In July 2020, for the first time in history, Israeli fighter aircraft landed on German soil. Six F-16 ‘Barak’ jets took part in the exercise Blue Wings 2020, together with two KC-707 tankers and two Gulfstream aircraft. Hosting them was fighter wing TLG31 ‘Boelcke’ of the German Luftwaffe, who operate the Eurofighter EF.2000 from Nörvenich air base.
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Seen during the International Aerospace & Defence Exhibition (IADE) that was held in Djerba, Tunesia, was a long lost Harvard.
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In January, the second edition of the Kuwait Aviation Show was held under the patronage of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. During four days over 60.000 visitors witnessed some 60 aircraft and helicopters on the ground and in the air and companies from no less than 37 countries presented themselves.
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Kuwait might not be the first location that comes to mind when you are thinking about aviation history, but there are some nice gems there. Some of them are a challenge to find though.
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Within the NATO community, one air arm is still operating the MiG-21. The Hrvatsko Ratno Zrakoplovstvo or Croatian Air Force fly their daily missions with the venerable fighter, protecting the South-eastern flank of the NATO territory.
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On September 17th 1944, the Allied Forces launched the largest ever airborne assault under the code name operation Market Garden. Aim was to take strategic bridges in the southern part of The Netherlands. Paratroopers would land deep in enemy territory and take the bridges. Ground forces simultaneously launched an offence to relieve the paratroopers and push forward into Germany.
Image: courtesy Royal Netherlands Air Force
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Many airliner aircraft that are withdrawn from use, sadly end their lives anonymously in a scrapyard awaiting their turn to be recycled into soda cans.
B737 PK-LII not did end in a scrapyard. Instead, after a life full of flights all over the world, it found itself a new job on the Indonesian island of Bali.
In October a team of Ukrainian specialists from Antonov and Motor Sich visited Zagreb-Pleso airbase to inspect the two An-32 transport aircraft that are stored there. The Croatian Air Force currently rely on a fleet of Mi-17 and Mi-171 helicopters for transport, but are examining the possibility of putting the An-32’s back in service. Continue reading
With D-day being 75 years ago, many larger and smaller events were held in the UK and France to commemorate the start of the liberation of Europe. One of those events was “L-birds back to Normandy” which was held at St. André de l’Eure airfield. Continue reading
When at the end of 2018 most of the aircraft of the former Royal Australian Navy Historical Flight (RANHF) came up for disposal, the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) managed to acquire all of them. Continue reading