Full Play was a major aviation

exercise Exercise or workout is physical activity that enhances or maintains fitness and overall health. It is performed for various reasons, including weight loss or maintenance, to aid growth and improve strength, develop muscles and the cardio ...

of the

North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental transnational military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermat ...

(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 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and

West-Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. 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 Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld (later Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands; 29 June 1911 – 1 December 2004) was Prince consort of the Netherlands, Prince of the Netherlands from 6 September 1948 to 30 April 1980 as the husband of Queen J ...

and British

secretary of State for Air The Secretary of State for Air was a secretary of state position in the British government that existed from 1919 to 1964. The person holding this position was in charge of the Air Ministry. The Secretary of State for Air was supported by ...

George Ward visited involved bases in West-Germany.

visited on the second day places around

Arnhem Arnhem ( ; ; Central Dutch dialects, Ernems: ''Èrnem'') is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is the capita ...

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 The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

, 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 ATO’satomic strike plan ascompromised".

Airplane crashes

During Full Play multiple air plane crashes occurred.

3 June 1958: Alsace, France

On 3 June a

Republic F-84F Thunderstreak The Republic F-84F Thunderstreak is an American swept-wing turbojet-powered fighter-bomber. The RF-84F Thunderflash is variant of the F-84F that was designed for photo reconnaissance. The design was originally intended to be a relatively simp ...

-photo explorer of the Dutch 306th squadron from Deelen base crashed in the

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

, France, six miles north of

Colmar Colmar (; ; or ) is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Alsace region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it is the seat of the prefecture of the Haut-Rhin department ...

. 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

flew from

Florennes Florennes (; ) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Namur Province, province of Namur, Belgium. As of 1 January 2006, Florennes has a total population of 10,754. The total area is 133.55 km2 which gives a pop ...

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 registration number FU53/YL-X had an engine failure over

Roermond Roermond (; or ) is a city, municipality, and diocese in the Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg province of the Netherlands. Roermond is a historically important town on the lower Roer on the east bank of the river Meuse. It received City rights i ...

. In the engine a screw loosened, the engine exploded and a fire started. Belgian lieutenant Jo Thiels escaped using his ejector seat, and landed 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 Eindhoven Airport is an international airport located west of Eindhoven, Netherlands. In terms of the number of served passengers, it is the second largest airport in the Netherlands, with 6.8 million passengers in 2023. The airport is used by ...

. Some remaining parts were used by local residents in the years after.

References