Register #387 | A numbers revolution

Several new types are included in the New Allocations listing with an emphasis on military aircraft.

Miltek Aviation’s two Hawker Hunters, XVE and XVF, are from a batch of Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) aircraft imported by Geoff Moesker during 1995 and while the latter has a well-documented history, the former is a bit of a mystery.

The Singapore Armed Forces was formed during 1965 but it was not until 1968 when the Air Force came into being using three Cessna 172s on loan from the Singapore Flying Club. Eight brand-new Cessna 172s arrived the following year. The UK government had previously announced that it would be withdrawing it forces east of the Suez Cannel and this put a lot of pressure on the Singapore authorities to drastically upgrade its air force. As a result an agreement was reached with Hawker Siddeley to supply an initial batch of twelve ex-Royal Air Force (RAF) Mk 6 Hunters to be refurbished up to Mk 9 standard and delivered during early 1971. Several more batches were ordered over the next three years with the RSAF eventually receiving almost 50 Hunters.

By 1983 and after more than 20 years of service it was time for the Hunters to retire and be replaced by more modern equipment in the form General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcons. However, the ageing aircraft was not ready for retirement and an upgraded weapons system was developed for the Hunters. This enabled the type to continue in service until 1990 when the first F-16s were delivered. Several RSAF Hunters were lost during their lengthy career, mostly whilst on training exercises, and the remaining 16 aircraft were obtained by Geoff Moesker and brought to Australia for resale.

Originally stored in Brisbane, four were refurbished and flew on the local register while one went to New Zealand and another to the US. The remaining aircraft eventually ended up in storage at Tocumwal, NSW, during February 2002 and it is from this batch that XVE and XVF has emerged with the aircraft, it is fair to say, far from airworthy.

XVF started life as RAF XF432 with No 5 Maintenance Unit at RAF Kemble. It was returned to Hawker Siddeley for conversion FR Mk 10 during 1960 and then served with No 2 and No 4 Squadrons before being sold back to Hawker Siddely during May 1971. It was then converted to F(GA) Mk 74B standard and registered G-BABM after using UK B-class marking of G-9-363 for test flying. It was demonstrated at the 1974 SBAC Farnborough Air Show with the flags of the 18 countries that had operated Hunters on each side of the nose before being delivered to the RSAF as serial 526.

The service life of XVE is a little more difficult to trace as the serial number that CASA is quoting — which no doubt was supplied by Miltek Aviation — is from an aircraft that was delivered to the Rhodesian Air Force and is now believed to be under restoration in what is now Zimbabwe. The problem is what is generally accepted as the manufacturer’s serial number for Hunters is the centre fuselage number (CFN) with each different part having a different number. With so many major parts being swapped during maintenance and refurbishment, it is difficult to know which part number is the official CFN. What is clear is that this aircraft is one of the batch imported by Geoff Moesker during 1995 and subsequently stored at Tocumwal and is not the original CFN as quoted.

A second military type is the Transall C-160, three of which have been registered to the Wieland Aviation Group. The C-160 is a twin engine high wing military transport aircraft built by a French/German consortium of MBB, Aerospatiale and Fokker initially for the air forces of France and Germany. The aircraft featured a rear access ramp below the upswept tail and turboprop engines. It is also able to lower the landing gear whilst on the ground, similar to the British-built Hawker Siddeley Andover, in order to be able to load vehicles more easily. It was designed to replace the piston engine Nord Noratlas and was originally a French/German/Italian project however the Italian component soon pulled out as it favoured the locally built, smaller, Fiat G222.
Each of the three partners built a prototype with the maiden flight of the type being on 25 February 1963 when the Nord prototype took to the air. These were followed by six, longer, pre-production examples before full production began during 1967. The first 110 aircraft for the German Air Force were delivered at the same time as 50 for the French Air Force and nine for the South African Air Force. In July 1977 the French Air Force placed an order for a further 25 upgraded aircraft which included additional fuel tanks in the wing centre section, updated avionics and the port side loading door was deleted from the new design. A further four special mission variants were also built for the French Air Force as well as six standard aircraft for Indonesia. The Turkish Air Force obtained 20 former German Air Force C-160 in 1971 and several attempts were made to sell the type to civil operators to no avail although Balair in Switzerland leased a pre-production aircraft for International Red Cross flights during 1976.

The three Wieland Aviation machines, RFW, RPR and TIT are all ex-German Air Force (Luftwaffe) recently taken out of service and stored in Germany.

The third and final ex-military aircraft new to Australian skies is Pilatus PC-7 IMI. The PC-7 is a single engine, low wing tandem seat primary trainer powered by a Pratt and Whitney PT6A-20 turboprop engine. Developed from the preceding PC-3 but with the turboprop engine, a bubble canopy, a redesigned tail and a one-piece wing with integral fuel tanks, it first flew during April 1966 with production and deliveries starting in 1978. It has been used by more than 20 air forces around the world as their ab-initio trainer as well as flying armed combat missions for several customers, including Chad, Guatemala, Iran, and Mexico in violation of relevant export agreements with the Swiss government. A PC-7 Mk II was introduced during the 1990s combining the PC-9 airframe and avionics with the smaller turbine engine of the PC-7 providing a cheaper to buy and maintain aircraft.

IMI was built during 1989 and was the first of seven PC-7s delivered to the Botswana Defence Force Air Wing the following year with the serial OD1. In 2013 these aircraft were replaced by five Mk IIs and OD1 was sold to the American civil market to become N15WK on 8 June 2018. It was cancelled on 29 June 2022 and became IMI on the 26 of the following month.

Gerard Kurstjens’ Binder EB28R UVW is the first of its type on the local register and is a single seat glider with a 28m wingspan and a Solo 2625/2 sustainer engine. The twin cylinder, two-stroke, 47kW (62hp) retractable engine has an electric starter, pulley drive, centrifugal clutch and a prop-stop unit to ensure that the propeller stops in the correct position for the engine and prop to fold away into the rear fuselage snugly. Binder Flugmotoren and Flugzeugbau was founded in 1979, so it is surprising that no examples of their gliders have come to Australia before now — especially as the type has won two world championships and several local European championships. The company is based at Büchig Airfield, Ostheim, Germany, and was started by Walter Binder, a glider pilot since 1966. He was joined by his nephew Oliver in 1995 who eventually took over the company in 2012, although Mr Binder still works on the research and development of future gliders.
Two aircraft are shown in the Aircraft Returning to the Register section this issue with Cessna 182 COF returning after being revoked by CASA only nine days previous over a paperwork problem and Cresco PGE back after a second trip to New Zealand. Built in New Zealand during 1996, the Cresco was delivered to Phoenix Aviation at Gore but came to Australia two years later as PGE with Lonoaks at Armidale, NSW. During September 2019 it again crossed the Tasman and became ZK-PGE for three years before returning to Armidale with Lonoaks and back now as PGE.

Several aircraft have been exported during the period covered with the majority going to New Zealand and the US. One exception being Alliance Airways Fokker F-50 FKZ which in now in Panama. With the main runway at Olympic Dam, which serves the BHP Roxby Downs copper mine, being recently lengthened to take jet aircraft the Alliance F-50s were no longer required and so the five remaining aircraft have been sold in Panama. The last flight was undertaken by FKZ on 14 August as QQ3241/3241 Adelaide/Olympic Dam/Adelaide with captain Ross Warriner at the helm. While this flight was taking place Alliance had a family day barbecue at its hangar for staff and invited guests and after the aircraft arrived back in Adelaide after its final revenue earning flight it did a 35-minute joy flight for those attending the BBQ. The aircraft made a test flight on 29 August before departing Adelaide on 22 September on its long delivery flight to Panama via Broome, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Oman, Egypt, Serbia, Norway, Iceland, Canada, and the Bahamas. FKO, FKV, FKW and FKX will follow FKZ to Panama in the near future. (Details courtesy of Nigel Daw — South Australian Air Journal).

Turbine Legend LTZ, Canadair Challenger MXK and Bell 214s SUW and SYU are all now in the USA with the Turbine legend now marked as N212JC with FTC of Lewes, Delaware, the Challenger N480LA with Luxury Aero Collection at Scottsdale, Arizona, and the two Bell 214s owners details hidden behind the Bank of Utah Trustee banner. In New Zealand, AgustaWestland AW139 UKJ has moved from PHI International Australia to its counterpart PHI International New Zealand and joins two other AW139s at Nelson, and Gippsland Airvan PGU now flies as ZK-YUG with Capital Aviation at Wellington. Three ex-RFDS Beech Super King Airs, MSH, MVS and MWV are now with Air Freight at Palmerston North as ZK-LFA, LFI and LFL respectively and have joined two Jetstream 32s in the Air Freight fleet.