Portuguese Airforce 1994 bases visit.

My request to Col Abrantes had been granted, and I had been given written permission to visit the four main operating bases of the Força Aérea Portuguesa for a straight four-day period. Starting with Sintra, located North of Lisbon, then South to Montijo, heading East across the Alentejo for Beja and finishing at Monte-real up on the northwest coast. 

My weekend arrival in Portugal was greeted by an ongoing heatwave, the weather already creating devastating wildfires across the Countryside of their neighbour, Spain, the control of which the Força Aérea Portuguesa was involved in, with their C-130H of Esq 501 based at Montijo.

Below are a few images, starting on a brilliant Tuesday morning visit to the airbase at Sintra.

2420 T-37C is currently stored at the Alverca Museum.

T-37C's 2425 is at Sintra today, 24 is stored at Alverca, and 2430 rests at Alochete.

3715 CeFTB337G.

3715 CeFTB 337G, although seen here freshly re-furbished, it later became 13715

The 1774 Texan T-6J is still flying here, but was later passed to an instructional airframe.

1546 Havard 11A outside the Sintra Museu do Ar.

4711 PZV-5F outside the Sintra Museu do Ar.

6157 C-47A outside the Sintra Museu do Ar. Apparently, the wings later found their way to Alochete!

16523 Casa 212-100 rumoured to be stored in Tucson (AZ)

6519 Casa 212A of 401 Esq, my host Esq at Sintra. Later, it became 16519 and was stored at Beja.

3480 Do27A-3  in the main maintenance hangar at Sintra, today Wfu.

This was a highlight moment as I strolled into the very dark hangar affiliated with the Museu do Ar.

3548 Auster D5/160 in entire Força Aérea Portuguesa colours; today, she resides at Ovar.

Behind her is 102, one of the DH.82 Tiger Moths built under license at Alverca in Portugal; it was in service between 1934 and 1952.

 Yet another star 2307 DH89A Dragon, lounging at the rear of the hangar, still wearing its complete Força Aérea Portuguesa scheme, the tail of DH82B Hornet Moth brandishes the Portuguese overseas territory registration prefix CR-AAC.

Sikorsky UH-19  (MM80119)/CS-10 Itaf would become 9101 at the Museu do Ar.

The next visit would be to Montijo.

19503 SA330S1 today stored at  Alverca.

14804 P-3P Orion lands back at Montijo after a mission. Sadly, this aircraft is an instructional airframe for the Portuguese Air Force fire service today.

16804 C-130H Esq501 marked Rodeo'93 Best foreign team. It also appeared at the I.A.T. in that same year (1993), wearing the above markings but registered 6804. Aircraft W/O 11th July 2016.

16801 C-130H-30 newly arrived from Alverca following its upgrade. Previously registered as 6801. 

16805 and 16806 C130H 501Esq.
In 1978, the name of 501 Esq was changed to the "Bisontes".

Sitting very proud but all alone, 5445 G91R/3 was resting in a dark hangar at Montijo airbase, barely illuminated by a ray of sunlight.

A total celebration of the service history of the G91 fleet of the Força Aérea Portuguesa.

Ginos were always one of my favourite jets, whether Portuguese or Italian. The weather that morning may have been full of sun and warmth, but out there on Montijo airbase, I
 had a feeling of melancholy photographing an entire fleet of G91S withdrawn from flying.

The seagulls are so obviously enjoying roosting on them at night, far out here in the quiet natural area of this waterside airbase.

The Squadron leader's aircraft 5436 G91R/4.
https://www.natotigers.org/tiger-units/esquadra-301

Today, this aircraft is stored at Alochete.

From 1965, Portugal was involved in the Portuguese Colonial War in Africa. By 1965, fighting was at its height, and Portugal had tried to acquire 100 surplus Canadian-built Sabre MK6s in West Germany. Eventually, the German government agreed to transfer 40 G.91Rs from Germany to Portugal; these aircraft had been initially built for Greece and Turkey's air forces, so their delivery was delayed. They ended up serving with the Luftwaffe, where they were found incompatible with Luftwaffe service, creating major maintenance problems.
Germany offered them to Portugal, and in exchange, they asked to be allowed to build an airbase at Beja for training purposes. The rest is history...

14804 P-3P on the ramp.

14805 P-3P in the grey scheme, scrapped at Beja in March 2014.

This grey scheme 14801 P-3P is preparing for a mission; today, it is stored at DGMFA in Alverca.

5404 G91-R/4 and my little hire car. 

Next came my visit to Beja, hosted by Esq 552.

  Beja was hot, 19356 Allouette SE3160 Esq 552; today, it is stored at Beja.

9367 SE3160. Sadly, the W/O date is unknown.

19372 SE3160 prepares for takeoff.

1403 TB-30.

1405 TB-30

Today, 15248 Alpha Jet A is stored in hangar 2/3, embellished with its Tiger colours.

Alpha Jet's line of honour was stored in various locations after their transfer from Germany.

 An iconic moment in the markings of 20+99 F-104 preserved and painted for the departure of the German air force from Beja

Beja airbase was commissioned by the West German air force in 1962, and sadly, by 1993, its glory days as a Luftwaffe base were no longer.  

Day four, and it was Monte-real.

Monte-Real was my last day with the Força Aérea Portuguesa. Supposedly, this was the day the first F-16s were due to arrive in Portugal for the Força Aérea Portuguesa, but sadly, they were delayed en route.

Not at all disappointing, though, with the A-7s carrying out missions throughout the day.

15547 TA-7P mission over. Sadly, this aircraft has been scrapped today.

15527 A-7P Taxiing back to the sun shelters. Today's status is scrapped.

15545 TA-7 in the sun shelter at Monte-real.

5320 F-86-35NA, this aircraft may have been scrapped.

15544 A-7P taxiing from the sun shelters for a mission.

15549 TA-7P is taxiing uphill to the main runway, and a thumbs up to me.

16803 C-130H visiting Monte-Real to take on water as it has been seconded in the firefight across the border in Spain. 

501 Esq had hosted my visit to Montijo three days earlier, and seeing these guys practising their mission was incredible.
The new F-16 Falcons never appeared and were delayed en route to Monte-Real, probably in Lajes; I later heard they arrived on Saturday.
For me, though, it had been an incredible insight into the Força Aérea Portuguesa.

Happy Days, indeed!

Historic Royal Saudi air force aircraft found in the desert after the Jeddah Kandara airport closes in 1981.

For years, Jeddah Kandara airport was the gateway to the Western provinces of Saudi Arabia and, for Hajj pilgrims, the pivotal starting point of their pilgrimage to Medina and Mecca.

For an aviation enthusiast, it was home to the number 8 wing of the RSAF and their C-130 Hercules. Air France also had a facility for its international flights. This, in turn, produced many FAF C-160 Transall flights from Djibouti and transits of Pakistan Air Force Mirage-111s and Singapore Air Force T-33s on delivery flights. 
   

Looking out across the airport from my vantage point, one could see a distant group of aircraft scattered across the desert. With temperatures touching 50 degrees Celsius, the heat haze inevitably made serial reading and closer identification of types difficult.

In 1981, the new King Abdulaziz International Airport, north of Jeddah city, opened with all the latest high-tech and glitz, and the now-defunct Kandara Airport became a development site. As with most construction programmes in Saudi Arabia, where speed is the critical factor, a new highway was to be built, progressing across the disused airport.

Amazingly, the new highway drove straight through that group of dumped aircraft, and once the tarmac was laid, I made a trip to the site.

It was not that straightforward. With photography banned and many construction workers busy along the route, I would have to be careful not to be seen, especially when photographing military aircraft. Driving out in a GMC pickup truck would allow me to blend in with the work teams.

Heavy machinery had moved or pushed aside some aircraft at the site. It was an impressive sight, with MK52 Vampires, T-28s, T34s, C-54s, A-26 Invaders, and many more planes dumped in a dust bowl.

Unfortunately, it was more complex than I had thought, and I was trying not to be visible whilst taking the photographs.

Below are the photographs I took while worrying about a passing police car and the construction crews' puzzled looks.

  

Looking out over the vast airport's barren desert, you can see the dumped aircraft in the top left-hand corner. Rumour was that the Catalina (bottom right) belonged to Jacques Cousteau, studying the Red Sea coral reef.

To my disadvantage, photography was always tricky due to the intense heat haze, which was only exacerbated by using a 500mm lens. This is one of my last photographs at the old Jeddah airport.

Driving out to the dust bowl, this is the first view of the wrecks.

Vampire Mk52s and DHC-1 Chipmunks 

55281 T-34A RSAF

450 C-54 RSAF is now preserved at the Riyadh Museum, static outside.

The serial number of the Cambrian Airways DC-3 is unknown. Interestingly, the sand has stripped away some paint, revealing the RAF Auxiliary Air Force marks. Any information on this aircraft would be much appreciated.

A closer study of those markings shows it is far from its old home at Cardiff Rhoose Airport.

Vampires, Harvard, and Chipmunk aircraft with the city of Jeddah beyond.

205 T-6 Havard RSAF.

 Probably HZ-ABE, but the star here was the far A-26 of the RSAF. Sadly, a police car stopped on the new road 'gulp.' I am not 100 per cent sure, but this aircraft was TA-26B 301 RSAF, now displayed at the Riyadh museum.

5B-CAV Cypriot registered DC-3. Looks like it suffered a fire. I am unsure if this was a Haji transport aircraft bought for spares. I have a reference to 5B-CBD being preserved, or is it the same aircraft?

Beech 18, under the cheatline, clearly carries the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but above it is too badly weathered to read. This aircraft is now perched on a pole at a roundabout in Jeddah. 

A historic 'seal', the similarity to this Saudia airline wingless F-27, and a beached seal?

450 C-54 RSAF and other various types.

611 DHC-1 Chipmunk RSAF.

49-1681 T-28A RSAF.

This aircraft was previously assigned to the Mobile Air Material Area at Brookley AFB, Alabama.

In 1957, it entered the Military Assistance Programme (MAP) and was transferred to the Royal Saudi Air Force as 681.

603 DHC-1 Chipmunk RSAF and Vampire MK52.

509 Vampire MK52 RSAF.

Vampire MK52 RSAF Identity is unknown. These two aircraft, presumed to be instructional airframes, were transferred to the engineering faculty at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. 

51-7723 T-28A RSAF.

T-28A s/n 51-7723 (MSA174-576) was also assigned to (MOBAR) Air Material Command at Brookley AFB before transfer to the Royal Saudi Air Force as 7723 through the Military Assistance Programme (MAP)

Seen here at King Abdulaziz University, where it would later become a ground instructional airframe.

  

51-7723 T-28A RSAF.

What an impressive aircraft the T-28 was! 51-7723 still looks great after years of neglect in the desert.

There you have it, looking back some thirty-eight years. Thank goodness I wasn't arrested, and I can enjoy looking at the slides from a bygone era. They were all captured on Kodachrome 64.

Anybody familiar with Jeddah back then would probably know of the Hotel Kandara, standing right opposite the Kandara airport's terminal and Haji terminal, quite the oasis for a Western worker based in Jeddah. 

Happy memories, indeed!