31 Tiger squadron

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Since 1951 we have always strived to be a highly professional squadron, eager and ready to meet any operational commitment anywhere in the world.
Our men and women have always been and are still today very proud to belong to the famous 31 Tiger Squadron, member of the NATO Tiger Community, and will live for ever with the spirit of being true Tigers.

As our motto says: “Once a Tiger, always a Tiger!”

31 "Tigers" Fighter Bomber Squadron is one of the five F-16 Squadrons of the Belgian Air Component. Flying the F-16 MLU Fighting Falcon, "three one" is a Multirole squadron able to perform a wide array of operational missions. For the squadron, operationality is the top priority.Other than that, the squadron is known for its traditions and the fact it's often still referred to as a Fighter Bomber squadron is a nice example of this. All the traditions can be traced back to the squadrons rich history, now spanning more than six decennia. In addition, as a Tiger squadron and one of the oldest members of the NATO Tiger Association, 31 squadron takes great pride in spreading the "Tiger Spirit" and honoring the traditions that come with it.With their fighting spirit “May the enemies blood be our wine” (“In Sanguine Vinum”) the 31 tigers will fulfill their job with pride and dignity in the 21st century.

As a multirole squadron, 31 can be tasked to perform Air to Air missions as well as Air to Ground missions.
In a nutshell, the Air to Air missions can be done to defend friendly territory from outsiders or to clear the way for bombers above enemy territory. The Air to Ground missions are mainly performed to slow down or eliminate enemy ground troops and ground based air defences. Fighters can also be "on call" to lend support to friendly ground troops having problems in the field.
31 squadron is part of NATO's High Readiness Forces and is permanently ready to fulfill these tasks in order to protect Belgian national airspace and territory, to support its NATO allies and to perform Peace Support missions under a United Nations mandate.

The squadron

As a multirole squadron, 31 can be tasked to perform Air to Air missions as well as Air to Ground missions. In a nutshell, the Air to Air missions can be done to defend friendly territory from outsiders or to clear the way for bombers above enemy territory. The Air to Ground missions are mainly performed to slow down or eliminate enemy ground troops and ground based air defences. Fighters can also be "on call" to lend support to friendly ground troops having problems in the field. 31 squadron is part of NATO's High Readiness Forces and is permanently ready to fulfill these tasks in order to protect Belgian national airspace and territory, to support its NATO allies and to perform Peace Support missions under a United Nations mandate.

History

The history of the 31^st Tiger Squadron goes back to the 1^st of October 1951. On that day it was founded, as part of the 10^th Tactical Wing at Beauvechain Airbase, together with 23 and 27 squadron.

Structure

In order to maintain it’s operational capabilities, the squadron must constantly manage it’s personnel in an efficient way. This is key, to allow everyone to participate in operations, continue training, keep up with new tactics and technologies and improve day by day.

Commanding Officers

The Commanding Officer or CO is the ‘boss’ of the squadron. In the yard of the Tiger squadron there is a F-104 Starfighter wingtank with all the names of the 31 Co’s, dating back from 1951 til present CO.

Latest news

FA-116 Tigertail rollout

4th of April 2018, on a typical gloomy grey and dull Belgian afternoon, 31 Squadron presented its new livery.
The design of FA-116 was made by Peter Verheyen and Johan Wolfs from Arte International, who are slowly reaching the ’50’ mark with their total amount of painted Jets.

Tiger 31, cleared hot – Operation Desert Falcon

Since the beginning of November, 31 Tiger Squadron is deployed again in the Middle-East, in order to execute combat operations against Daesh in both Iraq and Syria. For the moment, we are not the only Tigers in the region, since we have our fellow Tigers of 11F and 02/030 stationed just 50 Km from our Belgian DOB (Deployment Operating Base).

Tiger does the Mach Loop

The light wasn’t the greatest, but hey we managed to get there and do the Mach Loop with our Tiger. We came this far, and despite the lack of descent light, the photographers shot some astonishing pictures.

The FX-52 was the first completely "tigered" fighter of 31 Squadron during Kleine Brogel's Tiger Meet in 1978.This Lockheed F-104G Starfighter, Tail Number FX-52, was originally manufactured by the SABCA company in Belgium. It served well with the Belgian Air Force for a great many years. Taken of charge by the Air Force on 21st May 1964, the FX-52 was withdrawn from use in June 1983 and has a total flying time of 3026 hours 9 minutes.It was also involved in a mid air collision with another F-104G. The FX-52 colided with the FX-11 wich was controlled by Major Theeuwen. The FX-11 exploded and Major Theeuwen unfortunelately died in the crash. As for the FX 52, it had a damaged wing and a bored tank...The FX-52 resided at Niederrhein Airport fir several years, where it was being restored to its original Tiger colors by Dirk Bellens and Henk de Jongh. The roll-out of the restored Starfighter symbolically happened during the Nato Tigermeet of 2009 at its homebase, 31 sqn at Kleine Brogel.