Author Topic: Stealing the Stuka  (Read 82849 times)

Offline The Big Gimper

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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #175 on: August 24, 2016, 04:15:23 AM »
Awesome. I'd like to build this at some point in the future.
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Offline upnorth

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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #176 on: August 24, 2016, 04:34:10 AM »
Thanks guys :)
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Offline The Big Gimper

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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #177 on: August 24, 2016, 04:52:53 AM »
Could you draw a top and side profile?
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Offline elmayerle

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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #178 on: August 24, 2016, 10:03:22 AM »
Very nice!  Perhaps, instead of a T-33 canopy, it has the elevated rear seat, and associated canopy, of the T2V-1 Seastar?  That would look nice here.  A fully surrounding nose intake like that fitted to the Dart, or something more of an underslung one?

Offline upnorth

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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #179 on: August 24, 2016, 01:45:01 PM »
Could you draw a top and side profile?

There's definitely a plan for that when time permits; It will be hand done drawing, so no digital speed. I would like to build a couple of Yararas myself, but drawings are more likely at this stage.

I have tried to get a start building one a couple of times, but it clearly will take more planning than I gave it credit for, so drawings will help in that regard the next time I can make space and time to build.
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Offline upnorth

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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #180 on: August 24, 2016, 01:57:46 PM »
Very nice!  Perhaps, instead of a T-33 canopy, it has the elevated rear seat, and associated canopy, of the T2V-1 Seastar?  That would look nice here.  A fully surrounding nose intake like that fitted to the Dart, or something more of an underslung one?

I was thinking about the Seastar canopy and an underslung intake, but after doing a couple of sketches in that direction, I had something that I felt looked a bit to modern and Tucano like for the 1952 timeframe.

As for the intake, I played around with both the Dart style and the underslung you mentioned. The intake arrangement I put on it came from playing around with what the Fairey Gannet intake area might look like with only one engine, but still keeping the existing design aesthetic.

It grew on me quickly and I think it looks good for the early 1950s period as well as a company's first step into turboprop design.

As I have tentatively planned for the Yarara story to end in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the FMA Pucara replaced it. So there certainly is scope for another variant of the aircraft to be developed with the raised back seat and more refined engine intake area before the story ends.
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Offline upnorth

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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #181 on: November 13, 2016, 12:38:48 AM »
Rounding up the Old Horses

In early September of 1952, Johannes Steinhoff paid an official visit to Argentina. Accompanied by Jochen Marseille, he saw the sights of Buenos Aires, was given a tour of the Hispano-Argentina motorworks to see the turboprop production line as well as the FMA facilities at Cordoba and La Pampa.

At La Pampa, Marseille fully briefed Steinhoff on the latest development of the Yarara and took him on a flight in the machine. It was a flight that left Steinhoff quite impressed, both in the machine and Marseille's involvement in it.

"The Yarara flight was very enjoyable and it was also very heartening for me to see that Jochen's piloting skills were razor sharp and he had such a good teamworking relationship with the other test pilots and Yarara personnel. One of the main reasons I had come was to see if such qualities had developed in him more fully.

What I also saw in Jochen was a man who had fully taken to his surroundings and fallen in love with Argentina and it's culture. As I watched him interacting with all manner of people in near fluent Spanish and saw how many friendships he had cultivated, I felt a sense of guilt that I had also come to tell him that he was to be reassigned and would be returning to Europe shortly.

The official reformation of the luftwaffe was only a few years off and I had to be sure that a fit group of officers was in place and ready to command it's various units well ahead of time. As I still kept contact with several well experienced and enthusiastic pilots from the war time Luftwaffe, finding the right people wasn't a problem. I just had to make sure they would be sharp when the time came to put military wings back onto them.

I had found  them spots on command courses in the U.S Air Force. This would not only get them familiar with command standards within NATO, but also get them more flying time on many of the aircraft the Luftwaffe was expected to receive to operate with.

The political instabilities of Argentina were clear enough to see and I knew that I wanted Jochen for the new Luftwaffe, leaving such a potentially valuable man in an increasingly unstable place wasn't acceptable to me."

A Last Look at La Pampa

"Steinhoff had given me two weeks to attend to any last affairs I had in Argentina and return to Germany. My FMA colleagues and friends gave me a great party at La Pampa. It was bittersweet as not only was I leaving Argentina, but word had come of the impending closure of FMA activity at La Pampa. It had become surplus to the needs of the company in the post war period and there was space at Cordoba to support the lower levels of Yarara production at the time. By the start of 1953, FMA was completely gone from La Pampa.

I did the last of my paperwork, packed my suitcases and said my goodbyes around the capital before being taken to the airport for the flight back to Europe.

I hated to leave, but the prospect of getting back into the business of proper, full-time military flying that Steinhoff put in front of me was too tempting to pass up.

I fully expected that he would send me to America to be prepared for a command position. As it turned out, he had rather other plans for me in the new Luftwaffe.

In late October, I found myself in Great Britain at RAE Farnborough enrolled in the Empire Test Pilots' School.

As diffcult as the course was, I very much enjoyed my time learning to be a qualified test pilot and did not learn until shortly after I graduated just exactly who beyond Steinhoff I had to thank for having been enrolled there.

Shortly after the Yarara IV prototype flew with a development of his pre-war turboprop engine in it, Gyorgy Jendrassik left Argentina to continue his work in Great Britian. He had spoken much of the Yarara IV after arriving there and mentioned me several times in the process. Both myself and the Yarara IV had piqued serious interest with some very influential people in the British aviation industry before I had even arrived at Farnborough to start my course.

One of those influential people was Ernest Hives, then chairman of Rolls-Royce and a strong proponent of the gas turbine engine since the early 1940s. He was keen to promote the turboprop and to gather knowledgable people to perfect it as a viable means of propulsion. It seems Jendrassik had said enough about me that Hives was interested in getting accquainted with me.

As for Johannes Steinhoff, he wanted test pilots as much as he wanted commanding officers for the new Luftwaffe and decided that I was the right person to be testing any new aircraft that Germany might use to defend itself."

Taming the Turboprop

While the turboprop had been an idea in existence prior to the Second World War, it was not until after the war that serious development took place on the concept. The marriage of jet to propellor was a rocky one to say the least in it's early years.

News of the developments that Hispano-Argentina had made to Gyorgy Jendrassik's original pre-war engine and the subsequent success of the Yarara IV, which was in full squadron service in Argentina by Autumn of 1952, had reached ears on the other side of the Atlantic and many in the British aero engine business, including Ernest Hives wanted a closer look at it.

Strings were pulled and deals were made that resulted in Argentina loaning a pair of Yarara IV and several engines to Great Britain for examination and evaluation.

Marseille remained in Britain after completing the test pilot course and was hired by Rolls-Royce as an advisor on matters of turboprop development and as a test pilot for turboprop powered aircraft.

Marseille ceased work with Rolls-Royce and, on the orders of Steinhoff, returned to Germany in late 1955 in preparation for the official reactivation of the Luftwaffe in early 1956.

"It was the end of my association with Rolls-Royce, but the Yarara and I would cross paths again before long.

After getting my new Luftwaffe uniform and wings, I spent the bulk of 1956 building up fast jet experience on exchange with the RAF in Hawker Hunters. I loved flying the Hunter and always felt it was unfortunate that Germany did not take the type into service.

By Autumn of 1957, I was back in Germany and assigned to the newly established Testing Centre for Military Aerial Equipment at  Oberpfaffenhofen.

The Yarara followed me there not long after."
« Last Edit: November 13, 2016, 02:51:03 AM by upnorth »
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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #182 on: November 13, 2016, 04:04:18 AM »
Thanks.


Chris
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Offline elmayerle

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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #183 on: November 14, 2016, 10:21:00 AM »
Very nice addition.  I'm quite looking forward to seeing where things go next.

Offline upnorth

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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #184 on: November 14, 2016, 05:28:41 PM »
Thanks. I've got a couple of ideas brewing for where to take it, but I have to do a bit of research to see how I can make them jive with real world happenings.
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Offline upnorth

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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #185 on: February 26, 2017, 02:57:35 AM »
Heady Days

"I was very much enjoying my time at Oberpfaffenhofen. The 1950s and 1960s were a very exciting time to be in Bavaria if you were involved in aviation; Oberpfaffenhofen itself was home to the Dornier company and Ludwig Bolkow's company was also in the vicinity of Munich. A bit further away, in Allach, BMW has restarted their aero engine manufacturing activities.

Despite the fact that Germany had no intentions of taking the Yarara into military service, the testing centre kept the aircraft on hand for research into turboprop power and to use as testbeds for developments in that technology. Jendrassik's engine had been developed as far as it could be and work was running apace in many places around the world to develop a new turboprop.

The Yarara always got attention when we flew it and the French had taken a particular interest in it while I was still flying it for Rolls-Royce. Representatives from Turbomeca were frequent visitors to Oberpfaffenhofen and were keen to study the combination of Yarara to Jendrassik engine. Turbomeca were in the process of developing their Bastan and Aztazou turboprop engines in the late 1950s and felt the Yarara to be a good choice as a testing platform owing to it's proven success operationally under turbine power.

Through my connections at FMA, I had been able to secure fresh batches of low time Yarara IV aircraft for the testing centre as well as our counterpart in France. Once France had Yararas of their own, we saw less of the Turbomeca people and news reached us that both the Bastan and Aztazou had been placed at very high priority and their development had been ordered to be accelerated. By 1957, both engines had been run for the first time and were ready for flight testing.

I was in attendance for the 1958 Paris Air Show to see a Yarara demonstrated under the power of the Bastan and it was an astounding performance to say the least.

I took a look at a second Bastan equiped Yarara in the static park of the event and found that a license for the production of the aircraft by Sud-Aviation in France had been secured. It seemed the Yarara had more life in it yet."

Jet Fever

The jet age had truly arrived in the 1950s. Despite France's particular zeal to have a new propeller driven combat aircraft in their inventory, the rest of NATO had their eyes firmly fixed on all jet fleets for combat related work.

Jochen Marseille spent a good portion of his non-flying hours promoting the turboprop as a practical and viable power source for aircraft in the ground attack and infantry support roles. While he was able to pique some interest, it was never enough for the aircraft to get a toe hold with any NATO member beyond France.

Johannes Steinhoff expanded on the matter some years later:

"There were two main things going against the Yarara at the time Jochen was championing the turboprop:

First, the aircraft was not a fresh design. In spite of the fact that the Yarara IV had not a single component in common with earlier variants, it was still limited by the original design in many ways. I had little argument against that reasoning.

Second, the pedigree of the Yarara had become common knowledge in the years following the war. Despite the fact the design had been stolen before Germany had a chance to use it and that the victorious side of the war had used it with great success, nobody was willing to see past the fact that it was designed by Germany under Hitler's regime. I felt I could find some base of argument against that logic; however, the wounds of war were still fresh and I thought better of it at the time.

Based on the latter reason, my own superiors were particularly adamant that the aircraft would find no place in the German military. They would tolerate it in a flight testing context, but no other."

A Fox in Snake's Clothing

Towards the end of 1958, the first batch of production standard Bastan powered aircraft left the Sud-Aviation factory for assignment to operational units. While the aircraft were being constructed, their pilots had spent time in Argentina being trained on the Yarara IV to familiarise them with flying Turboprop aircraft. After a short working up period on the Sud built version, officially named Fennec, the aircraft and crews were deployed to Algeria to be used against insurgents there.

A former Fennec pilot:

"The Fennec was not at all difficult to fly after spending time in the Yarara IV. The cockpit arrangement between the two was nearly identical, though the Fennec had a bit newer weapons sight and the Bastan engine gave it more power.

I generally enjoyed flying the aircraft, it was a very stable gun and bomb platform and could take a lot of abuse and keep flying. It was certainly a big improvement over the Texans we had been using for the job.

The Bastan proved itself a very dependable engine in the arid, desert environment. A very good sand filter had been developed for it and I don't remember too many times when it was particularly temperamental.

Operationally, the Fennec was a delight. Politically, it was a nightmare that strained France's relationships with both Argentina and Germany substantially."












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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #186 on: February 27, 2017, 05:22:26 AM »
"What young man could possibly be bored
with a uniform to wear,
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and something to shoot at?"

Offline upnorth

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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #187 on: April 23, 2017, 06:05:53 PM »
Rise of the Fifth Republic

French politics were in a state of chaos through most of the 1950s. A governmental period known as the "Fourth Republic" was instituted just after the Second World War and lasted until 1958; it was marked by relinquishment of many of the nation's colonial holdings in both Africa and Asia. The Forth Republic was an unstable and precarious period for France politically and the Algiers Crisis of 1958, a critical turning point in the Algerian War which had begun in 1954, was the primary catalyst for it's collapse in 1958.

Charles de Gaul held the offices of France's Prime Minister and Minister of Defense during the time that the Sud built Fennec variation of the Yarara began to be deployed in Algeria in late 1958. The increase in airborne killing power the Fennec gave against insurgents in the area of battle was almost instantly visible and did nothing to increase the already low support the majority of France's citizens had for holding onto Algeria as a colony.

When de Gaul took the presidential office in early 1959, he founded the "Fifth Republic" and immediately began work on solving the Algerian problem though it was not clear to many exactly what he had in mind for a solution. Additionally, he had to fix soured relations France had with Argentina and Germany over the use of a Yarara variant in a war that neither country supported.

Johannes Steinhoff recalls:

"It was a tense time to say the very least. I think that in our rush to prove we could be trusted by the rest of the world again, Germany had been rather naive in helping France get such access to the Yarara. Jochen felt a great deal of guilt over it for many years as he had, through his many connections in Argentina,  been instrumental in securing the aircraft for the French testing facility to use as testbeds for the turboprop engine. He refused to talk about the subject for a very long time though he really should not have felt as he did; he certainly could never rightly be held responsible for France securing the production license, he had nothing to do with that part at all.

The world knew about France's war in Algeria and it should have been a forgone conclusion to anyone that any ground attack or close support capable aircraft France could get their hands on with no strings attached would find its way into the battle.

Germany, both politically and in population, largely supported Algeria's independence."

A former FMA executive:

"Argentina and France had good relations dating back to the early 1800s and Argentina had seen a considerable influx of French immigrants over the years; as such, there was an established French flavour to Argentine society well in place by the late 1950s.

In May of 1958, national elections had seen Arturo Frondizi become the country's president. Frondizi focused on fostering stronger relations between the USA and Argentina.

While Argentina made no official statement with regards to the Algerian War, the bulk of the populace seemed either against it or ambivalent to it. I do remember movements in the areas of high French influence in the country set up to bring awareness to the matter and to encourage the Argentine public and government to make a more visible stand for Algerian independence. While these groups did have an effect on rallying some of the public and media, the government remained quiet on the matter.

I clearly remember a series of visits made to our Cordoba facilities by trade delegations and aviation industry representatives from France in the late 1950s. They were extremely interested in the Yarara, every aspect of it, particularly the turboprop engine. It was very clear to me that they were shopping for an aircraft even if they had not said as much at the time.

I wasn't surprised when we sent a shipment of low time Yarara to France for testing purposes and development of their own turboprops. I was surprised when I found that FMA was to grant a production license for the aircraft to a French company and it didn't sit well with me or many others on the FMA executive. We tried to protest it, but to no avail.

The Yarara would have been a perfect aircraft for France's war in Algeria and we knew it. After our dissent over being forced to grant a production license was ignored, we asked that restrictions be written into the license stating very clearly that France could not use the aircraft in their colonial conflicts; this was also ignored.

We sat there, helpless, as France took their version of the aircraft to Algeria and made Argentina look like a willing party in the process. Needless to say, it generated a great deal of anger at us at an international level. The USA was openly against Algeria remaining as a colony and it was a worry for a while if relations between Argentina and America might be compromised by the Yarara being in Algeria.

It was, however, a situation the Argentine government had largely itself to blame for in pushing the production license through at all."

Taking the Reins

With tremendous pressure at home to give Algeria independence as well as tremendous diplomatic pressure from Argentina and Germany to make clear to the world that neither country had condoned the use of the Yarara in Algeria or the war there in general, Charles de Gaul had much on his plate as soon as he took the title of president in early 1959.

In the face of attempts on his life and a lack of clarity in what his motives in Algeria really were much of the time, de Gaul was successful in bringing an end to the war by 1962.

Through the remainder of 1962, de Gaul made great efforts to smooth relations with both Argentina and Germany. In the case of Germany, the Élysée Treaty for Franco-German cooperation signed in January of 1963 went a long way to fixing diplomatic ties between those two countries.

France surrendered all surviving Fennecs to Argentina as part of reparations. All the Fennecs were scrapped after being stripped of usable spare parts for the Argetine air force's Yarara fleet. A number of air force Yararas had been damaged or destroyed during the Argentine Navy Revolt between 1962 and 1963.

« Last Edit: April 24, 2017, 12:31:37 PM by upnorth »
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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #188 on: April 24, 2017, 05:18:28 AM »
Thanks.


Chris
"What young man could possibly be bored
with a uniform to wear,
a fast aeroplane to fly,
and something to shoot at?"

Offline upnorth

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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #189 on: August 09, 2017, 06:39:49 PM »
Trapped by the Turboprop

Early 1960 saw the end to military Yarara flying in the skies over West Germany, the Luftwaffe had ordered the aircraft disposed of by sale or scrapping in September of 1959.

The aircraft were purchased by BMW for testing a turboprop engine they had designed as a private venture and Jochen Marseille was seconded to the company to train their test pilots on the aircraft and act as an advisor on the development of the engine.

"I spent most of 1960 between the BMW facilities at Allach, in northern Munich, and facilities they had rented at Oberpfaffenhofen to flight test their engine.

I was happy to help them, but part of me had wanted to move on from turboprop types when I was preparing to fly the Yarara for the last time. I had logged a significant amount of flying time in turboprops, but my logs were rather thin on jets beyond my regular flights to keep current in the Sabre, F-84 family members and the Hawker Hunter and I wished to rectify that.

I had been quite eager to get involved in the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter that was entering Luftwaffe service at the time and had been watching the Hawker Siddeley P.1127 VTOL fighter project in Great Britain quite intently.

As life would have it, I was to have little involvement in Starfighters beyond a bit of stick time gained from some back seat rides. By the time the P.1127 had been developed into the Kestrel and West Germany became briefly involved in testing it, I had been quite deeply involved in other projects with turboprops solidly at the heart of them and would end up being overlooked when the German team to test the Kestrel was assembled.

After my secondment at BMW finished in late 1960, I was sent to Canada to train on the new de Havilland DHC-4 Caribou transport aircraft. The Luftwaffe was more interested in me building up twin engine time and gaining experience in STOL aircraft than in fast jets.

After successfully completing my training on the Caribou and being certified for STOL operations, I was sent to Rolls -Royce in Great Britain to be familiarised with their Tyne turboprop engine.

Upon my return to Germany, I was assigned to work as an advisor and eventually test pilot for the German companies involved in the new Transall C-160 transport aircraft that was being developed jointly with France.

It was hard to be bitter in retrospect. The twin engine time I built up in that period of time would come to benefit me greatly before the decade was out and testing the STOL performance of the C-160 was as exhilarating an experience as any jet I'd flown had ever been."
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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #190 on: August 10, 2017, 02:40:53 AM »

Upon my return to Germany, I was assigned to work as an advisor and eventually test pilot for the German companies involved in the new Transall C-160 transport aircraft that was being developed jointly with France.

It was hard to be bitter in retrospect. The twin engine time I built up in that period of time would come to benefit me greatly before the decade was out and testing the STOL performance of the C-160 was as exhilarating an experience as any jet I'd flown had ever been."

So, might there be a chance of a VTOL C-160 popping up?
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Offline upnorth

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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #191 on: August 10, 2017, 03:53:16 AM »
It hadn't crossed my mind to do, but those are some pretty wild looking proposals.
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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #192 on: August 12, 2017, 12:47:40 AM »
Thanks for the newest update.


Chris
"What young man could possibly be bored
with a uniform to wear,
a fast aeroplane to fly,
and something to shoot at?"

Offline upnorth

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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #193 on: August 12, 2017, 05:00:20 PM »
Thanks for appreciating and following.

Right now, I'm trying to decide how to tie things all together as the end of the 1960s will be the end of the story.
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Offline upnorth

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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #194 on: August 31, 2017, 05:22:33 AM »
Closing the Circle

By the early 1960s, the Yarara was all but gone from South American and Latin American skies. Save for a wing of reconnaissance variants in the Mexican air force and a small fleet of test and development aircraft retained by FMA in Cordoba, Most Yararas in the regions had been scrapped, put on gunnery ranges or kept intact for museum purposes.

It was a similar story in the Middle East, as most of the former Yarara operators there had modernised their air forces.

However, the story was rather different in Africa. There, the Yarara was still finding work in combat zones as a close support and light strike aircraft.

South Africa still had a good number of Yararas in service and used them to support Portugal in the early stages of the Angolan War of Independence.

Yararas were also seen in the colours of the Katangese air force during the opening three years of the Congo Crisis.

All Yararas used in those conflicts were piston powered models of the series III line. Despite their age, the Yararas served well in the CAS and light strike roles. Many of the pilots and maintainers were seasoned veterans of the aircraft and knew it better than anyone else. They put the aircraft's low flying qualities to good use staging surprise attacks that resulted in much chaos on the ground and the destruction of many idle vehicles, parked aircraft and associated equipment.

The aircraft was seeing its last taste of combat on the same continent where it built its fearsome reputation during the Second World War. It was no less feared by those it was used against in the early 1960s than it had been by the Afrika Korps and Italian forces in the northern reaches of the continent in the early 1940s.

As most pilots on the opposing sides of the conflicts weren't keen to bring their aircraft down to the Yarara's level to intecept it, the bulk of Yarara losses in those wars was attributed to ground fire or accidents.

The stories told by surviviors of a Yarara attacks in these battles were not appreciably different from those told by Veterans who had survived Yarara attacks in World War Two, the Korean War and the Suez Crisis.

Jochen Gets a Jet

"Nearly as soon as I had completed my work in the C.160 Transall testing, I found myself tasked with learning the ins and outs of the new HFB-320 Hansa Jet.

It took some getting used to with the types's forward swept wings, but I learned to like it and it meant I finally was getting a much needed boost in jet time into my logbook. A business jet was not the sort of aircraft I had envisioned doing such in, but I wasn't complaining.

By 1966, I was back at Oberpfaffenhoffen with two pre-production Hansa Jets and evaluating them for Luftwaffe use as VIP transports.

Little did I suspect at the time that testing the Hansa Jet would be my last assignment for the Luftwaffe or that the Hansa Jet would see me back to Argentina."
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Offline elmayerle

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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #195 on: August 31, 2017, 09:23:20 AM »
Very nice installment as matters come full circle.  I wonder if Argentina will use the Hansa Jet for military purposes (ECM, recce, etc.)?

Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #196 on: September 03, 2017, 07:00:25 AM »
A fine ending to a great tale!


Chris
"What young man could possibly be bored
with a uniform to wear,
a fast aeroplane to fly,
and something to shoot at?"

Offline upnorth

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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #197 on: September 04, 2017, 12:15:22 AM »
Southern Salvation

Johannes Steinhoff recalls:

"It was sad to see Jochen leave the Luftwaffe at the end of the Hansa Jet testing, but I couldn't blame him. There wasn't a lot of new aircraft to test at the time in Germany and HFB, the maker of the Hansa Jet, had offered Jochen a very generous and lucrative contract to be part of the aircraft's sales tour in the Americas in 1968. The military couldn't hope to pay him what HFB was offering.

In the time he served in the post war Luftwaffe, he had redeemed himself of his reckless youth many times over, I never regretted giving him another chance and was happy to shake his hand and wish him well on his departure from the service."

After a whirlwind of briefings at the HFB offices in Hamburg, Jochen and the rest of the Hansa Jet sales tour team embarked on their journey.

"Thankfully, the HFB management agreed with me when I pushed to start the sales tour in South America. South America was my comfort zone, but I honestly felt that trying to sell the Hansa Jet in North America should be a second priority as the early members of the Learjet family had a firm hold on the market there. While the Learjets had made their way to South America, they were not as prevalent and I felt we had a better chance to sell the Hansa Jet there.

Corporate aircraft were a big thing at the time and we had some stiff competition while trying to promote our aircraft. The aforementioned Learjets as well as the Hawker Siddeley HS-125 from Great Britain, the Dassault Falcon 20 from France and the very new Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante turboprop from Brasil were all vying for sales in the Americas.

The Hansa Jet not only had its work cut out for it against the competition, but a rash of accidents with the type in Germany occured while we were on tour and the news made its way across the Atlantic. People seemed more interested in the accidents than asking about the aircraft. Beyond telling them that flying an aircraft with forward swept wings took some getting used to, I couldn't tell them much as HFB wasn't telling me much.

Fortunately, Argentina was the first stop and it was easy to generate interest there as they were very eager to divest themselves of their remaining fleet of Beech C-45 aircraft with something modern. Thankfully, I still had many influential connections in both the Argentine government and at FMA and was successfully able to allay their fears about the Hansa Jet's safety.

The Chilean leg of the tour also went quite well as did our stops in Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay and Uruguay. We didn't expect much in Brasil as the EMB 110 Bandeirante was essentially a state run project that we felt we had little chance of winning against in fair competition.

We came away from the South American leg of the tour with a respectable number of firm orders and strong interest on FMA's part to secure a production license for the type.

Central America and the Carribean resulted in no orders. North America, as expected, also resulted in no orders; our American, British and French competitors had effectively locked us out of the North American market.

As we headed back south towards Argentina, we stopped for fuel at a Mexican air force base in Oaxaca state. On approach, I noted a large lot to the side of the base with a number of closely parked Yarara fuselages in it and their wings piled up a short distance away. As it turned out, they had been the last Yararas in military service anywhere and had been retired only a few months before. As we waited for our aircraft to be fuelled, a pair of Lockheed RT-33 aircraft taxied past on their way to the runway. The reconnaissance version of the Lockheed aircraft was Mexico's replacement for their last Yararas.

I was not allowed to get close to the Yararas, but was told that the bulk of them would be scrapped save for one or two earmarked for museums and one to be used as a gate guard at the base.

Fully fuelled, we continued to Argentina and set down in Cordoba to discuss a Hansa Jet production license for FMA in more detail.

By the time we arrived back in Argentina, much had changed with regards to HFB in a business sense. A merger with Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm was looming large and the Hansa Jet was not garnering much interest in Europe due to the percieved safety issues following the accidents.

Shortly after we returned to Germany, an Argentine delegation visited the Hansa Jet production line and did the final paperwork to secure a production license.

New Horizons

I didn't stay in Germany long after my contract with HFB was concluded. FMA had offered me a test pilot job on a new project while I was there and I was only too happy to pack my bags and return to what had become my second homeland.

After settling in in my new residence, I went to work at the FMA facilities in Cordoba. As I was entering the building, a Yarara flew overhead faster than I'd ever seen one go before. I couldn't identify the engine by sound, but it was clearly a turboprop and a quite powerful one at that.

I was shown the general arrangement drawings for FMA's new project, called the Pucará, at a briefing shortly after I arrived. It was a twin turboprop attack aircraft built around four 20mm cannons. It was ultimately intended to take the equally new Hispano Argentina Caiman engine, which had powered the Yarara I'd seen upon my arrival, as its power source.

On the factory floor, the prototype aircraft was equiped with Turbomeca Astazou engines for flight testing while the Caimans were going through testing on the Yarara.

The Pucará was an imposing machine just to walk around and I was both eager and honoured to be involved with it. As several of my old Yarara testing program friends were still employed at FMA and in the Pucará project, it was easy enough to get settled into the bigger team and get to business.

The Pucará went into the air for the first time in August of 1969 and flew very well under the power of the Aztazou engines. While I did not take the aircraft on its maiden flight, I got many hours on it and liked it very much. It would fill the gap left by the Yarara very well, I was sure.

By December of 1969, the Pucará and the Caiman were ready for their first flight together and what a flight it was!

I had worked myself up on Caiman operations in the Yararas and was selected to take the Pucará up on its first Caiman powered flight. The extra power the Caiman had over the Aztazou became immediately apparent and the aircraft responded beautifully to the increase. I think they could not have hit upon a better combination of aircraft and engine considering what the Pucará was intended to do.

After a few more flights to make sure the aircraft and engine really worked well, we were cleared for more aerobatic flying. I put it through rolls, loops and climbs without a hitch and it recovered from steep dives easily.

The aircraft did just as well in weapons tests. It was, in fact, during the weapons testing that I got the chance to do something I had been wanting to do for a very long time.

As I rolled the aircraft into position for a cannon firing run on the range, I chose a tired looking Gloster Meteor as my target. I could have chosen one of the two Yararas also set out on the range, but I'd been wanting to put holes into a Meteor for too long.

As my gunsight encroached on the nose of the Meteor, I pressed the firing button and unleashed a blast of 20mm along the full length of its fuselage.

Later, we went out to the range to inspect the damage and I have to say I was very satisfied with what the Pucará's guns had done."

The Snake's Last Hiss

With the Caiman approved for production, the two elderly Yararas the FMA had kept on hand for testing had flown their last. Jochen recalls:

"It was a gorgeous day when delegates from the Argentine air force and navy as well as many Yarara veterans assembled at the airport in Cordoba.

The military delegation were there to see the future of Argentine ground attack while many others were there to see their old mount fly for what seemed like the very last time.

Despite my optimism and liking for the Pucará, I chose to fly a Yarara that day out of nostalgia.

I was part of a pair of Yararas that took off just ahead of a Pucará. We all formed up and flew down the length of the Cordoba runway with the Pucará in the lead and a Yarara on either side. We did a series of flypasts, much to the delight of the crowd.

For the final flypast, the Yararas broke formation in opposite directions, leaving the Pucará to do a solo knife edge pass in front of the assembled crowd.

All three aircraft returned to the ground and were parked in front of the crowd. Chamagne was opened, hands were shaken, a few tears rolled down nostalgic cheeks and the Yarara was done."

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That's the end of the story. Thanks so much to those who stayed with it.

I'll set to work on something of an epilogue soonish.

« Last Edit: September 04, 2017, 01:24:10 AM by upnorth »
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Offline upnorth

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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #198 on: September 20, 2017, 10:46:57 PM »
Epilogue

In the main, the Yarara is most remembered at the international level for its roles in North Africa, Burma and South East Asia during WWII. The bulk of preserved examples attests to this as all but a few of them are presented in markings other than for those campaigns.

As one might expect, the largest proportion of preserved Yararas is to be found in Argentina.

A number of partial and complete examples are known to exist in South Africa. From time to time, news has been heard from that country of attempts to restore one to flying status though it has never occured.

Other countries known to have at least one complete Yarara on public display include:

Australia
Brazil
Colombia
Guatemala
India
Israel
Laos
Malaysia
Mexico
New Zealand
Philippines
Portugal
Thailand

While most of those nations took aircraft from their own fleets at retirement, the preserved examples in Australia and New Zealand never served those countries. Both Australia and New Zealand were very quick to dispose of their Yarara fleets after they retired them and didn't save any for museums. As a result of that haste, they were forced to purchase Yararas from other former users in order to represent the type in their museums.

Attempts and plans have been made to return Yararas to the air, but none have succeded thus far.

Battle Standard

The official post WWII battle record of the Yarara stands as such:

First Indochina War (used by Cambodia, Kingdom of Laos and State of Vietnam)

First Kashmir War (used by India)

Arab-Israeli War of 1948 (used by Iraq and Israel)

Korean War (used by Philippines, South Africa and Thailand)

Laotian Civil War (used by Kingdom of Laos, Thailand and South Vietnam)

Algerian War of Independence (used by France)

Vietnam War (used by Kingdom of Laos, Thailand and South Vietnam)

Suez Crisis (used by Israel)

Congo Crisis (used by Katanga and South Africa)

Angolan War of Independence (used by Portugal and South Africa)


Hans-Joachim Marseille

Jochen Marseille settled in Cordoba and had a productive and distinguished post military career with FMA.

After finishing the test flying phases of the Pucara and seeing it into service, Jochen was instrumental in facilitating the purchase and transfer of the type certificate for the Hansa Jet in the early 1970s from MBB in Germany. Subsequently, Jochen was tasked with overseeing the development and production of the type in Cordoba.

Marseille married and started a family about a year after he started work at FMA. He joined the local flying club and worked as an instructor in his free time there.

He eventually left FMA to establish his own small charter air service, which he ran until his son and daughter were old enough to take over when he retired fully in 1988. Though his daughter was barely 20 years old and his son only 18 when he handed the company reins fully over to them, they had both been well immersed in the company runnings from very early ages.

With aviation in their blood and their father personally having made sure that both his children were able and competent pilots, Sofia and Franco Marseille ran the company in a way that made their father proud. They expanded beyond the small carter service their father founded to become a fully fledged regional airline.

Jochen continued to fly for a few more years after retirement until the rigors of old age forced him to stop. He remained a regular sight at the Cordoba airport, often with his grandchildren, and was a frequent visitor to the flying club for coffee and chat.

Jochen Marseille died peacfully in his sleep, in relatively good health, at the age of 90 in 2009.


FMA Alondra

Under FMA ownership, the Hansa Jet was renamed the Alondra (Lark). While the aircraft was not a success in Europe, less than 50 were made before HFB became part of MBB and production stopped, it enjoyed popularity with civil and military operators throughout Latin and South America as well as becoming surprisingly popular with similar clientelle in the Middle East.

The Alondra enjoyed a 20 year production run and was modernised many times. More efficient turbofans found their way onto the machine and modern flight control computers made flying with the forward swept wings a much easier affair for new pilots of the type to come to grips with.

Many of the type still fly today and FMA still supports them.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And that is the end of the Yarara story.

Thanks to all who stayed with it and followed along through all 14 pages and the many fits and spurts they were created in.

 :smiley:







« Last Edit: September 20, 2017, 10:55:29 PM by upnorth »
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Re: Stealing the Stuka
« Reply #199 on: September 21, 2017, 01:22:46 AM »
Well done. :smiley:

And here is an actual photo of Hans-Joachim Marseille in a lighter moment during the war:



and if you click on the image, you will get an amusing story about him... ;)
« Last Edit: September 21, 2017, 02:00:48 AM by GTX_Admin »
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