Current and Finished Projects > Stories
Jackrabbit
upnorth:
--- Quote from: apophenia on August 17, 2025, 03:49:20 AM ---Very nice! But also crying out for shark mouth markings placed ahead of those gun bulges ;D
--- End quote ---
Very tempting idea, I'll have to think about that.
elmayerle:
I managed to scoure three ses of Pavla MB326K cannon fits. I intned to model at least one Prairie Rattler.
upnorth:
--- Quote from: elmayerle on August 29, 2025, 02:12:02 PM ---I managed to scoure three ses of Pavla MB326K cannon fits. I intned to model at least one Prairie Rattler.
--- End quote ---
I look forward to seeing your take on it.
upnorth:
RCAF Station Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada - November 15, 1966
The thunder of two pairs of Prairie Rattlers taking off at full power cracked through the cold prairie air and echoed across the station. It was music to the ears of everyone there.
A former Prairie Rattler pilot recalls the day:
"It was glorious to hear that sound again after months without it! The restrictions imposed on the Prairie Rattler fleet following the Zweibrucken crash completely forbade full power take offs until all aircraft fleetwide could be inspected. As the RCAF fleet was growing, it took a while for the inspections to be done and restrictions to be lifted.
The instructors and students at the Wolf Den were extremely happy to be practicing full power take offs again. All but two of the training unit's aircraft passed inspection.
As it turned out, the problem was down to some questionable workmanship and quality control at Canadair. Thankfully, it was limited to aircraft from just one batch and those aircraft all went to the RCAF. Canadair made sure the responible parties were shown the door and we could let other users of the aircraft know that this one was an RCAF specific matter.
The whereabouts of all the aircraft from the batch in question were determined and they all had their relevant access doors replaced.
It was particularly good news as 419 Squadron was to stand up as the resident Prairie Rattler squadron at Cold Lake early in the new year.
A couple of squadrons had been reformed at RCAF Chatham, in New Brunswick, and were working up to be transfered to Baden-Soellingen in West Germany to form a Prairie Rattler wing there."
upnorth:
RCAF Station Marville, France - January, 1967
In 1966, France withdrew its forces from NATO and declared that any NATO forces on French soil would need to leave or come under French command. While the RCAF station at Grostenquin had already closed in 1964, RCAF personnel at Marville spent December of 1966 and early 1967 shutting down their activities in France. By March of 1967, the Marville units had relocated to the former French air base at Lahr, West Germany.
Canada did not only inherit the air base at Lahr, it also inherited the French zones of occupation in West Germany. Naturally, this led to a lot of shuffling around of both air and land assets as Canada had to restructure and enlarge its military presence to meet their new and greater responsibility in West Germany.
The Canadian Zone Established
By mid-summer of 1967, RCAF and Canadian Army units in West Germany were well settled into new routines.
RCAF Station Lahr had the CF-104 Starfighter squadrons, 439 and 441, and personnel that moved from Marville. Additionally, Lahr was made headquarters of the RCAF in West Germany.
RCAF Station Baden-Soellingen was home to two CF-104 Starfighter Squadrons: 421 and 430.
RCAF Station Zweibrucken was home to two Prairie Rattler squadrons: the already established 443 was joined by the newly re-established 428 squadron in June of 1967.
RCAF station Berlin-Tegel was home to a pair of DeHavilland DHC-3 Otters used for observation of Canada's section of West Berlin.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version