German Air Force Patch 62 LTG Lufttransportgeschwader 1a Wing

German Air Force Patch Lufttransportgeschwader LTG 62 Transport Wing Transall C 160 1970 Ahlhorner Heide AB Embroidered on twill cut edge 135mm five and five sixteenth inches diameter.

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History   

Lufttransportgeschwader LTG 62 Air Transport Wing 62 was activated at Celle Air Base on 1 October 1959 equipped with Noratlas N 2501 transport aircraft.

The Wing comprised three a Headquarters and Groups Flying Group Technical Group and Aerodrome Group. Flying Group controls the two flying Squadrons of the Wing 621 and 622. Technical Group provided aircraft technical services including maintenance and repair weapons and ammunition survival equipment fuelling fire protection while Aerodrome Group provided non-aeronautical activities and tasks including transportation supplies medical services Aerodrome security and defence runway and airfield repair.

The Wing initially adopted a white charging elephant on a black disc to reflect the transport role of the Wing.

In 1960 LTG 62 deployed elements with other transport Wings to Agadir Morocco to provide earthquake relief the German Air Forces first overseas operation. The Wing relocated to Cologne Wahn AB later in 1960 before moving to Ahlhorner Heide AB in April 1963. The Wing began transition to Transall C 160 transport aircraft in April 1968. LTG 62 was inactivated on 30 September 1971.

LTG 62 was reactivated on 1 October 1978 at Wunstorf AB equipped with C 130 Transall and Do 28D Skyservant transport aircraft on the redesignation of Flugzeugfuhrerschule S FFSS Pilot School S and in addition to transportation duties undertaken by 1 and 2 Staffels took responsibility for pilot training with 3 Staffel for C 160 crew and 4 Staffel at Bremen Airport in conjunction with Lufthansa Flight Training GmbH undertaking basic flying training for German Air Force transport pilots and German Navy P 3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft pilots. The Wing adopted the FFS S Hans Huckebein cartoon raven insignia for its emblem.

LTG 62 deployed aircraft overseas for aid flights in response to the famine in Ethiopia and Sudan in 1984 where it developed an extremely low altitude cargo drop procedure. In 1992 the Wing began regular airlift operations to besieged Sarajevo in the former Yugoslavia where pilots developed the Sarajevo Approach whereby the aircraft remained high above the city for as long as possible and then diving for the runway at the last moment. As part of budget cuts the German defence Department inactivated HTG 64 and assigned its UH 1D helicopters and personnel to LTG 61 62 and 63. LTG 62 received nineteen UH 1D helicopters from HTG 64 on its disbandment on 1 April 1994 which were assigned to 2 Squadron providing short haul air transport and SAR services.

The Wing completed its deployments to Sarajevo when the siege was lifted in 1996. The Wing provided rotational deployments to the German Air Transport Base in Termez Uzbekistan from September 2002 providing German ISAF troop staging and air bridge including Medevac to and from Afghanistan and transport support and battlefield Medevac in Afghanistan. The deployed aircraft relocated to Camp Marmal Mazar e Sharif Air Base Afghanistan on 30 August 2008. 2 squadron of LTG 62 with its UH 1D Huey helicopters was inactivated in December 2010 with its assets transferred to form part of the reactivated HSG 64 Helicopter Wing 64. LTG 62 continued its rotational deployments for the air bridge to Termez until the end of 2015 when the base at Tremez was closed.

This patch dates from 1970.