Only if your ejection seat doesn’t work at all – it’s not that substantial numbers of pilots who have ejected have slammed into the tail of their aircraft.

Blow-in doors are an interesting idea, but this would make for some fancy intake duct design. With the main intake on top of the fuselage, and blow-in doors below… naah.

The original C-12As are 77-1205 to 1218 (USAF), 73-21058 to 21060, 73-22250 to 22269 (all USArmy), 76-0158 to 0173 (USAF), 76-22545 to 22564 (USAr) and 77-22931 to 22950 (USAr). A lot of these have later been upgraded to C-12C with uprated engines: PT6A-41s in stead of the PT6A-38s. They should be identical with the King Air 100 series.

There is a whole plethora of subvariants though, up to and beyond the C-12J which is a Beech 1900. And then there are the flying antenna variants of the RC-12 breed, of which i think the RC-12K has the most bumps ‘n blades coming out.

Not the first time that MIDAS has been in Europe. Ukrainian and Russian operated MIDAS have been in the UK. Earliest examples (Russian) in UK around 1992/1993 for public display.

TJ

Don’t forget the dozens of Belorussian (TransAviaExport iirc) and Ukrainian (lots of different companies) which flew on and off as cargo aircraft here in Western Europe throughout the 1990s. Most of the Uzin-based Ilyushins from the Ukraine were actually MIDAS rather than CANDID, as were a fair number of the Belorussian machines from Vitsebsk-Ruba.

Sorry bout the Kiran Harry, i indeed ment the Marut. And like i said, my list is debatable 😉

About the Dhruv: the term used commonly is ‘design consultancy’ by MBB for the airframe, and the rotorhead. However (i’m not sure how familiar you are with both the BK117 and the Dhruv), having seen both helicopter types in real life, the Dhruv looks almost exactly like a slightly stretched BK117. Trust me.

As for the J-8II, it has larger wings and tailplanes than the J-7/MiG-21. Aerodynamically they are definately similar, but that doesn’t change the fact that those are different surfaces.

Are you sure it was a former USAF chief of staff, John? Philip D. Chinnerey’s “Vietnam – The Helicopter War” (Airlife, 1991/1996) tells a story about a 240th AHC pilot who rescued no less than three survivors from an OH-6 on the doors of his gun bay, back in March 1971. I guess it must have been actions like these which inspired the Special Forces guys to mount people-planks on the sides of their MH-6es.

I like to think i don’t suffer vertigo and like to take an occasional risk, but i honestly do think that i would politely decline a ride like that…

Srbin, AEW and AWACS are not the same thing. An AEW bird is a flying radar station, like the Sea King AEW2 or the E-1 Willy Fudd. An AEW&C and an AWACS also have the ability to control the airspace they are monitoring, either from aboard the airplane itself (like an E-3) or by relaying info back and forth from a ground station (like an E-2C).

Steve, Flex,
The Ukrainian IL-78s have been de-tankerised in the early 1990s already when Uzin’s Candids were used as civilian contract machines. In 1997 they were reclaimed by the UkrAF, but never brought back to tanker status. I think the only IL-76 with a refuelling system you can find now in the Ukraine, is the second prototype which is now an instructional airframe at Kirovograd.

As for the Fencers: looooots of them looked already very derelict last time i was there (in 1997 that is), the MiG-23s and -27s are all retired, and 70 different bort numbers for Ukrainian Frogfeet means that there have been re-codings going on. And don’t forget that the official Ukraine strength lists have often included the grounded and instructional airframes as well: how else do you think that a Su-7 is still listed occasionally?

The Ukraine has a lovely inventory, but that hardly makes it a capable airforce. No tankers, no AWACs…

Bring it on, if you do want to continue posting, please consider writing in sentences. Capital letter up front, one small little dot at the end, and no more using of etc. etc. only because of laziness. I suggest taking this advice seriously, because moderators have a perfectly good right to harass you if you don’t. This of course also goes for other won’t-write-properly types.

Thanks in advance.