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!

B-2A Stealth bombers deploy to RAF Fairford.

Lockheed B-2 Bombers at RAF Fairford and a Cobra Warrior Exercise at RAF Waddington in September 2019 were a Mecca for Military aviation enthusiasts. There are a few months, or even years, that have the level of interest that September just gone attracted. With the arrival of B-2 Stealth bombers at RAF Fairford and exercise Cobra Warrior at RAF Waddington, locals and foreigners alike trooped up and down the Country. I met with guys I had not seen in years and had fortunate meetings with enthusiasts from Holland, Germany, and Malta. The friendliness and camaraderie were just brilliant.

Another enormous thank you goes to all those guys on the internet who took the time to report Notams and radio logs for these exercises. They were of enormous help to people trying to photograph the B-2s at Fairford. A first for me came when people turned from scanners/radios to internet reports on their telephones, searching for the whereabouts of B-2s returning to RAF Fairford.

Heading South again on the 11th of September, I left RAF Waddington the evening before, driving down to RAF Mildenhall and Lakenheath, as both bases were involved in the Cobra exercise, and refuelling the B-2s by the USAF's 100 Squadron from RAF Mildenhall, as well as the jets involved in Cobra. Lakenheath, with its F-15 Eagles, was participating in Cobra Warrior, 

Sadly, the weather in Suffolk was not good for photography, so I pressed on to RAF Brize Norton, where they hosted the German Air Force A-310 10+24, which was involved in the Cobra Warrior exercise. I had no luck photographing that, but 07-7185, a C-17A of the 437th AW USAF, had just arrived.

In the late afternoon, I moved to RAF Fairford, where I joined the crowds of enthusiasts, picnicking families, and assorted onlookers. I had not seen these masses at an active air base since visiting Gilze Rijen in Holland in 1993 for the Holloman Air Force-based F-117 stealths participating in exercise Central Enterprise.

What a wonderful evening this one turned out to be.

Into the Sunset "Mission over"

82-1071/WM B-2A "Spirit of Mississippi" Lands and then goes around... 

82-1071/WM B-2A' Spirit of Mississippi' On finals to land.

82-1071/WM B-2A' Spirit of Mississippi' chin up to the setting sun.

82-1071/WM B-2A' Spirit of Mississippi'

82-1071/WM B-2A' Spirit of Mississippi' Mission over for another day.

Now it's the turn of 82-1068/WM B2-A' Spirit of New York'

82-1068/WM B2-A' Spirit of New York' Down but not out...

What a sight as 82-1068 heads back into the circuit.

82-1068/WM B2-A' Spirit of New York' over the Gloucestershire countryside.

82-1068/WM B2-A' Spirit of New York' 

Sadly, the sun has set as 'Spirit of New York' concludes its mission.

82-1071/WM B-2A' Spirit of Mississippi'

By 8.20 am the following morning, it was all action as the same two aircraft that arrived the evening before missioned up again.

82-1071/WM B-2A' Spirit of Mississippi' and 82-1068/WM B2-A' Spirit of New York' 

For a few minutes, it even looked like they could be suffering "English traffic jam syndrome." 

82-1071/WM B-2A' Spirit of Mississippi'

The B-2A is a very deceptive aircraft in terms of size, from minor to...

82-1068/WM B2-A' Spirit of New York' 

Is...Huge with its 57m wingspan aircraft?

82-1071/WM B-2A' Spirit of Mississippi'

By lunchtime, with the help of internet forums, we were photographing them as they returned.

 82-1068/WM B2-A 'Spirit of New York' returns, and now we all await the day's second mission.

82-1071/WM B-2A' Spirit of Mississippi'

These guys were busy by 2.15 pm, 82-1071/WM B-2A' Spirit of Mississippi' was getting airborne once again.

82-1071/WM B-2A' Spirit of Mississippi'

Patience had paid off on this, my second visit, and now, on its second day, they departed in SUNSHINE...

82-1071/WM B-2A' Spirit of Mississippi'

 82-1068/WM B2-A' Spirit of New York'

As  82-1068/WM B2-A' Spirit of New York' departing RAF Fairford on a mission.

I waited for another Sunset evening, but this did not transpire.  

But it was worth the wait as the following morning...

60-0041/BD 93rd BS AFRC B-52H.

Yep, the engines are running at 08.15 am, and it's 60-0041/BD 93rd BS AFRC B-52H for departure, having been broken for quite a while.

 60-0041/BD 93rd BS AFRC B-52H

60-0041/BD 93rd BS AFRC B-52H.

As I said, I stopped off at RAF Mildenhall on the journey South from RAF Waddington.

57-1440 KC-135R 100ARW.

Not much was happening on the ground, but the sky was interesting photographically.

59-1513 KC-135 100ARW USAF.

84-00156 C-12U-3 1-214th AVN.

A quick stop at RAF Brize Norton before Fairford produced the following.

ZZ177 C-17A 99Sqn RAF.

ZJ694 Sentinel R.1. 5(AC)Sqn RAF.

As I had to cross Salisbury Plain on the way South, I took a quick peek at Eversleigh, having departed from Fairford.

G-ETPE H125 QCFO.

G-ETPE H125 QCFO.

What an exciting September.

Happy Days!