ALWAYS READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!
In late November 2024 I made the long trip to Turkiye for the Turkish Air Force Phantom 50th celebrations alongside my good friend Steve Morris.
The notification was sent with very short notice but hundreds made the trip to Eskisehir for two days of Phantastic action.
First we climbed up to an extrememly remote part of the country for the low flying action. In hindsight, it may have been better not to have scrambled up the escarpment with hundreds of others. Packed into a tiny area with sheer cliff faces on three sides it was difficult to get a great vantage spot, some taking extreme risks. Plus the Turks were just as close as they could get when they flew past! So opportunities were limited.
Getting to the location was hairy, always read the instructions! My map reading took us off piste a bit and we ended up getting lost, sorry Steve! Thankfully we found a remote fire station in the hills and they put us back on track. In fact we ended up getting an escort in with the Turkish Generals!
The flypast finished the masses made their way down, some of us in-part rolled down, the side of the escarpment. Thankfully getting down in one piece! I’m so glad that boulder was where it was otherwise I may not have been here to tell the tale.
My dignity and my leg took a bit of a battering, thank you to everyone who helped.
Sunday was on base, the queue was pretty huge when we arrived, taking about an hour to clear registration and get inside. Fair play to the organisers for that part.
Inside the base we were eventually shipped to the side of the runway. I lost count of the times we moved forwards and backwards, with certain individuals causing issues. We were treated to a mass take off – Phantoms about 20 metres from our position roaring past. The ground rumbled and the skies thundered.
The lunch break allowed us all time to wander around the static Phantoms, including the special scheme. Everyone had the chance to sign the belly tank, as you’ll see in the pics!
The Phinal part of the day saw us gather alongside the runway again, the light was pretty awful – after all it was November, but another mass scramble with Phantoms mere metres from us, great!
At the end after everyone had recovered the active Spooks lined up for an Elephant Walk. An absolutely incredible sight.
Two quick days but what a brilliant couple of days they were. The chase back to Istanbul the next day was pretty epic too, but thats a tale for another time!
