Hahahahaha, you jammy goit, you got something on them, hahahaha yes I’m impressed but where are the C212’s? You’re not a champion yet!

Ja, it ain’t exactly rocket science finding this stuff on the good ol’ www :rolleyes:

http://www.afavia-fotos.co.za/mil6/mil6.htm

Nothing to do with replacing the F-15S Eagles, but the older F-15C and the Tornado ADV aircraft in service.

That’s why the possibility of Saudi taking some Tranche 1 Typhoons intrigues me.

I wonder what the chances of both this deal being announced and Tranche 2 being signed at Farnborough are in a few weeks’ time are 😀

Best regards

Steve Rush ~ Touchdown-News

Cheers for that, Art 😮

It was a very interesting article to research, and the reward was in being able to unearth so much previously unknown information about the ex-US DoD and Canadian Forces material that had just “vanished” without trace. Some of the Hueys that are down in Bolivia and Peru hadn’t been reported for around a dozen years or so.

Ja, the Burmese crop-sprayers in the pic are Ayres T-65 Turbo Thrushes. You’re right, these days Myanmar/Burma is considered something of a rogue state, but wasn’t always so. The aircraft were supplied, and jointly-operated, by the US Department of State with input from the DEA too.

Cooperation with the US Department of State

In 1974, the United States Administration offered to assist in the narcotic drugs suppression efforts of Myanmar. On acceptance by the Myanmar Government of the offer, the Agreement concerning cooperation between the two countries was signed on July 1974. Since then officials from the International Narcotic Matters (INM) of the Department of State and those from the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Directorate of Defense Services Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense and the Office of the Commander-in-chief (Air) of the Union of Myanmar had began their cooperative efforts. The US Administration provided 6 Bell 205 helicopters in 1975, another 6 and one F-27 Fokker aircraft in 1976, 7 Bell 205 helicopters, 1 Bell 212 helicopter and 5 F-27 Fokker aircraft in 1977, 1 Bell 205 helicopter in 1979, 3 Thrush spraying aircraft in 1985 and 1 Thrush spraying aircraft in 1986 and 7 Bell 206 helicopters – numbering 39 assorted aircraft. Pilots from the Myanmar Air force were also provided with training to operate the aircraft supplied. In addition, a total of 32 trainees from the Myanmar Tatmadaw and the Customs Department were sent to courses on narcotic drugs suppression conducted in the United States. Financing for the trainees was provided by the US Administration. Furthermore, a total of 29 Myanmar officials, including the Minister for Home Affairs, the Deputy Minister and the Director of the Defense Services Intelligence participated in meetings and study tours on narcotic drugs. From 1974 to 1988 the assistance provided by US administration for Myanmar’s effort to eradicate narcotic drugs amounted to the tune of US $86.6 million.

Enforcement against cellular trading alliances – like military strikes against guerrillas – produces little more than fragmentation, and this was to be illustrated by the next step the State Department took. Between 1975 and 1979, they donated 25 Bell helicopters and 5 Fokker troop-carrying aircraft to help Burmese troops mount more rapid attacks against the Shan United Army. Spies also inserted tiny transmitters into the flesh, or up the anus, of mules hired to the convoys, so that American satellites could track their every movement. But all that this achieved was to encourage greater mobility in the convoys. By 1977 a majority of Shan opium was no longer being converted into morphine base on the Thai border but in the north of Shan State. Then the much lighter morphine travelled in the back-packs of soldiers who split into half a dozen 100 man units whenever the Burmese approached.

$80 million in U.S. aid and aircraft had virtually no effect in halting the narcotics traffic. The Burmese did not capture a single convoy, and their greatest success was the seizure of 10% of the opium on the SUA convoy of September 1975. Overall the State Department admitted that the Burmese never ever captured as much as 1% of the traffic in any year. And during the period of most intensive U.S. aid – when the toxic herbicide 2.4D was being sprayed down on Shan fields from U.S. donated Turbo Thrush spray planes – Buma’s estimated opium production rose from 350 tons in 1985 to 1280 tons in 1988 – an increase of well over 300% in 4 years.

The figures for aircraft supllied aren’t 100% accurate, or easily confirmed: we think a least 2 or 3 other T-65s ended-up in Myanmar and a Pilatus PC-6 was also supplied. The status of the aircraft isn’t known today, but the T-65s were certainly still operated as recently as the very late 1990s.

Best regards

Steve Rush ~ Touchdown-News

Commentary by Terri Lukach – Special to American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 11, 2004 — Even in the post-Sept. 11 era, in which the possibility of a spontaneous act of terrorism is never far from our thoughts, it is hard for anyone who had not lived through the height of the Cold War to imagine what a strain communism and the specter of mutually assured destruction added to daily life.

Even more than the idea of a breakdown in relations between the United States and the Soviet Union that could lead to a first strike, and thus nuclear annihilation, was the complete lack of hope that the situation would ever be different. I clearly remember the certainty with which I believed I would not live to see the day when communism collapsed or the Soviet Union did not exist, and neither would my children. It was the primary reason I became involved in politics, and thought the work the most important one could do.

Fortunately for the nation and the world, Ronald Reagan had the vision to see what few, if any, others could discern: the total bankruptcy of the communist system, how close it actually was to collapsing, and what was required to push it over the edge. In achieving his goal of relegating communism to “the ash heap of history,” Ronald Reagan not only removed the specter of the unthinkable from our lives and our futures, but gave us a gift of inestimable value: the gift of hope.

Hope was Ronald Reagan’s secret weapon. He gave it to the young and the old, to the worn-out and the weary, to the disenfranchised and the disillusioned. He gave it to the people of our country and of every country, to leaders and little people and everyone in between. And by restoring the hope of all Americans, he restored the greatness of America, because hope is the foundation of freedom.

On June 5, 2004, a great and gallant leader passed from our midst, and the whole world is diminished by his loss. At annual gatherings of Reagan staff, the president used to remind us that we came to Washington not to have a job, but to do a job. Each of us tried to live up to the confidence he placed in us, and to the responsibility he laid on our shoulders. One thing is for certain: he lived up to his. As he said in his farewell address to the nation, “We weren’t just marking time. We made a difference.”

An old hymn based on a passage from the Apostle Paul has a stanza that reads:

“We have run the race,
We have won the fight,
We have stood against the darkness of the night,
We have won the race
And seen God’s face,
And built a kingdom of love.”

Ronald Reagan stood against the darkness of communism. He won the fight for freedom and brought down what he rightly termed the “Evil Empire.” He won the race and, by now, has met God face to face. As for a kingdom of love, well, we’ve seen a glimpse of that this week from coast to coast. May he rest in peace.

(Terri Lukach is speechwriter for the secretary of defense and a former staff assistant to President Reagan for public liaison.)

Time to set aside our differences and indulge in a group hug :rolleyes:

Thanks again for the input with those RT/T-33A serials, Arthur & Fantasma: I seem to be finally getting somewhere at last! 😎

For the RHAF I can only confirm 18 aircraft that were delivered in 1955 under MAP. The 19th one (54-1542) was supplied much later (1971) from the Royal Netherlands Air Force (KLu) and was almost certainly never used for its intended role (single seat recce a/c), but either for spares or de-modified to become a trainer.

The listing of 54-1541 has to be incorrect: this was also delivered strainght to the KLu and crashed in 1959.

I have a pretty strong theory now of what became of almost all of the RHAF RT-33A aircraft. A couple of independent sources I’ve come across mention the Imperial Iranian AF as having operated 16 RT-33A T-Birds from 1957 onwards. If this info is 100% accurate (my only doubt is that one of the sites that carries this info lists the IIAF as also having operated both the F-84F and RF-84F in quite some numbers: neither which I believe it did) then the quantity and the date fits almost perfectly with the available RHAF RT-33As. The rest of the RT-33A production is almost 100% accounted for so they really can’t have come from anywhere else. I’ve e-mailed Tom Cooper at ACIG to ask for his comments on possible IIAF use of the RT-33A so am waiting for his comments.

Soon as I’ve put another couple of dates to the even more obscure RT-33A MAP deliveries (Republic of China, Pakistan and Thailand) I’ll post a spreadsheet here as an attachment.

Thanks again, Guys!

Steve ~ Touchdown-News

actually teh AH-6J was fielded in Iraq by the Marines with Cobras and they flew in so called “Pink Teams”. They were both assigned to anti-armour and CAS roles. And as far as I know it’s armed with Hellfires missiles and many other weapons.

I’ve certainly read and heard about OH-58D(I/R) Kiowa Warriors and AH-64D Apache Longbows operating as “pink teams” during the latest Iraqi conflict, but would be interested to see any links on the AH-6J doing the same.

The only unit that operates the AH-6J is the 1/160th SOAR(A) “Nightstalkers”, Srbin, so was this some sort of joint SOCOM/USMC operation you’ve read about?

Best regards

Steve Rush ~ Touchdown-News