A three day Zac special, got my mojo back guys! ;-) I should be able to get the pics off the camera tonight.
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In 1984, Piper changed hands when parent company Bangor Punta was acquired by Lear Siegler. Lear Siegler, in turn, was acquired by Forstmann Little in 1986. Forstmann Little then sold Piper to M. Stuart Millar in 1987, although the PA-48 design rights and tooling were sold to McDonnell Douglas as Millar wanted the company to focus exclusively on the civil market.
USAF trials of the PA-48 were successful and on July 3 1988 the service placed an order for 100 airframes as the A-11 Enforcer, with a 3000hp T53-L7C engine. The Royal Air Force also showed interest however no order was forthcoming due to perceived role crossover with the BAe Harrier.
Following Boeing's 1996 acquisition of Rockwell's North American division, McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing in August 1997 in a US $13 billion stock swap, with Boeing as the surviving company. Not only did this make the A-11 a Boeing product but it also meant the copyright to the original P-51D and the A-11 were under the same owner. Although they saw only limited service in Kosovo the A-11s were very popular with their crews.
With the retirement of the Harrier fleet looming the RAF once more investigated the Enforcer as an option and in mid-2000 an order was placed for 25 airframes. The intent was to operate the type alongside the existing Harrier fleet with the possibility to order more as the Harriers were retired.
Following the terror attacks on September 11 2001 US and UK forces deployed to Afghanistan under Operation Enduring Freedom, including the RAF's first Enforcer squadron. Both squadrons deployed but when forces withdrew one unit was disbanded and its aircraft handed over to the Afghans.