There seems to be a lot of confusion over whether the MiG-23 actually made it to Ivory Coast?

Is it just me but could that image claimed to be Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast actually be Lome, Togo?

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showpost.php?p=1801214&postcount=13

See following for Google Earth image of Lome originally posted by ‘Googeler’. Note hangar and markings on ground. Looks like French Air Force transports visiting?

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showpost.php?p=1256220&postcount=73

See attachment for Su-25 with Ivory Coast hangar. I can’t see any similarities between hangars?

TJ

It’s been unclassified or was it part of the wikileaks thing?

It was a Wikileaks release.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/story?id=5321763&page=2

TJ

Another nice pic of Ocean & Mistral off Libya. Funny to see three Seahawks on Ocean (USN? :confused:).

Not Seahawks, but Pave Hawks. They will be providing combat search and rescue duties.

Image link

http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/3A857A10-B77D-4F3B-9B8B-51DD70E12050/0/OC110211006.jpg

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/MilitaryOperations/NatoMissionNotOverYetInLibya.htm

TJ

It is a very strange story. All he did was deny it and disappear from those forums. The owners of FC had given them both ample time to explain themselves. They still maintain both of their registrations and it is open for them to explain themselves. They haven’t since being rumbled.

The thing that made it even more strange is that serving members of HM Forces based at Coningsby are members of the forum. Serving members at Coningsby even passed on their finding to the Mod/RAF Police. She never posted images of herself in full uniform or flying gear, but simply wearing 41 Squadron T-shirts. Many of the enthusiasts are also in contact with Typhoon pilots and pass on photographs on a regular basis and especially from the low flying routes. Nobody could work out who this 29 Squadron female Pilot was and not even, at the time, the sole female Typhoon Pilot.

The top brass and those MPs and ex-high rankers associated with the Save RAF Cottesmore campaign were simply unaware that they were making such claims on aviation forums. Neil Allison simply denied it, closed ranks on the Cottesmore campaign Facebook, removed any posts pertaining to it, banned those that made them and carried on as if nothing had happened.

He closed ranks that much that some gullible members of the campaign believed it was a political smear campaign to discredit their founder and work.

Walter Mitty characters of the highest order!

The idiot also got into trouble with the Red Arrows over a poster he made to publicise a Cottesmore march.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/8566844.stm

TJ

I’ve never understood why people do such things? As an ex-Serviceman I find it abhorrent.

The individuals that get me are civilians who pretend that they, or others, are members of HM Forces.

Take this chap for instance, Neil Allison (See video link at 0:24 timeline). Neil Allison is the Chairman of the Save RAF Cottesmore Campaign.

For years he and his wife claimed on various aviation enthusiast forums that his wife was an RAF Tornado GR4 Pilot. Many enthusiasts were taken in and none were the wiser as the Tornado force has a fair few female in their ranks. He would even inform enthusiasts out spotting at RAF Coningsby that his wife was flying based purely on female voices noted on the radio scanners.

Their downfall was when she suddenly ‘converted’ onto Typhoons! He even published images on the forums of his wifes Typhoon solo taken from a tanker. The alarm bells started ringing as nobody based at RAF Coningsby could work out who this new female Typhoon Pilot was.

Here he is posting as Flying Figgis declaring his Wife’s Typhoon solo! His Wife posts as LMP on the thread. He mantained the ruse for a couple of weeks before taking down the image of the Typhoon.

http://fightercontrol.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&p=34808

Even after being rumbled he still flaunted himself as the head of the Save RAF Cottesmore Campaign and appeared on TV.

Here he is at 0:24

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti4wacnmMzg

Goodness only knows what he was telling those high profile people featured in his blog and in support of the campaign?

http://neilallison.blogspot.com/

the RAF’s only QRA airfield

Not the only QRA airfield. You forgot RAF Leuchars.

TJ

Sounds like Aggressor training to me.
The 81st Spangdahlen Hogs were based at Laken for a month back in 05 while the runway was being refurbed – could be that.
Minimum operating height in Germany is 1000ft, while here it is half that, so considering the nature of its job, maybe they are conducting some training that otherwise cannot be done on the continent.
My two bob.

There has been a number of dodgy sightings in the past month. Everything from A-10s in Russian markings to Su-27s over Norfolk, UK. I kid you not!

http://www.pprune.org/spectators-balcony-spotters-corner/460889-su-27s-over-norfolk.html

The A-10s were operating in the UK out of RAF Lakenheath. None of them were in any other colour scheme other than the standard grey. RAF Lakenheath has been deluged with aviation enthusiasts since they arrived. People have obviously been fooled by light leading to claims of silver and dark colour schemes on the A-10. The A-10s also went low level in LFA7 (Low flying area 7), Mach Loop, Wales. None of them were in any other colour scheme other than the standard USAF scheme.

Some images from their recent UK deployment are on the following link.

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?aircraft_genericsearch=Fairchild+A-10+Thunderbolt+II&sort_order=photo_id+desc&page=1&page_limit=15&sid=813b914910787f6dc2a2fec0f7da6c31

RAF Lakenheath even hosted an A-10 media day.

http://www.lakenheath.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123268085

http://www.lakenheath.af.mil/photos/mediagallery.asp?galleryID=1727

TJ

USAF hasn’t directly bombed Libya anymore since April.

You are forgetting the USAF Predators conducting airstrikes. There are also US combat aircraft deployed that can be called upon to conduct strikes if required as part of an alert strike package. The following released by the Pentagon would suggest that some of those recent strikes were by manned aircraft?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/23/us-libya-usa-strikes-idUSTRE77L76C20110823

(Reuters) – The final Libyan rebel push into Tripoli was preceded by an upswing in the tempo of U.S. air strikes, including by unmanned Predator drones, data released by the Pentagon on Monday showed.

Here are the latest figures provided by the Pentagon:

AIR STRIKES

The Pentagon said there were a total of 38 air strikes from August 10 to August 22, or an average of just over three a day. That compares to a total of 224 strikes from April 1 to August 10, an average of just over one and a half a day.

There have been a total of 101 Predator strikes since April, with 17 of them since August 10.

TJ