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Exercise Full Play

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1958 NATO exercise
Full Play
Part of Cold War (1953–1962)
TypeNATO exercises
LocationNATO North-West Region
Date3–5 June 1958
OutcomeExercise executed

Full Play was a major aviation exercise of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that took place over a three-day period in June 1958 in the North West NATO region.

Exercise

The exercise consisted on two parts: "Fast Play" focused on the possible use of nuclear weapons and "Good Play" aimed at air defense. The exercise was supervized by United States Air Force general Leon W. Johnson. The involved countries were the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Greece, Turkey and West-Germany. In total, more than 900 flights were carried out by the involved air forces.

Some of the flights focussed on flying low; other flights focussed on carrying out attacks, for instance carrying out a mock attack on a certain bridge.

On 3 June 1958, on the first day of the exercise, the Dutch Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld and British secretary of State for Air George Ward visited involved bases in West-Germany. Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld visited on the second day places around Arnhem.

Security breach

Subsequent analysis of communications during the exercise, conducted by EUSEC (the European Communications Security Analysis Agency—a standing committee of NATO) and the US Air Force, revealed the need for standardised formats for passing information between participating forces. A "serious security problem" in existing methods of passing information was discovered, and during the exercise itself "a considerable portion of atomic strike plan compromised".

Airplane crashes

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (October 2023)

During Full Play multiple air plane crashes occurred.

3 June 1958: Alsace, France

On 3 June a Republic F-84F Thunderstreak-photo explorer of the Dutch 306th squadron from Deelen base crashed in the Alsace, France, six miles north of Colmar. The pilot lieutenant J. M. Sandwijk from Velp was killed in the crash. The aircraft was involved the exercises of Full Play to fly low. The aircraft was flying low when it flew in dense fog. The pilot did not see that he was approaching a 600 meter high mountain. The plane hit a part of the mountain, exploded and crashed. Debris was scattered over a 500 metres area. The pilot was found death in the burned-out aircraft.

4 June 1958: Hunsel, Netherlands

On 4 June three Belgian Republic F-84F Thunderstreak went from Florennes flown to West-Germany in formation. Their mission was to carry out a mock attack on a bridge in the North German plain. Their mission was successfully executed. However, upon return the plane with registratin number FU53/YL-X had a fatal engine failure over Roermond. In the engine a screw loosens, the engine exploded and a fire started. Belgian lieutenant Jo Thiels escaped using his ejector seat, and lands safely next to Hunsel. At around 16:55 local time the aircraft crashed near the church of Hunsel and a school. Some debris damaged a farm. The wreckage was closely guarded in the days after it crashed and it was forbidden to take photographs. The remains of the aircraft were transported to Eindhoven Air Base. Some remaining parts were used by local residents in the years after.

See also

NATO cold war exercises

References

  1. Wynn, Humphrey. "The Bomber Role 1945-1970". Air Historical Branch, UK Ministry of Defence. p. 70. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  2. ^ Velter, Peter (23 May 2023). "Thunderstreak... Hoe Hunsel ontsnapte aan een ramp" (in Dutch) – via Issuu.
  3. "Luchtmachtoefening "Full Play" van NAVO". Nijmeegsch dagblad (in Dutch). 3 June 1958 – via Delpher.
  4. ""Full Play" ten einde". Emmer courant (in Dutch). 6 June 1958 – via Delpher.
  5. ^ ""Full Play" oefening Ned. straaljager in Elzas verongelukt". Nieuwe Haarlemsche courant (in Dutch). 4 June 1958 – via Delpher.
  6. "Prins Bernhard bij "Full Play"". Het Binnenhof (in Dutch). 4 June 1958 – via Delpher.
  7. "Agenda for Seventh NATO C–E Board Meeting". NATO. 17 March 1959. pp. 27–28.
  8. "'Hunsel heeft heel veel geluk gehad', zegt piloot van gecrashte straaljager: een geschiedenis die niet verloren mag gaan". De Limburger (in Dutch). 31 May 2023.
  9. ^ "Straaljager neergestort Piloot ongedeerd". Het Nieuwsblad van het Zuiden [nl] (in Dutch). 5 June 1958 – via Delpher.
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