TLP 2014-1
By Frank Grealish / Sonya Cooley | 6th February 2014 | Albacete (LEAB), Spain
From the 15th January to the 7th February the first Tactical Leadership Programme exercise of the year, TLP 2014-1, was held at Los Llanos Air Base, Albacete, Spain, and IrishAirPics paid a visit to the fence to sample the flying action.
TLP 2014-1, consisted of 14 different aircraft types from 8 different forces, with the main attraction being the pair of French Air Force Dassault Mirage F1CR from ER 02.033 at Mont de Marsan. The Mirage F1CR aircraft are scheduled to be retired from service in June of this year, so the opportunity to catch these aircraft in (hopefully) blue skies, was too good an opportunity to pass up.
As it turns out, the weather was very good, although the edge of the bad weather system that caused so much flooding in Ireland and the UK was hovering directly overhead Albacete. Some clouds did roll in just in time for the mission launch, but as luck would have it most of the departures were photographed in sunshine, and the few aircraft that did launch under a cloud recovered in glorious winter evening sunshine.
It was a brief trip, and it took a bit of effort to get there, but the Mirage F1CR's were in the bag so it was well worth the trip. Unfortunately I'll not be able to attend the Spotters Day being held at Mont de Marsan on April 10th so this will probably have been my last time to see these classic aircraft flying, and thankfully it was in sunshine.
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