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Jackrabbit
Rickshaw:
Any chance of joint co-production with Australia? The RAAF was quite pleased with the MB326...
upnorth:
--- Quote from: Rickshaw on November 25, 2022, 02:12:06 PM ---Any chance of joint co-production with Australia? The RAAF was quite pleased with the MB326...
--- End quote ---
I'm mulling that over at the moment. I have a couple of ideas for the Australian angle bouncing about in my head at the moment.
upnorth:
Almost as soon as Lucien Cardin had completed his assessment of the MB-326 after taking the Minister of Defense portfolio, he gave the go ahead for full production of the armed MB-326 variant for the RCAF and for an operational training unit for the type to be formed within the year.
A former Canadair employee recalls:
"When the order came to put the armed version into full production for the RCAF, everyone at the company felt fresh wind in their sails. Happily we had enough basic MB-326 aircraft in one state or another of completion and some in for overhaul at the factory that could be diverted on the assembly line to be completed as armed versions, or converted during overhaul to armed versions.
We could give the RCAF their training unit worth of aircraft within the year."
September 1, 1964: RCAF Station Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada
A crowd of people, both civilians and military, filled a small grandstand behind a platform with a dias on top of it. Praire Rattlers I and II stood to either side of the platform and were impecably clean.
Flags of both Canada and Italy had been hoisted up flagpoles.
The ground crews, both Canadian and Italian, of the about to be formed operational training unit were standing at ease facing the grandstand in their full dress uniforms.
The aircrews were enroute with the unit's fleet of 15 new aircraft, they were flying in from a fuel stop at RCAF Namao.
The ceremony progressed through speeches, band music and a march past before the standard of 403 "City of Calgary" Squadron was handed over to the commanding officer of the new unit.
The culmination of the ceremony was three formations of five MB-365 overflying the proceedings.
A former RCAF instructor pilot:
"It was a great day, beautifully clear flying weather and the honour of carrying the number of a squadron with a fighter pedigree.
403 had flown Tomahawks and Spitfires in World War II and then flown Mustangs and Silver Stars as an Auxiliary squadron through part of the 1950s.
They shifted to transport duties and flew Otters and Expeditors until the unit was disbanded at the end of March in 1964.
Some said 403 was an odd choice to use as it had not been disbanded for long and was not expected to be activated again so soon. There was word that someone senior in the setting up of the training unit was a former 403 man and was able to pull the strings to make it happen.
Whatever the case, we were proud to carry the number."
A former Italian air force instructor pilot:
"The decision had been made quite early that Itallian pilots of the armed version of the MB-326 would take their initial training on the type at Cold Lake. To that end, we made sure that all Italian pilots destined for that version got their basic jet flight training at Moose Jaw.
We had our own fleet of MB-326 trainers back in Italy to handle pilots going to other types. We were also planning squadrons of the armed variant and pilots going to those units from Cold Lake could get any training specific to Italian air force needs after getting home.
As we would be in Canada for a while, we felt it right that the Italian part of the training unit should have a number of its own. It wasn't difficult to decide which; 403 Squadron had a wolf in their badge, the Italian air force had a "Wolf" squadron too: 98 Gruppo.
The trouble was that 98 Gruppo was an active squadron at the time, flying C-119 transports.
We wondered how we might be able to have the transport unit renumbered so we could have 98 Gruppo for ourselves."
elmayerle:
I'm really enjoying this, but a few points;
- Aermacchi has a factory at Lake Varese, before WW II, it produced flying boats, afterwards they used it for their licensed production of Harley-Davidsons. I have no problem seeing a part of the plant being repurposed for the CL-215 effort.
- Considering that both Canada and Italy operate the F-104, I could see the MB.326C radar trainer generating more interest than in OTL.
- On OTL, the single-seat MB.326 has the cannon ammunition where the second seatis located in the two-seater. How is this handled on the Prarie Rattler or are the guns a bit farther back?
- Also note that the main factory, at that time was in Varese, but all aircraft have to be partially disassembled and trucked to the test airfield at Venegono for reassemly, final checkout, and flight testing. Aer Macchi has since built a new plant at Venegono. Considering that the plant in Varese is completely surrrounded by Varese, this is perhaps understandable.
How do I know this? Fifty years ago, summer of 1972, I was there, working for Aer macchi, on an exchange program between my Junior and Senior years of college.
One more thought for your scenario, ALitalia bought four MB.326Ds to use in trasitioning their pikots from props to jets. With Canadian MB.326 production, I could see the various Canadian and perhaps some of the US airlines using a similar training method. Since the MB.326Dx were finished in Alitalia's then current paint scheme, I could see some colorful possibilities with other airlines.
upnorth:
--- Quote from: elmayerle on March 18, 2023, 07:41:02 AM ---I'm really enjoying this, but a few points;
- Aermacchi has a factory at Lake Varese, before WW II, it produced flying boats, afterwards they used it for their licensed production of Harley-Davidsons. I have no problem seeing a part of the plant being repurposed for the CL-215 effort.
- Considering that both Canada and Italy operate the F-104, I could see the MB.326C radar trainer generating more interest than in OTL.
- On OTL, the single-seat MB.326 has the cannon ammunition where the second seatis located in the two-seater. How is this handled on the Prarie Rattler or are the guns a bit farther back?
- Also note that the main factory, at that time was in Varese, but all aircraft have to be partially disassembled and trucked to the test airfield at Venegono for reassemly, final checkout, and flight testing. Aer Macchi has since built a new plant at Venegono. Considering that the plant in Varese is completely surrrounded by Varese, this is perhaps understandable.
How do I know this? Fifty years ago, summer of 1972, I was there, working for Aer macchi, on an exchange program between my Junior and Senior years of college.
One more thought for your scenario, ALitalia bought four MB.326Ds to use in trasitioning their pikots from props to jets. With Canadian MB.326 production, I could see the various Canadian and perhaps some of the US airlines using a similar training method. Since the MB.326Dx were finished in Alitalia's then current paint scheme, I could see some colorful possibilities with other airlines.
--- End quote ---
I'm glad you're enjoying this.
Thanks for the details from your experience. I'll keep them in mind and maybe work them in somehow.
The Prairie Rattler is pretty much the armed MB.326 as known from real life; Cannons where the back seat would be.
The F-104 nosed MB.326 would certainly be interesting, though I'm not sure how far down the F-104 road I'll go in this story.
IN this story, the armed MB.326 runs on the idea that perhaps the Fiat G.91 never came to be, but interest remained in a light attack platform.
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