Any news on the offer to Germany to lease 4 C130Js untill the A400M is available ?
I have read in May that this is still being discussed with the German Airforce.

Put this one in the childrens forum!!

Since when are the Simpsons a children´s show – I really love them but I would say they are not suitable for children under 12.

I have found two articles with pretty interesting contents but have to admit that my Russian is a bit hazy. Do I read it correctly that Boeing proposed An-72 for contest within USAF and that some Il-78 Candid is being Westernized to NATO standard?

Looks good in this dark livery, though..
An-72: http://www.vz.ru/economy/2006/1/25/19960.html
Il-78: http://forum.airforce.ru/viewtopic.php?t=285

Yes you have read it correctly.
For more info look at this thread at airliners.net:
http://www.airliners.net/discussions/military/read.main/41431/

It is a bad thing for aviation enthusiasts because a unique looking bird will disappear from the skies.
Back in the seventies it was even considered as a replacement for the German Breguet Atlantics:

Hope they will also fly to Berlin SXF (SXF because it is the low cost airport of Berlin 🙂 )

Last year there was in article about the Canadian Air Force in Flight International and they said the C-27J is favored because of its higher cruise speed which is a very important factor on SAR aircrafts.
Regarding the A400M as it was said in that article the Candian Air Force will not order new transports planes anytime soon.

I would say that George Harrison is a very under-rated guitarist.

That was the plan in the first place. 🙂

I have just talked with an Air Berlin employee about that because I heard contradictory informations about whether the Airbusses are meant to be a 737 replacement or a supplement to the existing 737-700/-800 fleet. He said the plan is first to replace the remaining 737-400s and later go to an all Airbus fleet with some time of a combined/mixed fleet of 737-800s and A32Xs.
Which -if true- is really sad because Air Berlin is for me a “Boeing” and especially 737 airline. I have nothing against the A320 I love them both but some airlines are for me classic Boeing operators (and still some are classic McDonnel Douglas operators for me like KLM,SAS, Swissair and AUA) and some are more an Airbus airlines for me.

For more confusion at the Air Berlin rumor mill, I was also told that Air Berlin wants to get rid of the Fokkers 100 as soon as possible a likely replacement is either the 737-600 or A318/A319.