On the early morning of Wednesday 23 August, a group of enthusiastic people were ready at Amsterdam airport to spend a few beautiful days in Poland. On the programme was Radom’s open day, which had not been held for several years.
KLM took us safely to Warsaw-Chopin International Airport, where almost everyone quickly grabbed their bags from the belt. One person had flown to Schiphol that morning and the transfer proved too short for KLM to put the luggage on the right plane. However, this suitcase was checked into the hotel the next day.
Three vans, carrying a total of 23 people, set sail for Minsk Mazowiekci airport. Initially, Deblin was on the schedule, but information became available that MiG-29s and Su-22s would be flying a mission at Minsk, and the group did not have to think about that twice. Given the Polish government’s ‘spending spree’, this tour would be one of the last times we would be able to see both types flying in full swing.
According to the information, the aircraft would start flying at 15:00, but as we had not heard or seen anything at all until just after 15:00, we decided to look for another spot and, of course, that’s when the first aircraft chose the skies. We were able to photograph most of them during departure, but all were captured during landing an hour later. The most important part of the ‘mission’, for most, photographing both types was now over. The rest would be a big bonus.
Now following was a two-hour drive to our hotel where the entire tour would stay. Here, as almost every night, we enjoyed a delicious meal with a cool drink.
