From 01.01.1965 the Naval Air Wing 3, Marinefliegergeschwader 3, MFG 3 was based at Nordholz, at the traditional Navy Air Base, that was used already in 1914 for airship operations. For that reason the MFG 3 was given the traditional name ‘Graf Zeppelin’ by the than President of the Federal Republic of Germany Lübke on 09.07.1967. On 1st of May 1966 the 1. Squadron was erected awaiting the successor of the Gannet, the brand new BR.1150 Breguet Atlantic. The first Atlantic arrived at Nordholz on 26.06.1966 and end of the month the withdrawal of the Gannet was already finished.

Two squadrons were equipped with totally 14 BR.1150 MPA- ATLANTIC (maritime patrolling aircraft) and 4 ATLANTIC with SIGINT (Signal Intelligence) configuration. Some outstanding missions were flown with the Atlantic like the first crossing of the North Pole of a German aircraft in May 1968 or even the longest mission time of a German aircraft on 25.04.1975 with 20 hours and 20 minutes. From 1980 until 1986 the Atlantic fleet was modernized with new sensors and navigation equipment. The Maritime Patrol Version of the Atlantic, Br.1150 MPA was withdrawn from service by the end of 2006. Only two Atlantic SIGINT soldiered on. One of them, the 61+06 was withdrawn from use in mid of May 2009 and the last one, the 61+03 will serve until about 2010, when it could be replaced by the unmanned Global Hawk UAV.

For the rest of its active lifetime until 2010 the 61+03 was decorated with a special coloured tail that shows the silhouette of ‘Graf Zeppelin’ who was the name-giver for the traditional name of the wing.