Spotter Magazine - Issue 2

Issue 2 – July 2016

Typhoon Special In the Mach Loop Danish Sea Hawks F-35 at Leeuwarden Singaporean Treasures

Thank you for your overwhelming support for our first issue. We’re back with a second issue, which we also hope you will like.

This edition brings Spotter Magazine to a truly worldwide dimension, with contirbutions from Belgium, Malta, Singapore, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the USA. With the airshow season now in full swing, we look forward to hearing from you and receiving your contributions for our future editions.

Mark Zerafa Editor

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If you have anything aviation related, be it photos, articles or artworks, please contact us on:

Spottermagmalta@gmail.com

COVER PHOTO A century of progress. An airliner contrail framed over a Tiger Moth biplane (Mark Zerafa)

Contents Eurofighter Typhoon

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Retro Chic

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Eye on the Tiger

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Into the Loop

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Slovak Air Force

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Danish Sea Hawks

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The Return of Black Mike

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Port Elizabeth Airport

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F-35: The Wait is Over

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Treasures of Singapore

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Credits Mark Zerafa, Alan Cordina, Mark Paul Brockdorff, Jonathan Mifsud, Mike Derycke, Lawrence Brincat, Richard J Caruana, Bradley Rutters, Austin Ferreira, Joe Pries, Gary NG, Philip Moore

PAGE SPREAD Mirage F.1 and Rafale A of the Armee de l’Air grace the tarmac at Avord Air Base (Mark Zerafa)

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Typhoon Photos: Mark Zerafa

First flown in 1994 and operational since 2003, the Typhoon is a European collaboration project, now in service with six nations, and ordered by a further two.

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Italy – Aeronautica Militare Italiana The Italian Air Force reached initial operational capability with the Typhoon in December 2005, when the type took over QRA duties at Grosseto Air Base. The service will eventually receive 96 aircraft, these being divided into 28 Tranche 1s, 47 Tranche 2s and 21 tranche 3As. Recently, Bulgaria was offered eight ex-Italian Tranche 1 Eurofighters as replacements for its MiG-29s, however the deal is far from being completed.

Aeronautica Typhoons are primarily based at Grosseto, with additional units performing QRA duties at Trapani, with Cervia being designated as an EF-2000 rapid deployment base.

Maintenance is effected at Cameri.

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Austria – Osterreichische Lutfstreitkrafte The smallest of all Typhoon operators, Austria operates fifteen Tranche 1 single seaters. They serve mainly in the air superiority role, on QRA duties from their base in Zeltweg, where the two Typhoon squadrons are based.

With the retirement of its Drakens in 2005, the Typhoon was ordered. Swiss F-5s were leased in the interim, the first Austrian Typhoon being rolled out in March 2007, and the final Typhoon delivery in September 2009.

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Germany – Luftwaffe As the second largest Eurofighter operator, the Luftwaffe will eventually be operating 143 Typhoons, split between 33 Tranche 1s, 79 Tranche 2s and 31 Tranche 3s. The Typhoon has replaced the F-4F Phantom from German service, with JG-71 at Wittmund being the last unit to transition to the new aircraft.

German Typhoons fly out of four bases, Wittmund, Norvenich, Rostock-Laage and Neuburg.

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United Kingdom – Royal Air Force The largest Typhoon operator, the Royal Air Force operates no less than 160 examples, these being 53 Tranche 1s, 67 Tranche 2s and 40 Tranche 3s.

RAF Typhoons have already seen combat over Libya, and have earned the respect of their adversaries in Red Flag exercises.

The latest Tranche 3 versions are already prepared to accept conformal fuel tanks, currently being designed to remove the need for underwing drop tanks.

Based at RAF Conningsby and RAF Lossiemouth, the Typhoon is principally tasked with interception and QRA duties, regularly being scrambled to shadow Russian aircraft flying at the periphery of British airspace.

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Spain – Ejercito del Aire Spain has ordered 73 Typhoons, these being split into 19 Tranche 1s, 34 Tanche 2s and 20 Tranche 3s. Unfortunately, three have already been lost in accidents, giving the Spanish the highest attrition rate of all operators.

Two squadrons are currently based at Seville, and a further squadron is based at Albacete.

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Saudi Arabia - Al-Quwwat al-gawwuyyah al-malakiyyah as-su’udiyyah To date the largest export operator of the Typhoon, the Royal Saudi Air Force will eventually operate a fleet of 24 Tranche 2s and 48 Tranche 3s. Original plans called for licence manufacture in Saudi Arabia, but these plans did not reach fruition, and all airframes are being built at Warton.

At least two squadrons of Typhoons are based at Taif (King Fahd) Air Base, however only 3 Squadron has sufficiently trained pilots for operational commitments. It is expected that No. 10 Squadron will be operational shortly as training ramps up.

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1. The Typhoon cockpit is extremely simple, with three displays. The function of the buttons changes according to the mode the screen is set.

2. The IRST (Infra-Red Search and Tracking) allows the Typhoon to track its prey without using radar.

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Austrian Air Force Typhoon 7L-WG, cn 120/GS024 based at Zeltweg, Austria

Italian Air Force Typhoon MM7274 c/n 071/IS006 belonging to 4o Stormo, 9 Gruppo

Spanish Air Force Typhoon 11-16 from Ala 11, based at Moron

RAF Typhoon FGR4A ZJ950, 1435 Flight, Falkland Islands

Luftwaffe Typhoon c/n 052/GS005, serving with JG71

Royal Saudi Air Force Typhoon c/n 180/CS004, serving with 10 Squadron All profiles © Richard J Caruana

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Retro After a seemingly endless fashion of all-white aluminium tubes, airlines all around the world seem to be celebrating their history by painting some of their aircraft in the liveries they used in the past. These so-called retro liveries provide us all with a much-needed breath of fresh air at our airports. Photos by Mark Zerafa unless otherwise credited.

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Air Malta A320 9H-AEI, repainted in the first Air Malta colour scheme to celebrate 40 years of the airline

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(main) Austrian Airlines A320 OE-LBP, Vienna Schwechat 1.

KLM Boeing 737 PH-BXA, Amsterdam Schiphol 2.

Condor A320 D-AICA, Hamburg Fuhlsbuttel

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(main) Tarom Boeing 737-700, YRBGG, Amsterdam Schiphol 1.

SAS Airbus A319, OY-KBO, Malta International Airport (Mark Paul Brockdorff) 2.

Alitalia Airbus A321, EI-IXI, Malta International Airport (Jonathan Mifsud) 3.

Aer Lingus Airbus A320 EIDVM, London Heathrow

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(main) Lufthansa Boeing 747-8, D-ABYT, Newark Int’l 1.

American Airlines Airbus A-319 N744P, Phoenix 2.

American Airlines Boeing 737800 N951AA, Miami Int’l Photos Joe Pries – joepriesaviation.net

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(main) Mexicana Boeing 757-200, N380RM, Los Angeles (inset) United Airlines Airbus A-320 N475UA, Newark Photos Joe Pries – joepriesaviation.net

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Eye on the Photos: Mark Zerafa

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De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth DE730 c/n85660, officially registered 9H-RAF, is the first airworthy aircraft of the Malta Aviation Museum.

Purchased as a complete, but wingless aircraft in Autumn 2000, the Tiger Moth was previously on the British register as G-ANFW. Built in 1942, it served with the RAF until 1946, when it was purchased from the Air Ministry as RAF surplus, and was initially used at St Eval as a glider tug.

Eventually disposed of in favour of more modern aircraft, G-ANFW found her way to the Torbay Aircraft Museum. The museum is known to have closed down in the eighties, and its entire collection was auctioned off.

In 1986, the aircraft was involved in a minor accident when it collided with a vehicle while taxiing at White Waltham Airfield.

In August 1995, the aircraft suffered another accident whilst taxiing at the same airfield, when it collided with some temporary fencing, damaging the engine, undercarriage left wingtip and tail assembly.

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By Autumn 2000, the aircraft had definitely been repaired, but its wings were used in the restoration of another Tiger Moth, and the fuselage was purchased by the Malta Aviation Museum Foundation with the intent of returning it to flying condition.

The steel and wood structure of the fuselage/wings and all the cockpit instrumentation were restored to airworthy condition. Vintage Fabrics Limited (a UK specialist company) visited Malta where they completed the fabric covering of the fuselage. The four wings were then exported to the Vintage Fabric's workshop in UK for fabric covering. When the wings were completed they were returned to Malta during the fourth quarter of 2009.

The aircraft performed its first post-restoration flight in 2010, flown by Clive Denney. The aircraft still flies on rare occasions and can be admired at the Malta Aviation Museum at Ta’ Qali, Malta.

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In the

loop Photos: Alan Cordina

The Machynlleth Loop in Wales, better known as the Mach Loop, is a series of valleys made famous amongst plane spotters for their use fir low-level training by military aircraft.

These are located 8 miles east of Barmouth, between the towns of Dolgellau to the north and Machynlleth to the south.

Spotting in the Mach Loop is not for the fainthearted. It requires waking up before sunrise, climbing up one of the hills and waiting, and waiting, until some aircraft breaks the tranquillity of the Welsh hillsides as it screams through the valley below.

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Slovak Air Force One of the smallest air arms in NATO, the Slovak Air Force represents an interesting mix of types. The Slovak Air Force was formed in 1993 with the split of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It operates out of three airbases - Malacky (transports), Sliac (flights) and Presov (helicopters). All photos

by Mark Zerafa unless otherwise credited.

Despite having a relatively small fleet of 9 MiG-29s, the Slovak Air Force is a regular participant in airshows, with its fighters having different camouflage schemes. Plans to replace the MiG-29s have been postponed for budgetary reasons.

Photos Joe Pries – joepriesaviation.net

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The Aero L-39 Albatross is the main trainer and attack aircraft. 8 are currently in service. The type equipped a 7-aircraft aerobatic team called ‘Biele Albatrossy’, which performed in airshows between 1992 and 2004.

Photos Joe Pries – joepriesaviation.net

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With the retirement of the Mi-24 Hind in September 2011 left the Mi-17 as the main rotary-wing asset of the Slovak Air Force. It is expected to soldier on until the arrival of the UH-60M between 2017 and 2019.

In the meantime, the last An-26 has been retired pending the imminent delivery of the C-27J Spartan

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The Slovak Air Force was the last European operator of VIP-configured Tupolev Tu154s as government aircraft. The aircraft has very recently been replaced with an Airbus A-319CJ. Photo- Lawrence Brincat (inset) Seven Let-410 Turbolets are in service for light transport duties.

Slovakia Tour 24-29th August 2016

spotterstravelmalta@gmail.com +356 7979 1275

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Denmark’s Sea Hawks Photos: Mark Zerafa

The Royal Danish Air Force is the first European operator of the MH60R helicopter. Danish Sea Hawks are configured for search-andrescue missions, maritime patrol and anti-surface warfare operations, and are expected to serve in the North Atlantic as well as being deployed on anti-piracy deployments in Somalia. It is envisaged that the nine helicopters ordered will be upgraded with anti-submarine capability in the future.

Selected in 2012, deliveries of the nine examples purchased have commenced last May are expected to be completed in April 2018.

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Black Mike Moving Home

Possibly the best preserved of the few surviving British Phantoms, Phantom FG.1 XV582, affectionately known as ‘Black Mike’ has now been saved for posterity, thanks to a dedicated group based at Bruntingthorpe Airfield. Philip Moore reports on the current situation.

It all started from a page on Facebook set up in December 2008 by Phantom fans, just for fun, mainly to encourage other Phantom-minded people to post images of the aircraft in British military service. This page grew very rapidly and attracted the attention of people who have worked on the Phantom when it was still operational, including ground crew and aircrew.

Fast forward to 2013, and with the page attracting just under 2000 members, the group grew more ambitious, and the administrators decided it was time to make the big step forward. The group would no longer just talk about the Phantom, it should actually own one, to be preserved and enjoyed by future generations. The Group would be known as the 'British F-4 Phantom Aviation Group', or BPAG for short.

The choice of Phantoms available to the group was unfortunately very small due to the mass scrapping the Phantom fleet had endured post 1992, due to regulations imposed by the USA. From the limited available stock, the majority were obscenely priced and would probably need a lot of work in order to bring up to decent condition.

This left the group with the last remaining examples that would come up for disposal with the Ministry of Defence. Of these, only XV582 'Black Mike', located at the former base of RAF Leuchars would be of interest as this was the only airframe that came complete and had been stored under cover for most of its life. Most importantly, this aircraft still had her mighty Rolls Royce Spey 202's installed, a crucial component should the group consider restoring the aircraft to be capable of consider static ground runs in the future. Thus, this was the airframe to aim for.

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Obtaining a Phantom is by no means an easy task. The group could no longer rely on its Facebook status and thus we had to be registered as a company and apply for charity status. It was at this point that Sam Thompson, still in active service in the RAF, came into his own and took control of the project, being the main driving force ever since.

In Autumn 2014 the Group’s bid to buy ‘Black Mike’ was successful but, due to unforeseen circumstances, as well as US legislation on the transfer of arms, the group remained stuck in limbo until the very beginning of 2016. Ultimately, Gary Spoors of GJD Services agreed to pay for ‘Black Mike’ along with the costs entailed with dismantling the aircraft and its transportation to Bruntingthorpe. Gary is no stranger to such feats, having dismantled, transported and reassembled Vickers VC-10 XR808 'Bob' at the RAF Museum Cosford. The Group’s agreement with Gary envisages paying him back through fundraising, membership, merchandising and open days.

This August will see Black Mike transported to Bruntingthorpe with the help of many people. Once she is there, an in-depth study will be undertaken into her condition along with servicing and anticorrosion treatment. The Group is still very short of many spare items and would use this opportunity to ask any readers if they have any Phantom bits and pieces which they would be willing to donate or loan, as they would greatly assist progress on the project over the coming years.

Spotter Magazine will be following the work on Black Mike and we will be delighted to report progress on this iconic aircraft in future issues.

For more information on the Group’s efforts, visit the website:

http://www.bf4pag.co.uk

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Ten Minute Airport Photos: Austin Ferreira

Port Elizabeth Airport (IATA: PLZ, ICAO: FAPE) is an airport serving Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Located just two miles south of the city’s central business district, it is known as the “ten minute airport” because it is generally just a ten minutes’ drive from most major areas in the city.

(main) Flysafair is a low-cost airline operating a fleet of 737-400s and 737-800s.

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Mango Airlines is another lowcost airline, which only operates domestic routes in South Africa 2.

Dash8-400, South African Airlines Express 3.

Comair operates as a British Airways franchise with 737-400s and 737-800s.

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Bombardier CRJ, South African Airlines Express

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F-35 Lightning II The Wait is Over Photos: Mike Derycke

Although this is not the first F-35 in the European skies, the Royal Netherlands Air Force has made the European airshow debut of the F-35 with its first two examples, which flew at Leeuwarden last June.

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Treasures of Singapore Text and Photos: Gary NG

Since its inception on 1 September 1988, the RSAF Museum has served to capture the spirit, heritage and values of the force. Initially located at Changi Air Base (CAB), the museum moved to a bigger compound next to Paya Lebar Air Base (PLAB) in 1990. In late 2013, the museum underwent a major revamp, and reopened on 1 September 2015.

The museum consists of an outdoor static gallery that features key aircraft used by the RSAF, along with some Ground Based Air Defence (GBAD) assets. One of the interesting static aircraft on display is the TA-4SU Super Skyhawk, which features a tandem dual cockpit arrangement for advanced jet training, and is unique to the RSAF. By utilising the latest technology, the indoor gallery seeks to create a more hands-on and engaging experience with visitors. From its early formation as the Singapore Air Defence Command on September 1st 1968 to its transformation into an integrated full- spectrum Air Force, visitors are brought through 5 exhibit galleries along this journey.

An immersive theatre showcases the peacetime role of the RSAF and a cockpit simulator allows visitors to experience flying a modern jet fighter and executing combat manoeuvres.

The RSAF Museum may not be a large museum as compared to others, but its small size packs an impact befitting a young Air Force that will celebrate its Golden Jubilee in 2018.

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Possibly one of the most unique aircraft in the RSAF Museum is this TA-4S Skyhawk, one of fifteen converted from A-4B airframes..

They differed primarily in having two separate tandem cockpits for student and instructor, requiring the fuselage to be lengthened to accommodate the second cockpit.

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(top) The E-2C Hawkeye was the RSAF’s main AEW platform until the arrival of the G-550. (left) The RSAF was one of the last operators of the A-4 Skyhawk, having received its first examples in 1973.

The aircraft were continuously upgraded, and were finally retired in 2005.

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The RSAF originally received 46 Hawker Hunters, delivered between 1970 and 1973. Retired in 1992, four survive as gate guards, whilst a further 21 airframes have been sold to warbird operators.

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(main) Two retired rotary-wing types – the Bell UH-1 , 45 of which were in service (UH-1Bs for training and UH-1Hs, which were retired in 2003) Seven AS350Bs were operated in a training role between 1981 and 1992. (inset) The RSAF operated eight Alouette IIIs between 1969 and 1978. Most were transferred to the Royal Malaysian Air Force.

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(main) 32 S.211s were acquired in 1984, with a further two examples purchased from Haiti as attrition replacements. The type was phased out from June 2008. (inset) The T-33 had a short service life, even standards, with 20 examples serving from 1985.

relatively

by RSAF ex-French 1980 till

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It started as a little adventure ten years ago. Now we’ve visited 53 airfields, driven 12,000 kms, and we’re still looking forward to offering you more new thrills in the years to come.

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