Fighter Wing 71 "R" and the period of use of the F-4F PHANTOM II

On 06 June 1959, Fighter Wing 71 was commissioned by the Inspector of the German Air Force, Lieutenant General Josef Kammhuber. Major Erich "Bubi" Hartmann had already been the first Commodore of the new squadron since 09 January 1959.

Fighter Wing 71 began its service at Ahlhorn with the F-86 Sabre Mk VI weapon system. Already on 01 June 1960, Fighter Wing 71 was subordinated to NATO.

On April 21, 1961, on the 43rd anniversary of the death of Rittmeister Manfred von Richthofen, Federal President Heinrich Lübke bestowed the name "Richthofen" on JG 71 and the Inspector of the German Air Force, Lieutenant General Kammhuber, awarded Lieutenant Colonel Erich Hartmann the first sleeve band and pinned it to his uniform.

From 01 March 1963, soldiers from the technical group of JG 71 "R" are deployed to Wittmund to prepare for flight operations with the F-104 "Starfighter" weapon system. On 03 May 1963, the first F-104 Starfighters landed at the Wittmund airfield. JG 71 "R" was the first squadron to be equipped with the new aircraft type.

On August 31, 1973, the first two F-4F PHANTOM II landed at Wittmund. These are used to train technical crews on the future weapon system. Finally, on March 07, 1974, the first squadron-owned F-4F PHANTOM IIs land at Wittmundhafen. The crews of these first two aircraft were Lieutenant Colonel Rimmek, Major Witfer, Lieutenant Colonel Eggert and Major Gaede.

On September 19, 1974, the last flight of an F-104 Starfighter took place at Wittmundhafen. The last flight was piloted by Captain Harry Giese.

On April 1, 1975, after the weapon system changeover to the F-4F PHANTOM II, JG 71 "R" was again assigned to NATO.
Already on October 24, 1975, the first tactical check with the weapon system F-4F is performed by the 2nd ATAF.

On June 17, 1981, the first independent command of JG 71 "R" moves to Goose Bay, CAN, to conduct training flight operations in the province of Labrador.

On March 12, 1986, JG 71 "R" becomes the first F-4 unit in the Air Force to complete 100,000 flight hours.

On March 24, 1993, all F-4s are towed outdoors for a photo op as part of what the squadron members have dubbed "Toyota Weeks" (...nothing is impossible!). Immediately afterwards, 16 F-4s of the squadron took off in short intervals to fly over Wittmundhafen airfield in formations of four. On March 26, the "Toyota Weeks" were duly concluded with the handover of the squadron from Colonel Heinz Nowak to Lieutenant Colonel Dierk Peter Merklinghaus.
On 01 July 1995, JG 71 "R" officially became part of the German Rapid Response Force with the F-4F weapon system. Thus, a possible deployment outside the borders of the NATO alliance area became part of the squadron's mission assignment.

From 08 to 25 November 1995, JG 71 "R" participated in the NATO exercise "Adventure Exchange" in Zaragoza, ESP, with 270 soldiers and 12 F-4F. Hairline cracks in the elevator of some F-4Fs, which became known during the exercise, necessitated the very infrequent weekend flight operations from Spain to Germany and back, so that no failures were recorded on the exercise.

On January 14, 1997, a new flight hour record was set with a total flight time of 9 hours and 35 minutes during a transfer of F-4Fs from Wittmund to the United States.

On July 24, 1999, an "open house" was held. With a total of 90,000 spectators, the flight demonstration of a Wittmund F-4F with a special livery and an elaborate supporting program, all expectations of the squadron were exceeded.

From August 18 to September 10, 2003, a delegation from the squadron took part in the "Combat Archer" exercise in Tyndall, FL, USA. The exercise focused on firing six live, radar-guided AIM-120 B AMRAAM air-to-air missiles.

On July 01, 2005, JG 71 "R" deployed with four F-4F PHANTOM II to Siauliai Air Base, LIT and took over for the first time the NATO task force "Air Policing Baltic" to guard the airspace of the member states Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

On October 15, 2006, the F-4F with the identifier 38+14 was first deployed in public space at the intersection with the federal highway in front of the JG 71 "R" accommodation area.

On May 27, 2008, the F-4 PHANTOM II weapon system turned 50 years old. In honor of this anniversary, JG 71 "R" deployed an aircraft with a special livery.

On May 30, 2008, JG 71 "R" reached a total of 250,000 flight hours on the F-4F PHANTOM II weapon system. At the same time, the aircraft with which this record was achieved (37+48) passed a cell time of 7,000 flight hours.

On July 28, 2008, 900,000 flight hours were achieved on the Air Force F-4F weapon system.

On February 14, 2012, the last handover of a technically inspected F-4 took place from the Luftwaffe Maintenance Group 21 (LIG) in Schortens. The aircraft was transferred to Wittmund on February 22, 2012, was used as a "spare" in the Phantom Pharewell on June 29, 2013, and can now be visited in front of the OHG at the Jever/Schortens site.

From June 28 to 30, 2013, the "Phantom Pharewell" was celebrated with several events and many guests, the ceremonial retirement of the German F-4F PHANTOM II. It started with a "Spotterday" and about 3,500 photographers. This was followed by the "Phlyout" on June 29, 2013, which featured 4 F-4Fs from the squadron. Each aircraft had a different paint scheme, so a cross-section of the camouflage paints in use over the 40 years as well as a special "Phantom Pharewell" paint scheme were on display. The four Phantoms showed different flight formations and were then accompanied during the flight by two Eurofighters from Nörvenich, which landed first as a sign of the changing times, followed by the F-4Fs which were able to show some practice approaches to the interested spectators. With about 130,000 visitors in mixed weather, the expectations of JG 71 "R" were far exceeded.
On June 30, 2013, the end of this era was then celebrated with a ceremonial serenade on the market square in Wittmund, at which Colonel Gerhard Roubal, the last Commodore of an Air Force F-4 squadron, also handed back his command to Major General Löwenstein.

A detailed chronicle of Fighter Wing 71 "Richthofen" as well as the Tactical Air Wing "Richthofen" can be found on the homepage of the Traditionsgemeinschaft Richthofen e.V. ( https://www.richthofen.info/karte-1/geschwader-staffeln/wittmund and
https://www.richthofen.info/karte-1/geschwader-staffeln/ahlhorn ).

A detailed list of all Commodores of the Fighter Wing 71 "Richthofen" as well as the Tactical Air Wing 71 "Richthofen" can be found on the Wikipedia page of the TaktLwG 71 "R". (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taktisches_Luftwaffengeschwader_71_%E2%80%9ERichthofen%E2%80%9C#1973%E2%80%932013:_Phantom)