Aviation Photography by Karl Drage

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Aviation Photography by Karl Drage

The page for the aviation photography of Karl Drage.

06/10/2026

In addition to the host unit, Spain's Ejército del Aire boasts a second tiger squadron, in the shape of Ala 15. The unit's EF-18s are based at Zaragoza AB - somewhere I would visit a few years later.

Not the most flamboyant of schemes, but the tiger centreline fuel tanks were a nice touch across the participating jets.

04/10/2026

The German Air Force had a mixture of JaBoG 32 Tornado ECR and AG 51 "Immelmann" Tornado IDS aircraft present at NATO Tiger Meet 2006.

29/09/2026

Albacete's 142 Escuadrón of Ala 14 was the host squadron for NATO Tiger Meet 2006. For reasons unknown, neither of its painted jets flew during the event's spotters day 😫

27/09/2026

In addition to CEAM / EC05.330's Dassault Rafale Bs, the unit also had two Mirage 2000s present at NATO Tiger Meet 2006, 70/330-AD and 77/330-AX.

25/09/2026

I don't think it would be unfair to describe the Esquadra 301 "Jaguares" Tiger-schemed F-16AM from the 2006 NATO Tiger Meet as being a bit 'underwhelming', but at least they made a token effort.

Of the five jets present for the spotters day, three were twin-stick F-16BMs.

23/09/2026

I didn't fare very well with the Czech Air Force's 221. vrtulníková letka tiger-schemed Mil Mi-24V Hind E at the 2006 NATO Tiger Meet at Albacete-Los Llanos AB, TBH. It looked rubbish against a grey sky (which was what conditions were like when I reached them during the lunchtime ramp walk)....

As a consequence, there are more non-tigers than tigers in this post....

22/09/2026

31 Smaldeel (31 Squadron) of the Belgian Air Component had two specials present at NATO Tiger Meet 2006 at Albacete-Los Llanos - FA-87 and FA-94. FA-87 only flew (and was likely hangared after, as I don't have any pics of it on the ground) during the morning wave of the associated spotters day.

There are a couple of pics of other jets operated during the exercise, including a 350(F) Sqn "Matrix" marked jet.

20/09/2026

Some of you are probably wondering why there's a sudden flurry of posts, but this is my first real opportunity to schedule a meaningful number since mid-April.

With the 20th anniversary of NATO Tiger Meet 2006 approaching (28th Sept), I figured I would use the spare time to put together a series of posts primarily focused on the specials.

We were afforded amazing access by our hosts at Albacete-Los Llanos AB. We caught the morning recovery from runway-side, then had the opportunity to roam freely amongst everything over lunch. Back out to the runway for the afternoon launch, and then time to relocate to a field on the approach for that wave's return. There's no shortage of shots!

Today's post concerns the CEAM (Centre d'Expertise Aérienne Militaire — Military Air Expertise Center)'s Dassault Rafale B 307/330-EE.

18/09/2026

P2 of 2 of the 2006 Gelendzhik Gidroaviasalon.

15/09/2026

Continuing with the September 2006 trip to Russia, as mentioned previously, we took in the Gidroaviasalon at Gelendzhik. This was my first taste of seeing aviation operations from water in person. Not only that, for a few dollars, we were able to fly in one of the three Beriev Be-103s present and experience water take-offs and landings for ourselves (water is hard!).

P1 of 2.

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