Cope North 2016 Video
Once again I realize I am behind the power curve on this one since the 2017 version of Cope North was over a few months ago as well, but I had too much great footage to just let this one go. Hopefully I can get some more videos done faster so that won’t be so dated.
The 2016 edition of Cope North was the largest version of the exercise to date with participants from no less than 9 different countries. The exercise involves dozens of fighters from numerous countries, and multiple branches. There are also AWACS, Tankers, and of course the best type of aircraft, C-130s.
We were joined in our airlift efforts by the South Korean Air Force as well as the Japanese Air Self Defense Force, who we work with on a regular basis. As a group we executed numerous air drops, and a massive amount of airlift in a humanitarian aid simulation. It is always a pleasure working with our international partners learning from each other and having a few laughs.
One of the most fun things we get to do at this exercise, other than flying around all of these gorgeous islands with incredibly blue water, is execute unimproved surface landings on the island of Tinian at the old North Field. If that name sounds vaguely familiar that is because some pretty important history took place there.
North Field was the departure field for a couple of B-29s that you may have heard of, The Enola Gay and Bockscar. I have mentioned before how much I love walking where history has happened, and in this case I actually got to fly there. To utilize such a historic runway leaves me just a little bit speechless. It is a lot of work for our crews to clear back the jungle each year so that we can utilize the runway for this exercise, but it is invaluable for all of the crews.
I will spare you any more of the details since it happened so long ago, and just leave you with the awesome footage I was able to gather below. If you want to learn more about the exercise a simple Google search will take you to official Air Force articles.
I hope you enjoy and I would love to get your feedback.
