During autumn time, we usually have several interesting events in Danske Flyvere association. Last week, we met at the Frederiksberg Palace to hear about the evacuation from Afganistan that took place in August 2021.
The event was going to take place in Ridehuset outside the Palace, a building that was a stable in the old days. Via a 43 meters long underground tunnel called Poternen I walked to the stable yard:
Tte two first members who greeted me on arrival, were Simone and Jan-Erik:
Simone is a well-known pilot: in 2002 she flew to Kabul in her Piper Colt to meet a young girl whose dream was to become a pilot. A captivating documentary was made about the trip. Simone collaborates with a global network of female pilots to get the families of Afghan female pilots out of Afghanistan. She also contributed to the operation Alamo by helping to coordinate with the people in Kabul who had to be rescued.
We started from sandwiches and drinks, then STI introduced us GIR – the C130 Hercules Flight Commander from the Royal Danish Airforce who was in charge in the cockpit, both when the first and last Danish Hercules aircraft landed and took off from Kabul.
GIR told us the story of the evacuation.
How they flew to Kabul, what obstacles they encountered on the way…
The approach to Kabul was extremely dangerous because there were no longer people in the control tower or on the ground to guide the planes down safely. Their first landing was at night time and without light.
When they flew from Denmark, the mission was to get up to 400 evacuated, but they fought until the very last minute to get as many people out as possible, and it ended up with almost 1000 saved lives.
In total, 3 Hercules from Denmark were deployed in Operation Alamo during 13 days. Two pilots (inclusive GIR) and two crew members from the Air Transport Wing at Aalborg Air Base received the medal for excellent air service which is the greatest recognition that can be achieved for flying service in Denmark.
Afterwords, there was time for coffee and cake, and for mingling with our comrades:
The night was over us, when we were leaving the Frederiksberg Palace:
It was a very interesting evening, and we were pround of our fellow countrymen.