April 2020 Updates

[Brendan Cowan]

Thanks to our friends at RAAF History & Heritage Branch, we have made the following updates of the past few days:

• Sabre A94-982: Relocated/transferred to the RAAF Museum, Point Cook (September 2018) for restoration.

• Iroquois A2-766: Held in storage for an Air Force Heritage Centre

• Iroquois A2-771: Converted to gunship configuration in the 1980s.

• Iroquois A2-773: On display in the (new) AWM annex, Mitchell aircraft storage & display hangar.

• PC-9/A A23-020: Delivered as the first fully Australian built PC-9/A (earlier aircraft built from Swiss parts)
03/06/90 to 03/06/90 RAAF Darwin N T; visiting from 2FTS, Perth (with three others). Orange/white scheme; no unit markings.
11/19 Transferred to the Williamtown Aviation Heritage Centre (WLM AHC) for display as a PC-9/A(F) FAC training aircraft.

• PC-9/A A23-022: 09/2019 Flown to RAAF Townsville and transferred to the RAAF Townsville Aviation Heritage Centre.

• PC-9/A A23-031: 10/2019 Flown to RAAF Wagga; transferred to the Air Force History & Heritage Branch (HH-AF) for eventual static display at RAAF Wagga (-031 is marked as ‘Middleton VC’).

• PC-9/A A23-032: 10/2019 – flown to RAAF Wagga and transferred to the Air Force History & Heritage Branch (HH-AF) for refurbishment and eventual static display (location TBC).

Many more PC-9/A updates to come along with a revamp of this page!

Cheers

[Brendan Cowan]

A few more updates to report (with more coming):

1) David Bell and Gordy Birkett have provided more information about Neptune A89-273's involment in the location of the historic ship wreck HMS Pandora (and fixed a typo or two).

RAAF A89 Lockheed Neptune page

2) Gordy has also updated the details for P-40N Kittyhawks A29-531 to A29-555. Hats of to Gordy for the mighty effort that he has been undertaking for many years now to provide the histories of this type in RAAF service.

RAAF A29 P-40N Kittyhawk A29-400 to A29-704 page


Happy reading!

(Photo: A29-524 FA-Q 82 Sqn Labuan 13-01-1945 via Gordon Birkett)

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[Brenden S]

A23-009 is staying in Pearce, Well done BC and Gordy.

[Brendan Cowan]

Thanks Brendon,

Good result with A23-009.

To all,

A small update.

F-35A A35-025 was noted flying on 08 April at Fort Worth in 2OCU colours.

http://www.f-16.net/g3/uploads/A35-025-2OC...-20-Snyder-a-33

See Our F-35A Lightning II Page.

Keith Snyder Photo

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[Brendan Cowan]

FYI,

PC-9A Page Works in Progress

I've been reformating our PC-9/A in preparation for further updates by moving the text for each airframe into our more coventional layout of starting with the earliest date atthe top of the entry and working down in time sequence.

I'm releasing updates as I go -so apologies that it is not totally consistent until I finish editing.

A23 Pilatus PC-9A Page

Cheers

(IMG:http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/albums/PC-9A-A23-001/AC_3A23_001a.jpg)

[Brendan Cowan]

Thanks again to our friends at RAAF History & Heritage Branch, we have updated several more entries on our RAAF A23 Pilatus PC-9/A Page for the following airframes:

A23-005
A23-009
A23-017
A23-019
A23-028
A23-029
A23-039

More to come!

(IMG:http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/albums/PC-9A-A23-005/2_F_T_S_W_A_c_1990s_PC_9As_A23_005_and_010.sized.jpg)

[Brendan Cowan]

Thanks to Gavin Barnett, Peter Priestly and Scramble magazine we can add the following details to our A23 Pilatus PC-9/A Page

PC-9/As for Blue Air Training

Following our recent reports about the US private contractor Blue Air Training , today Scramble Facebook News was informed by the company about its new acquisitions! We thank James "Chef" Barlow, Founder and CEO of the company, for his willingness to share this detailed information.

The PC-9/As are currently being shipped from Australia to the USA. The well-known Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) red/white training colours will be replaced by a Blue Air Training paint job. "The aircraft will become grey to match the Blue Air Training A-90 Raider (TP-90 Redigo) fleet. The PC-9s will be given shark mouths in honor of the 23rd Fighter Group's A-10 Warthog heritage. On top of that, the spinner will become blue", as Chef told Scramble Facebook News.

Chef continued: "As true 300 knots cruising "CAT-E" aircraft, the PC-9s are a phenomenal addition to the Blue Air fleet. The N-registrations are already filed with the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and these were selected to honor A-10 Squadrons with which Blue Air pilots personally served."

These are the six PC-9/As of Blue Air:

Tail 45 is N774BA (former A23-045, construction number 545) in honor of the 74th Fighter Squadron "Thunder!"

Tail 52 is N775BA (former A23-052, c/n 552) in honor of the 75th Fighter Squadron "Attack!"

Tail 53 is N776BA (former A23-053, c/n 553) in honor of the 76th Fighter Squadron thereby representing all 23rd Fighter Group Flying Tiger A-10 Squadrons and their rich heritage.

Tail 54 is N354BA (former A23-054, c/n 0554) which was Chef's first operational A-10 Squadron (he had two tours with the 354th)

Tail 62 is N810BA (former A23-062, c/n 0562) for the 81st Fighter Squadron

Tail 07 is N669BA (former A23-007, c/n 507) this one is not honoring a unit



(IMG:http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/albums/PC-9A-A23-045/PC_9A_A23_045_ARDU_Photo_Nathan_Rundle.sized.jpg)

[Brendan Cowan]

Thanks to Stephen Baldwin, we have updated the details for the following F-35A Lightining II's:

A35-019
A35-020
A35-021
A35-026

A35-026, marked for 2OCU, test flight on 4/23/20. NAS Ft. Worth. Photo by Keith Snyder.

From: F-16.net

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