired from service in December 1949.

They kept their JU52s in service into the 1980s IIRC.

[Crumpet]

I’ve never done it myself but I believe they’re very grateful if you offer yourself as available for interception. A few colleagues have photos of Swiss AF jets on their wingtips.

Can you do that in the UK? I was told you could offer yourself as available and Biggles comes up for a look.

[NM62]

Dr Jekyll said:

aeropilot said:

Well, the D's and E's were ordered before 1939, but a lot of the E's were not delivered until 1940.

The two F's I think were interned Luftwaffe aircraft, and the G's were delivered late in 1944 in exchange for the Swiss destroying a 110 nightfighter that was interned with the latest (at the time) Luftwaffe radar equipment after emergency landing in Switzerland. They hated the G's as they were poorly built and nothing but trouble.

They didn't quite operate the E's until the 1950's though.......almost. The last E's were retired from service in December 1949.

They kept their JU52s in service into the 1980s IIRC.

They did indeed - 3 of them from memory

I did a "spotters" tour of Swiss Air bases in the early 80's as well as an Air Cadets camp at Dubendorf in the Late 70's

They used the hangers carved into the Mountain bases and used to rotate the airframes ( Hunters ) to keep the time down - they had lifts / pulleys on the "roof" to move the aircraft about but the best bit was driving around the perimeter road and coming up against a Red light only for a couple of F-5's, Mirages or Hunters to taxy past and then take off.

[Simpo Two]

protemporum said:

According to Wiki ; the Swiss operated 10 Messerschmitt 109 D-1 variants, 89 E-3a, 2 F-4, and 14 G-6.

The reference to Germany was really to do with the current paralysis over Leopard tanks, not WW2.

[Fiammetta]

https://en.aviation-report.com/swiss-air-force-f-1...


They have extended it , sending more guys .Showing Putin something?

Since Brexit and there own widening rift(s) with Brussels, still not settled btw The U.K. and CH have jumped into bed together a lot with collaborative deals .

Edited by Fiammetta on Sunday 29th January 17:34

[Simpo Two]

Fiammetta said:

https://en.aviation-report.com/swiss-air-force-f-1...


They have extended it , sending more guys .Showing Putin something?

Since Brexit and there own widening rift(s) with Brussels, still not settled btw The U.K. and CH have jumped into bed together a lot with collaborative deals

Works for me. Switzerland has done jolly well not being in the EU.