NATO Tiger Association

History:

The Aufkürungsgeschwader 51 (Reconnaissance wing) was founded at the Southern base Erding on 7 July 1959. The unit was equipped with 36 Republic RF-84F Thunderflash aircraft from WS50 and took all of these aircraft with them when the first move, on 5 May 1960, was to be completed. Manching was the new home base from this date. The unit was nicknamed "Immelmann" on 21 April 1961.
At the end of 1963 AG51 faced the task of transitioning from the Thunderflash to the RF-104G Starfighter. The unit operated the Starfighter until 1971. By the time the type left the unit a total of 61.390 flying hours were completed on the F-104. From 20 January 1971 the unit was the first Luftwaffe unit to equip with the RF-4E. By mid-1972 this change was completed and the wing was under NATO-command by that time again.
Operating this type the unit achieved some milestones during the years. On 19 April 1977 the unit was the first within NATO to complete 50.000 flying hours without losses. This resembles 39 million flying kilometres. By mid-1982 the unit had flown 100.000 hours on the RF-4E and reached 250.000 flying hours in total on 25 January 1984.
As with sister-unit AG52 the decision was taken to disband AG51 and dispose off the RF-4E. The unit was disbanded mid-1993 and re-established on 1 January 1994 at Schleswig-Jagel. From Schleswig-Jagel the unit was to operate the Panavia Tornado in the reconnaissance role. They took over the Tornados of MFG1 and adopted the unit markings of AG52 (with a small change to the number the badge was reflecting).