Portugal sent a C-130H-30. The Portuguese Air Force Hercules made 2 flights to Tripoli and evacuated Portuguese, european and brazilian nationals. If I’m not mistaken, the Herk operated from Sigonella NAS. 😉

Thanks, Padidiver…nice work…looks like a Harpoon and Ju-52 at the Alverca graveyard

More precisely an Amiot AAC.1 Toucan and a PV-2D Harpoon. 😉

Hi there! 🙂

Nice photos you took around here, but let me make you some corrections if you don’t mind. First of all, PoAF called their former RNLN Neptunes P2V-5 and not SP-2E; the burnt out A-7P Corsair’s serial is 15532, not 155(32); and finally, the Sikorsky UH-19 SAR helo is an A, not a D. 😉

At Monte Real Air Base (Portugal’s Fightertown), that’s not a museum, in the normal sense of what we know about museums, but more like a collection of former fighter and training jets associated with Monte Real’s history.

I didn’t know that Algerian Su-30MKA Flankers had two different color schemes. :confused:

(Picture was taken from that wonderful blog called: http://elhangardetj.blogspot.com/) 😉

Yugoslavian F-86s. 😉

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?150619-SFR-of-Yugoslavia-F-86e-Sabre

First of all, the aircraft depicted is indeed an N2502A, but the serial is all wrong. FAP 6416 was an ex-Luftwaffe N2501D, not an N2502A (C/N 045, former GA+235); it was delivered to Portugal in November 14th 1966 and entered PoAF service on December 21st that year. Only the civilian models N2502 carried the Turbomeca Marboré II jet engines on the wingtips, so something is definitely wrong with that drawing.

Second, as I said in my earlier post, it is very likely the portuguese troops left some Noratlas in Luanda when they abandoned Angola, and that they were afterwards rushed into service by FAPA/DAA still in portuguese markings. The version is right: Angola did receive 5 civilian N2502 (6401, 6403, 6407, 6413 and 6415), but the FAP serial isn’t right.

Hi guys! I’m just an outsider in this matter, of course, but I was wondering if the so called navalised Typhoon that the Eurofighter consortium is offering India wouldn’t be a better solution for the UK than the F-35C.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/02/09/352925/aero-india-eurofighter-reveals-offer-to-produce-navalised.html

Arthur and Charlie Golf, thanks for the update on the Fiat G-91s. The Angola information in the book sounded problematic; now I know it is. I do have a question about Portuguese Noratlases in Africa. I have an image of one with a Mozambiquan flag on the front fuselage; see attached. Was this aircraft actually used by Mozambique, or was the Mozambiquan flag part of the markings on Portuguese aircraft stationed in Mozambique? If it was indeed used by Mozambique, do you have any info concerning the overall markings of the aircraft?

Well then, let’s see what I found out about this matter. The Noratlas dossier, their purchase through several sources, their different versions, and its fate after being withdrawn from PoAF (Portuguese Air Force – Força Aérea Portuguesa) service, is sometimes a very confusing one. Nevertheless, I’m going to try to enlighten it a bit more. 🙂

After the end of the Colonial War, around 1976/77, when the Noratlas were being retired from the PoAF (to be replaced by Lockheed C-130H), several were offered and/or sold to Mozambique and Angola. Eight were delivered to the newly formed FAPA/DAA (Força Aérea Popular de Angola/Defesa Aérea e Antiaérea – People’s Air and Air Defence Force of Angola), but it seems that only four were active, the other four probably used for spares or simply abandoned in Angola with the portuguese withdrawal:

PoAF Serial — Version — Registration
6401 – – – – – – – N2502 – – – Not known
6403 – – – – – – – N2502A – – – D2-EPV
6407 – – – – – – – N2502F – – Not known
6413 – – – – – – – N2502B – – Not known
6415 – – – – – – – N2502B – – – D2-EPS
6416 – – – – – – – N2501D – – Not known
6424 – – – – – – – N2501D – – – D2-EPT
6425 – – – – – – – N2501D – – – D2-EPY

There are always lots of “ifs” and “maybes” when the matter concerns the Noratlas life after serving with the Portuguese Air Force as there isn’t much data, or pictures, to tell us what really happened both in Angola and Mozambique. It is said that FAPA/DAA Nords were withdrawn in 1994, but I have serious doubts about that.

Now, Mozambique. This is an even darker mistery (no pun intended) because info is scarce, to say the least. Portugal delivered seven Noratlas (actually, only six) to its former colony between 1975 and 1977, and apart from the picture shown and one or two sites and blogs I read that mention paradrops in central Mozambique in the late seventies by FRELIMO troops together with cuban and possibly soviet advisors against RENAMO positions, little else is known. Portuguese military aviation historians are nowadays doing a great job in tracing the steps and operational life of several different PoAF aircraft in Guinea-Bissau, Angola and Mozambique (great articles about the G.91s in both Guinea and Mozambique have lately been published in PoAF’s magazine), but they still haven’t reached that far. Perhaps south african colleagues could add something too, it would be most welcomed. 😉

Nonetheless, here is the list of Noratlas delivered do Mozambique’s Air Force:

PoAF Serial — Version — Registration
6409 – – – – – – – N2502F – – – C9-ARC
6412 – – – – – – – N2502F – – – C9-ARD
6421 – – – – – – – N2501D – – – C9-ARE
6423 – – – – – – – N2501D – – – C9-ARF*
6426 – – – – – – – N2501D – – – C9-ARG*
6427 – – – – – – – N2501D – – – C9-ARH*
6428 – – – – – – – N2501D – – – C9-ARI

* Supposed serials, not confirmed

A curiosity: Noratlas C9-ARD, former FAP 6412, was supposed to be delivered to Mozambique, but never got there. In 1977, Maputo’s government chose the OGMA facilities, near Lisbon, to perform an IRAN (Inspect and Repair As Necessary) on the aircraft before she was delivered to their Air Force. The job was done, i.e., the inspection and necessary repairs, but it was never paid for. Due to this fact, the Noratlas was returned to the PoAF that assigned her to the Air Museum’s collection (Museu do Ar), in Alverca. And that’s why only six were received by Mozambique.

The picture shown by gkozak, present also in an older small air forces thread, most likely shows C9-ARE, former FAP 6421, that was reported as dumped somewhere in Mozambique, in 1985. It still carries a Luftwaffe-style color scheme that was retained by some Noratlas in PoAF service, specially the N2501D model of course. The photo mistakenly says it’s a N2501F (the real version is N2502F, all six made for and delivered to the PoAF), but I do believe it’s an ex-german machine. That’s all I could gather in such short time, perhaps in the future we will be able to know a little more about this whole african Noratlas business.