Executive Transport Wing, Military air transport wing in Berlin and Cologne, Germany.
The Executive Transport Wing is a military unit based at Cologne Bonn Airport and Berlin, providing air services for cabinet members and armed forces leadership. Its fleet includes several Airbus models and older Boeing types used as passenger, cargo or air ambulance aircraft depending on the mission.
The unit began flying on April 1, 1957, at Nörvenich Air Base with a small number of planes for Defense Ministry flights. Two years later it moved its main operations to Cologne Bonn Airport, where it remains based today.
Aircraft bearing the registration "Theodor Heuss" serves as the flying representation of the German federal government during official state visits abroad. Each plane carries the national colors on its fuselage and undergoes rigorous security checks before every mission.
The unit's facilities are on restricted military grounds with no public access, and its planes follow their own mission schedules. You can occasionally spot government aircraft taking off or landing from the public side of Cologne Bonn Airport.
Some of the older Boeing 707 planes in the fleet are used for air refueling missions and can top up other military aircraft in flight. Medical evacuation flights bring injured or ill soldiers back to Germany from overseas deployments.
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