Author Topic: Jackrabbit  (Read 193956 times)

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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #75 on: November 22, 2023, 01:18:50 AM »
By the time the 1965 Paris airshow was over, we would make sure FMA had something good to sink their teeth into."

We await the news...
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Offline upnorth

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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #76 on: November 22, 2023, 03:11:26 AM »
Paris Airshow, Le Borguet airport, France - June, 1965

An hour after the CL-215s had done their show, four MB.326s made their way to the runway and took of in two pairs.

The first pair were and MB.326C, with the F-104 nose, and a Prairie Rattler. The MB.326C was an Aermacchi company demonstrator while the Prairie Rattler was from 443 Squadron, based at RCAF Station Zweibrucken in West Germany. 443 had recently been reactivated and was the first Prairie Rattler squadron in Europe.

The second pair were a basic MB.326 of the Italian air force and an MB.326D that the Alitialia airline used for training.

Once aloft, the aircraft assembled in a diamond formation to make their opening flypast.

The Prairie Rattler was the lead aircraft, with the Italian air force and Alitalia aircraft at the #2 and #3 positions and the MB.326C in the slot.

After a couple of flypasts, the formation broke. The Prairie Rattler and MB.326C flew out of sight of the crowd and left the other two aircraft to carry out a very well received aerobatics performance.

As the first pair landed, the Prairie Rattler roared back into the show area and demonstrated a series of tactical strike manouvers that were equally appreciated by the crowd.

The sound of the Prairie Rattler landing was fully drowned out by the MB.326C coming back into view of the crowd in the company of a pair of F-104 Starfighters, one each from the Italian air force and the RCAF.

After a pair of low and slow passes, the MB.326C broke away to land and the Starfighters were let loose for their own display.

A former Aermacchi executive recalls:

"Another wave of people made their way to our display on the heels of the MB.326 demonstration. We also saw a notable increase of people moving towards the MB.326D at the Alitalia display nearby.

The model of the Prairie Rattler at the Canadair end of our display was also getting a lot of attention.

Our model of the MB.330 and Embraer's EMB-110 model were drawing steady, if not so intensive, attention through the duration of the show. People were clearly going to be watching for more on those two aircraft.

The FMA guys knew they were the quiet end of the display. Despite that, they kept up brave faces and hid their discouragement behind full professionalism when people took even a passing interest in their aircraft.

Even before the show was over, multiple orders for the MB.326 and CL-215 had been confirmed by Aermacchi, Canadair and Embraer agents. We were all going to be very busy soon.

I knew we'd have a lot on our plates between the MB.326 and CL-215.

I looked at how few MB.330 brochures we had left from what we had brought with us and made a call to our headquarters in Italy for approval of an idea I had.

After the show concluded and we had dismantled our display, we had a small after party to celebrate our success. With blessings given from my higher-ups in Italy, I handed the model of the MB.330 to the FMA guys and announced the project was theirs. They would have full authority to develop it as they saw fit and put their name on it.

It was not right to let them go home empty handed."

A former FMA public relations officer:

"Holding the MB.330 model at the after party of the 1965 Paris Airshow was like coming up for air. I called my superiors in Cordoba before the party was over to let them know. I could hear the excitement in their voices.

I was to go directly to Aermacchi headquarters from Paris to collect the existing research and development documents and bring them home with the model."

A former FMA executive:

"Getting that call about the MB.330 was the silver lining we needed. We needed a whole aircraft, and now we had one.

There were lots of happy people around the Cordoba offices and the gesture went a long way to easing any remaining feelings FMA people may have had about only being made a sub-contractor to the MB.326."
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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #77 on: December 16, 2023, 01:14:55 PM »
Okay, you've got me intrigued now.  What aircraft is "Dorothea"?  A CL-215 variant without water-bombing capability but with an adaptable cabin or some other aircraft?

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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #78 on: December 16, 2023, 07:18:12 PM »
Okay, you've got me intrigued now.  What aircraft is "Dorothea"?  A CL-215 variant without water-bombing capability but with an adaptable cabin or some other aircraft?

"Dorothea" is the sister aircraft to "Teresa", and both are water bombers.

The pair were the engine testing prototypes I mentioned on the second page of the story. "Dorothea" was originally powered by RR Dart engines while "Teresa" had the T64 engines.

The T64 won out and "Dorothea" was converted to T64 engines and kept flying.

They changed her engines, but kept her name.
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Offline upnorth

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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #79 on: July 07, 2024, 06:10:49 AM »
Aermacchi facilities, Venegono airport, Italy - July, 1965

A pair of freshly assembled MB-326 trainers took off into the morning sun for their respective shakedown flights. Both aircraft were destined for the Tunisian air force, the first African nation to have the aircraft in service. South Africa had held a production license since 1964, but it would not be until 1966 that their version would enter service.

A former Aermacchi marketing executive:

"We walked away from the 1965 Paris airshow with a healthy interest in the MB-326 shown by a number of African nations. It was a simple enough aircraft that less developed nations could service and operate it themselves, yet still modern enough to be of interest to more developed nations in Africa.

It seemed Africa was set to play a bigger part than Europe or the Middle East in keeping the Italian MB-326 lines busy.

However, we were planning to market the aircraft aggressively to both Switzerland and Austria in the near future. Both nations had fleets of old DeHavilland Vampires as trainers. Austria also had Fouga Magisters, but they would most likely need replacing before the 1960s were out.

Canadair had helped set up assembly lines for the MB-326 at MBB in West Germany and at Fokker in the Netherlands. That companies capable of building the aircraft in those two countries existed, took a lot of pressure off the people in Cartierville."

If there was a downside in this period of time, it was that one of the CL-215 demonstrators, Dorothea, had been damaged when her nose landing gear collapsed on landing at Venegono shortly after returning from the Paris air show.

A former Aermacchi assembly line supervisor:

"Dorothea wasn't so badly damaged that she couldn't be fixed, it was a question of it being worthwhile to fix her. We had already learned a lot from her and her sister ship, Tereza, and put a lot of hours on both airframes.

Ultimately, it was decided to retire Dorothea from flying. She had served well, so we decided to carry out the cosmetic repairs needed to make her fit for display near the company offices at the airport.

A very impressive plinth was created to place her on. It was modelled after water being dumped from the aircraft. Once Dorothea was placed on the plinth, she was an amazing sight to behold."

« Last Edit: July 07, 2024, 03:29:25 PM by upnorth »
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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #80 on: July 08, 2024, 05:00:01 AM »
RAAF Station East Sale, Victoria, Australia - September 1965

A six ship formation of MB.326 trainers resplendent in RAAF training colours flew low over the main parade square, the crews were a mix of RAAF and RNZAF pilots.

The formation was part of a welcoming salute to a delegation made up of defense ministers and high military brass from Malaysia and Thailand. Both nations had committed to buying MB.326 fleets.

The first MB.326 pilots of the two nations were to be trained by the RAAF.

A former Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation executive:

"It was an exciting and tense time all at once. Australia was the big power in the region and we were also combatants in the war in Vietnam at the time. It was in our interests to help smaller militaries in allied Southeast Asian countries modernize, as many of them very much needed to.

We were lucky to get our first batch of MB.326 aircraft to the RAAF as soon as we did. This was partly because all but the last few aircraft in that batch were kits from Canadair that we just had to assemble. The second batch was already underway with the first ones due to be delivered to RAAF Pearce, on the west coast, in the very near future.

Malaysia committed to MB.326 purchase at Paris and their pilots would be the first of the two nations' crews to start training. While most of the training would happen at RAAF Pearce once a full complement of MB.326 aircraft were in place there, this first group of Malysian pilots would start their training at East Sale."

A former Malaysian air force pilot:

"It was great to know we would get something modern. The smaller nations in the region were quite behind in military technology. With the war in Vietnam nearby, the Malayan Crisis not so far in the past and Indonesia something of a powder keg waiting to explode; running on second hand World War Two gear and 1950s technology would not be useful to us.

Malaysia ordered the armed version of the MB.326 and entered a training agreement with Australia for our pilots.

It felt like a bright time to me, in spite of the conflicts in the region."

A former RAAF instructor pilot:

"I think everyone was cautiously optimistic about the training agreement. We were certainly happy about providing those smaller countries with something modern for their arsenals."

A former Thai air force pilot:

"We had Cessna T-37 trainers from America and some older T-33 trainers, but these were 1950s aircraft and we needed something newer.

We wanted the A-37 development of the T-37, but were told we wouldn't get it anytime soon because of how much it was needed in Vietnam.

In the armed version of the MB.326, we saw the light strike aircraft we wanted and that we could have now."

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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #81 on: July 18, 2024, 05:48:03 AM »
Commonwealth Aircraft, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - October 1, 1965

A former CAC executive:

"We arrived at work that morning to news of the coup against the Communist government in Indonesia. Australia and other nations that were neighbours to Indonesia had been watching the building tension in that country for a while.

The coup led to a rather drawn out and, as we learned sometime after the fact, quite brutal internal campaign to rid Indonesia of anyone who was pro-Communist.

It would be a while before that country was stable enough to consider selling military gear to it.

We were more optimistic about Singapore. They had declared their independence from Malaysia on August 9th and Australia had good relations with the country. We also had military advisors in Singapore, actively helping to plan the modernization of the newly self-governing country's military.

Our sales and marketing division was putting in overtime to ensure that our presentation of the MB-326 to Singapore, which was scheduled for early December, would go completely without a hitch.

Outside of the MB-326, we were getting ready to hand over our first six CL-215 aircraft.

Four of the aircraft would be going to the Forests Department of Western Australia to use as waterbombers. Crews had returned recently from training in Canada and were due on Monday, October 4, to accept the aircraft.

The other two aircraft would also be going to Western Australia, but they were part of a test program to see the suitability of the non-waterbomber version of the aircraft for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Crews from that organization were also due the next week to accept their aircraft.

As it was with the Forests Department, RFDS crews had also been up to Canada to qualify on the aircraft."

« Last Edit: July 18, 2024, 05:53:56 AM by upnorth »
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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #82 on: July 18, 2024, 10:58:39 PM »
Amahai Airport, Seram, Indonesia - October 6, 1965

An Indonesian air force Ilyushin Il-28 bomber lifted off from the Amahai airport runway at 09:00 local time on a southward course with Kupang as the planned destination.

In accordance with the filed flight plan, the aircraft headed directly south towards the Leti Islands. The flight plan and the actions of the crew deviated sharply from there.

The former Il-28 navigator:

"We were flying a reconnaissance version of the aircraft, so the long and straight flight plan didn't arouse any suspicion of our true intention.

The pilot, myself and our gunner were very much in a similar situation in that most of our families had already left Indonesia some time ago and we were not close to the ones who remained. We were all fairly young ourselves and none of us had families of our own.

Things were getting brutal in Indonesia and it seemed nobody was above suspicion of being in favour of the Communists. It was a delicate time and we really had nothing to stay for.

Our aircraft could get us to Darwin, in Australia, as long as we were able to keep going straight once we cleared the Leti Islands and were over the Timor Sea.

We were counting on the presence on the new Mirage fighters that the RAAF had in the region to deter any Indonesian fighters from intercepting us once we diverted from our filed flight plan that would have seen us turn toward Kupang once we were over the islands."

A former RAAF Mirage pilot:

"My wingman and I were vectored onto an unknown aircraft coming over the Timor Sea on a straight line for Darwin. We were in visual range soon enough and could see it was an Il-28.

We made a couple of passes and they remained unprovacative. We pulled up alongside the aircraft and the tail gunner held up a sign that said: 'Going to Darwin!'. That sign, accompanied by a friendly wave told us what we needed to know about their intentions and we relaxed a bit.

I kept station on the aircraft while my wingman broke formation to keep an eye out for possible Indonesian interceptors. As it was, we were left unaccosted all the way home."

No sooner had the three aircraft touched down at RAAF Darwin, than a security detail surrounded the Ilyushin and took it to a secured hangar.

The crew were interogated and satisfactorily made clear that they were no threat and would happily share everything they could about the aircraft in exchange for safe haven in Australia.

RAAF Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia - October 7, 1965

The next morning, the Il-28 was fuelled and the crew were briefed on a flight plan that would see them take their aircraft to the Woomera Ranges in South Australia. There, the aircraft would be taken under the authority of the Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU) and examined thoroughly.

The former Il-28 tail gunner:

"Understandably, they did not include me on the crew for the trip to Woomera. The gunner station was still armed and the security teams had sealed it for the trip to Woomera.

I left in a RAAF transport, about an hour ahead of of our aircraft and its Mirage escort. I was happy to be going in comfort, it gave me a chance to relax and think about where life could go from here."

The former Il-28 pilot:

"Thankfully, I never had to make another flight quite like that again. We had to make a fuel stop in a place that truly seemed the middle of nowhere. At least the Mirage had long range fuel tanks attached, he could stay up and wait for us.

Opening the cockpit canopy brought no relief from the heat. I was happy we didn't need a full refuel, just a topping up to get us to Woomera.

We were back underway soon enough and rejoined the Mirage for an uneventful remainder of the flight.

I always thought flying over the open ocean was scary enough. The flight to Woomera taught me that flying over open desert was every bit as daunting a prospect."
« Last Edit: July 19, 2024, 04:49:57 AM by upnorth »
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Offline apophenia

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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #83 on: July 19, 2024, 03:25:15 AM »
Great stuff! Somehow, I had missed two previous installments. Taking in three posts at a time made for a fantastic read!  :smiley: :smiley:
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Offline upnorth

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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #84 on: July 19, 2024, 04:55:10 AM »
Great stuff! Somehow, I had missed two previous installments. Taking in three posts at a time made for a fantastic read!  :smiley: :smiley:

Thanks! It's all new output over the past week or so.

I'm on holidays just now, so my brain got out of work writing mode and into creative writing mode long enough to come up with some new stuff.

I'm glad folks are still following.
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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #85 on: July 19, 2024, 08:30:26 AM »
Didn't expect the latest twist
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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Offline apophenia

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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #86 on: July 20, 2024, 03:13:06 AM »
Didn't expect the latest twist

Nor I! Very intrigued to see where this is going ... beside Woomera, obviously  ;)
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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #87 on: July 21, 2024, 02:04:52 AM »
... beside Woomera, obviously  ;)

And having spent quite a bit of time there in the past there is not much there... ;)
« Last Edit: July 22, 2024, 01:09:59 AM by GTX_Admin »
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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #88 on: July 21, 2024, 06:25:08 AM »
RAAF Woomera, South Australia, Australia - October 7, 1965

A Former ARDU test pilot:

"As soon as we got word in Woomera that the Il-28 that landed at Darwin was headed our way, there was quite a bit of excitement.

The Il-28 was not a new aircraft, it was similar vintage to the Canberra that we were using, but this would be the first time that most of us would get close up to one on the ground.

The gunner arrived a bit ahead of the Il-28. It was felt he wasn't needed on the bomber for the trip from Darwin to Woomera, so he arrived on a RAAF Dakota transport. No sooner had the aircraft parked and the passenger door opened, than he was whisked into a security car and taken elsewhere on the base.

A security detail was already waiting for the Il-28 to arrive.

We could see the Il-28 coming from a good distance out as the sun was reflecting strongly off its silver laquer coating.

Following a textbook landing, the pilot parked the aircraft where directed and the security team surrounded it. As with the gunner, the pilot and navigator were taken away in security cars.

Shortly after, the aircraft was towed into a hangar. In the hangar, the aircraft was condoned off and "Armed" signs were placed at nose, tail and wingtip positions.

We had been told ahead of time that the aircraft's cannons were all still armed."

The former Il-28 Gunner:

"The really important, and stressful, secuity interviews had already been taken care of while we were at Darwin. I had shared the flight to Woomera with a security officer who had transcripts of the interviews to transfer to his counterpart at Woomera, so I was hopeful that whatever interviews were forthcoming there would not be repeats of the ones at Darwin.

Thankfully, we satisfied them that we weren't threats and we could get down to the business of showing them the Il-28 the day after we arrived."

The former Il-28 pilot:

"The biggest surprize for me at Woomera was how well we were treated.

The Malaysia-Indonesia Confrontation was taking place and Australia had taken side with Malaysia. We knew there was a big and well established population of Indonesian people in Australia, but we had no idea how well three Indonesian military guys in a Soviet made jet bomber would be received.

The day after we arrived at Woomera was full of briefings and the three of us answered many questions about our roles on the aircraft.

After the gunner had walked RAAF armourers through technical manuals for the 23mm cannons, they were safely able to disarm the aircraft and take the ammunition away for further examination.

Once the aircraft was safe in all ways, we had made our ejection seats safe when we arrived, the three of us were very busy giving detailed "tours" of our respective stations on the aircraft.

Our biggest worry was that we really couldn't tell them much about the cameras that made up the reconnaissance pack. Not so much because of anything secretive, but simply because it wasn't our specialization. We knew how to activate it to take photos, but that was really all.

As we would find out, the RAAF already had some connections that could help them with areas of the aircraft that we couldn't.

As the day finished, I watched a pair of MB-326 aircraft fly around overhead and then land and taxi past our hangar. I knew about the type, but had never seen one. they looked like a lot of fun to fly, perhaps one day I would get my chance to get some stick time on them."
« Last Edit: July 24, 2024, 04:22:01 AM by upnorth »
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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #89 on: August 13, 2024, 05:23:35 AM »
RAAF Woomera, South Australia, Australia - October 11, 1965

For the men of the Indonesian Il-28, it had been a restful weekend, the former navigator recalls:

"They decided to put us in lodgings at the RAAF base at Edinburgh, near Adelaide, for the weekend. It was a welcome change from Woomera and we got a great guided tour of Adelaide. We were able to get some clean civilian clothes and beds were certainly more comfortable than the ones we slept on at Darwin and Woomera the week before.

On Monday morning, we had breakfast at the RAAF Edinburgh mess. After breakfast, we were taken to a hangar with a RAAF Dakota transport prepared for flight sitting outside.

In the hangar, we were briefly introduced to a "Mr. Nowak" and told he would be going with us on the flight back to Woomera that morning.

During the flight, we got a chance to get better acquainted with Mr. Nowak. He quickly let us know that we were free to call him by his first name, Stan. As it turned out, he had fled to Australia from his native Poland a few years before.

Stan had been a technician on the Il-28 in the Polish air force and was familiar with a number of systems on the aircraft, including the reconnaissance pack.

Clearly, he was there to fill in some gaps about the Il-28 that were best left to groundcrew to explain."

The Dakota landed at Woomera just prior to the noon hour. After lunch, the Il-28 crew and Stan Nowak were escorted to the hangar where the Il-28 was being kept.

Stan Nowak recalls:

"I left Poland in 1962. I had nothing to hold me to the country and took the opportunity to defect while my squadron was in Bulgaria on joint excercises with the air force there. Our squadron was hosted at Ravnets air base, near Burgas, on the Black Sea coast.

The only border crossing from Bulgaria into Turkey was on the highway that ran through Burgas and eventually into Turkey. I decided to take the risk of trying to get to Turkey from Burgas. I had heard stories of other people defecting that way so I had some idea of what to expect.

Fortunately, but with difficulty, I made it into Turkey. I made my way to Greece and got on a ship headed for Australia.

Due to my service in a Warsaw Pact military, the Australian military took an interest in me while my naturalization papers were still in process.

Military intelligence interviewed me as much as the immigration authorities did. The trade off was that my Australian citizenship application was expedited."

"Bold Beagle"

Stan Nowak, the Il-28 crew and a number of ARDU and other RAAF personnel gathered in a medium sized briefing room to one side of the main hangar area.

The various people took seats facing a blackboard that had only the phrase "Bold Beagle" written on it.

Once everyone was in their seats, the commanding officer of ARDU addressed the room and announced that "Bold Beagle" was to be the project name for anything the unit did connected to the Il-28 sitting in the hangar.

The RAAF officer appointed as commander of "Bold Beagle" took the place of the ARDU commander at the front of the room and introduced himself before pulling down a projection screen and beginning a presentation of overhead projector slides that outlined "Bold Beagle" and the scope of its initial stages.

The former "Bold Beagle" commander:

"Our Indonesian guests might have had a relaxing weekend, but I can assure you that many ARDU people put in many long hours from the day the IL-28 arrived at Woomera in order to makes sure we had the start of a testing program on Monday morning.

The information from the interviews with the Indonesian crew, any technical documents they had aboard the aircraft, as well as from transcripts of interviews we did with Mr. Nowak about the Il-28 shortly after he arrived in Australia, were used to create the official documentation for "Bold Beagle".

The briefing lasted for around two hours, after which the group made their way to the Il-28.

Stan Nowak:

"I must say, it was good to see an Il-28 again. Most of my time in the Polish air force was spent working on the type and I enjoyed working on them. In spite of defecting from Poland, I did miss the Il-28 a bit.

It was great to be able to talk to the crew about the aircraft, it's certainly different to discuss a particular aircraft with people who have first hand knowledge of working with it. The navigator's name was Chandra, the pilot was Edi and the gunner's name was Tim.

The ARDU had contacted me primarily for my knowledge of the aircraft's reconnaissance pack. Before I could tell them anything, the aircraft systems needed to be powered up enough for the bomb bay doors to be opened and the camera position that was halfway between the bomb bay and the tail gunner station opened.

All of those things were controlled from a panel in the navigator's position. Chandra and Edi took their respective stations in the aircraft to monitor the powering up process.

As soon as the needed power was reached, Chandra opened the bomb bay doors and rear fuselage camera station.

Once I got a look at the setup, I was happy to tell the ADRU people that it was a standard daytime camera fit that was described in the technical information they had on hand.

Removing it wouldn't be difficult, it was just a matter of removing some bolts and disconnecting a few cables, but they would certainly need some sort of supporting frames to take the weight of the cameras before the bolts could be undone.

Happily, the technical manuals provided accurate weights for the cameras and the ARDU crews were able to find something that worked.

By the early evening, the cameras had been removed and were on their way by road to RAAF Edinburgh.

Myself, Chandra, Edi, Tim and some ARDU people got onto a Dakota transport for the flight back to Edinburgh."
« Last Edit: August 15, 2024, 04:01:53 AM by upnorth »
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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #90 on: September 18, 2024, 03:10:56 AM »
RAAF Edinburgh, South Australia, Australia - November 1, 1965

October of 1965 had been very eventful between RAAF Woomera and RAAF Edinburgh for the people of ARDU.

The unexpected arrival of the Indonesian Ilyushin Il-28 and the opportunities it presented for learning about the type were fully exploited.

After the cameras were removed from the aircraft and delivered to the ARDU branch at RAAF Edingurgh, Stan Nowak spent the bulk of his time there guiding the ARDU people through the workings of the four AFA-33 cameras that made up the Il-28's daytime reconnaissance package.

"There were no surprizes for me with the cameras, the AFA-33 was the same type I worked with on the Il-28 before I left Poland. The film was the same type. It was all a very textbook setup that I could easily guide the ARDU people through."

While the cameras were in Edinburgh, Chandra and Edi were at Woomera to familiarize ARDU aircrews with the Il-28 and oversee the first flight of the aircraft by an australian crew in the last week of October.

Chandra recalls:

"I was quite surprized that the first flight of the Il-28 by an Australian crew happened as quickly as it did.

I suppose my view was coloured by my role as the navigator/bombardier. The Australian crew came from the Canberra, an aircraft where the navigator and bombardier are two separate people in different parts of the aircraft. It was decided that It would be eaasier to teach a navigator to be a bombardier than the other way around, so I found myself teaching a couple of Canberra navigators not only how to navigate the Il-28, but how to operate the bomb aiming system.

An added challenge was that we had a reconnaissance variant to work with, so we were aiming to take pictures rather than drop bombs.

Edi had the easier task of teaching the pilots, as they weren't taking on extra tasks."

Edi recalls:

"The Il-28 was a quite straightforward aircraft to fly, so it was not a problem training the very experienced Canberra pilots on cockpit procedures.

On their first flight I was a bit concerned as the Il-28 could be a bit touchy on the centre of gravity when fuel was being transfered between the various tanks, but there was no sign of any problems that way as I watched from the ground as they flew it.

I was also a bit concerned about weight distribution without the cameras installed, but the ARDU engineering crews had done a great job of putting weights in the bomb bay that mimicked the camera load precisely so the aircraft flew just like it had when we flew it in from Indonesia."

A former ARDU test pilot:

"I quite enjoyed my time flying the IL-28. It handled well and had no nasty idiosyncrasies to speak of.

The cockpit was a bit cramped compared the Canberra I was used to, but the view out was much better. It was like sitting in a fighter compared to the Canberra.

As much as I loved the Canberra, the seat was low in the cockpit and you couldn't see anything behind you. As you sat on the left side of the cockpit to fly, you couldn't see much of anything to the right either. As the navigator was buried in the fuselage behind the cockpit, he wasn't a lot of help as an extra set of eyes.

With the Il-28, you sat higher in the cockpit and were right on the aircraft's centre line when flying it. Rearward visibility was a bit limited, but forward and side field of vision were much better than the Canberra.

The Canberra was certainly the more refined of the two in design. The two aircraft were roughly comparable in speed and range, while the Canberra certainly had the edge in climb rate and ceiling."

« Last Edit: September 18, 2024, 04:34:07 AM by upnorth »
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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #91 on: September 18, 2024, 04:29:42 AM »
RAAF Woomera, South Australia, Australia - November 5, 1965 
09:00, local time


An MB-362, resplendent in ARDU markings, sat on the tarmac at Woomera. The ground crew was tending to the last details before the aircrew made their way to the aircraft from the briefing room in the hangar.

An ARDU test pilot, accompanied by Edi, walked to the aircraft in full flight suits and helmets in hand.

Edi recalls:

"I was finally going to go up in an MB-326!

Ever since I saw the aircraft up close for the first time after arriving at Woomera, I wanted to fly in it. Watching the ARDU use them as chase aircraft for the Il-28 in the "Brave Beagle" program only increased my desire for that.

I could hardly contain my excitement that morning.

As we got strapped into the aircraft by the ground crew and went through the preflight check, I noticed how everything was right where I expected it to be. I suppose all training aircraft are similar in these regards, there is a certain way you present things to students.

I had my advanced flying training in a two seat MiG-15, so a jet trainer cockpit was not at all an alien place to me.

The canopy closed and locked and we made our way to the runway and got airborne into a beautifully clear sky."

The former ARDU test pilot:

"Edi and I had got to know each other quite well and I was pleased to give him his first flight in the MB-326. He'd more than earned it with all the work he had done to get us familiar enough with the Il-28 to fly it competently.

It had been relayed to me, though not yet to Edi, that the RAAF had a plan for him and his crewmates beyond "Bold Beagle".

Indonesia was still unstable at the time, but there was enough optimism in some influential quarters that peace would come soon enough for us to justify flight training for our three Indonesian guests in anticipation that they could be Indonesia's first MB-326 pilots.

I was a qualified instructor pilot as well as test pilot, and had already spent several hours on the ground with Edi going over the basics of the MB-326.

Several of us had seen his logbook, he had a respectable number of flight hours for the youngish fellow that he was. There was also the fact that he had made the flight from Indonesia to Australia, no mean feat in itself.

He had the existing flight experience that I and a number of others at RAAF Woomera had every confidence that he could handle the MB-326 if the stick was given to him.

Edi did not yet know he was going to fly the aircraft himself on this flight."

Edi at the Stick

"When I heard the words in my helmet: 'The plane is yours'. I was stunned, but my training and experience kept me from freezing in fear.

We had been in the air for about 45 minutes when the pilot gave control to me, so I had taken the time to observe how the aircraft behaved in flight and so forth.

I really wanted to wring the aircraft out, but I felt there was an underlying reason to why I was getting control. I decided to keep my flying disciplined and by the book.

I stuck to standard aerobatics like rolls and loops. I threw in a Cuban eight or two and a tail slide for good measure.

After about half an hour, I gave the controls back to the ARDU pilot."

The former ARDU test pilot:

"Edi was the real deal as pilots go, there could be no doubting that.

I knew he was very excited even before we got into the aircraft, so I didn't know what to expect when I handed the aircraft to him to fly. Needless to say, I was very impressed with how he handled himself and the aircraft. He was young, but there was nothing cocky or ladish in how he flew.

The aerobatics he performed were not perfect, but competently done nonetheless.

Within and hour of landing the aircraft and debriefing, we were putting the gears in motion on Edi's paperwork so he could be moved to the Central Flying School at RAAF East Sale for a fuller evaluation of his flying skills and a formal familiarization with the MB-326.

Normally, as he wasn't a citizen of Australia, such doors wouldn't be opened to him. But strings were being pulled from influential places for Edi and his crewmates."
« Last Edit: September 18, 2024, 04:37:56 AM by upnorth »
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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #92 on: September 19, 2024, 01:05:09 AM »
I'm curious to see if any of the CL-215s find their way down under...perhaps in response to the 1967 Tasmanian/Black Tuesday fires
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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #93 on: September 19, 2024, 03:37:22 AM »
I'm curious to see if any of the CL-215s find their way down under...perhaps in response to the 1967 Tasmanian/Black Tuesday fires

Six are already there, all of them in Western Australia. Four ine waterbomber configuration with the Western Australian government and two in air ambulance configuration on a trial period with the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

I should be getting to them in the next post or two.

If you go scroll back up toward the top of this page, you'll find a post I made on July 18 or so that mentions the first six CAC built CL-215s.
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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #94 on: September 20, 2024, 12:35:50 AM »
Doh!!
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #95 on: July 26, 2025, 05:46:13 PM »
RAAF East Sale, Victoria, Australia - March 11, 1966
15:00, local time


Edi, the Indonesian Il-28 pilot, had been sent to RAAF East Sale in early February of 1966 for training on the MB-326. After some initial academic testing and review of his flying logs, which he had brought with him from Indonesia, he was placed in a training flight alongside RAAF and RAN trainee pilots.

Edi recalls when he heard news of the shift in power back home:

"Flying was done for the week, classroom activities as well. I was in the pub with some mates from my training flight when the news came on the television that Sukarno had given his presidential powers over to Suharto. I tried to take it as a sign of hope, but I knew Indonesia was not out of the woods yet. Sukarno was still the president in the nominal sense while Suharto was an acting president.

Some of my mates in the flight asked me what that meant, but I was hesitant to speculate much. Indonesia might see relatively more stability for a while, but it would take a lot of time to undo the damage Sukarno did. The national economy was a mess and poverty was everywhere. If the change was truly positive, we wouldn't know for a while.

Later that evening I got a call from my old navigator, Chandra, a rather more politically minded man than myself. He was more positive about the change than me and I let him talk about it until he had exhausted himself of the subject.

We then got talking about Tim, as neither of us had heard from him since we were all moved on from RAAF Edinburgh. I was here at East Sale getting my MB-326 training, while Chandra was at RAAF Point Cook getting basic flying training on the Winjeel trainers there.

As it was, we didn't need to wait long to find out Tim's whereabouts. He called me on the following day to talk about the change in government back home, we also took the opportunity to get caught up generally.

Tim had been sent to RAAF Wagga to the RAAF's technical school and was learning all about the Viper engine and its associated systems, He was quite excited about it and was happy to make the change from the gunner position."

Tim's own memories of the time:

"It was a very exciting time for me personally and professionally. It felt like my life was moving in a clear direction for the first time since I got to Australia. When we arrived here, and even through our part in the Bold Beagle program, nothing felt certain as the future was concerned.

I knew they saw future MB-326 pilots in Edi and Chandra, but what were they going to see in a tail gunner? The RAAF had no aircraft with tail guns and I didn't have another trade going in my favour. I had just been that kid who joined the military to keep himself off the streets.

When I got to RAAF Wagga, they tested my academic and logical thinking abilities as well as my English skills. I passed all the tests and they gave me the option of training to work the Viper engine, or the 30mm DEFA cannon.

I chose to go with engines, as I felt I'd spent enough time with guns while sitting in the back of the Il-28. It was time for something new. I ended up with a long career in aero engines because of that choice, so I have no regrets about it.

On the personal side, I made contact with some family who came to Australia before I did, so it was great to reunite with them.

A word from Chandra:

"The changes back home were very exciting to me and filled me with hope. However, flight training was quite stressful.

Ground school wasn't to much of a challenge and the Winjeel was a nice enough aircraft to fly. The real point of stress was that Australia was fully involved as a combatant in Vietnam and were trying to push as many new pilots through training as they could. I was not a special case as trainee pilots went, I was drinking from the fire hose with the rest of them.

It was very much sink or swim at Point Cook in those days. The pattern was often full and could get quite conflicted, so you needed to keep your wits about you.

One day, myself and another pilot were coming back from solo flights and almost collided trying to enter the landing circuit. There were enough other aircraft around that there was some confusion over who the tower was talking to. Myself and the other pilot both decided to put some distance between each other and get away from the circuit until we could establish clear contact with tower.

I successfully completed basic flight training and moved to the MB-326 at East Sale for the advanced stuff. East Sale felt like a holiday after Point Cook; it was busy, but certainly not the chaos Point Cook could be.

« Last Edit: July 26, 2025, 10:31:28 PM by upnorth »
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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #96 on: July 26, 2025, 07:50:27 PM »
Commonwealth Aircraft, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - May, 1966

A pair of CL-215s sat in a dimly lit hangar — their Royal Flying Doctor Service livery stripped from them. After the six month trial period, the RFDS determined that the CL-215 was too expensive to operate to offset the benefits that it brought.

However, all was not lost and they would fly once more.

A former CAC executive:

"It was a pity that the RFDS decided against continuing with the CL-215, but their reasons were understandable.

Happily, the government of Western Australia was very happy with theirs and had ordered four more. Other state gevernments were showing interest in the type based on Western Australia's experience of using the type to make short work of a couple of small brush fires that had flared up in the state earlier in the year. Without the aircraft, those fires could have gotten out of control quite quickly.

At the same time the RFDS had handed their aircraft back to us, two aircraft from the Western Australia fleet had been dispatched to Indonesia to help fight forest fires that were raging there and up the Malay peninsula. They and their crews were getting a real workout.

We would find out later that they were not only doing a good job of fighting fires, they were also doing a good job of generating interest in the aircraft in the region.

We had delivered the aditional four aircraft to Western Australia by the end of June, 1966, and were already at work converting the former RFDS aircraft to firefighting configuration; they would be part of an order for the New South Wales government.

After we delivered the second set of four aircraft to Western Australia, they quickly sent two more aircraft up to Indonesia to help with the fires."

A former CL-215 pilot from Western Australia

"I was with the second pair of aircraft that went to Indonesia. We joined the first pair at their base at Kupang airport on Timor and discussed how we would deploy next. In the time they were at Kupang, they had brought the fires there under control.

The fires were still worst on Borneo, so we went there and based the aircraft at Kuching.

It was really an amazing feeling to just be able to skim the ocean and have the aircraft back in the fight in moments, rather than have to go all the way back to base.

What was equally great was the amount of interest the aircraft generated at the airport, all kinds of people wanted to have a look at them. Unfortunately, the aircraft were kept far too busy to let anyone but the most official of VIP types have a close look at them.

I remember one day particularly, we arrived for our usual end of day debrief and were surprised to see our top boss from home and a senior salesman from CAC. Our boss had a grin ear to ear and the CAC guy informed us that the Malaysian government had just placed an order for ten CL-215s and the provisional government in Indonesia were showing tremendous interest in the aircraft.

It was very gratifying that our work there was a major factor in those events coming about."
« Last Edit: July 26, 2025, 10:37:58 PM by upnorth »
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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #97 on: July 27, 2025, 12:42:48 AM »
Good to see you writing again
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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #98 on: July 27, 2025, 01:36:06 AM »
Good to see you writing again

Thanks, I had a couple of false starts so decided to step away from the story a for a while.

I also did up a drawing of the CL-215, I'll maybe use it to do some profiles. I've also been working on a drawing of a Prairie Rattler, but I'm not happy with it yet.



I wanted the CL-215 to look somewhere between the 215 and 415 of the real world. Instead of the big wingtip plates on the 415, I made the 215's wing fences bigger. I also made the extra fins on the horizontal stabilizer smaller and a bit less refined than on the 415.

As for the engine pods, I decided to put the aair intake up top to give it more clearance from the water.
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Re: Jackrabbit
« Reply #99 on: August 03, 2025, 07:11:17 PM »
Southern Reshuffle

1966 brought changes to MB-326 operations in Australia.

RAAF East Sale was running at full capacity, but some of the pressure was taken away when more of the training load was shifted to RAAF Pearce.

The entirety of Malaysian and Singaporean MB-326 training was shifted to RAAF Pearce between late 1965 and early 1966. This left RAAF East Sale responsible for RAAF, RAN, and RNZAF MB-326 training.

It was also determined that the user nations of the MB-326 would be responsible for their own basic flying training. Advisors from Australia or New Zealand were placed on-site in those countries to help ensure that any trainees destined for the MB-326 would be ready for it before being sent to Australia to train on it.

The first group of MB-326 trainees from Thailand were scheduled to arrive at East Sale in September of 1966 and work was being done to make sure they could be accommodated.

Indonesia was still a question mark politically, but had voiced strong interest in the MB-326.

Taipan and Kahu

Up until 1966, only the trainer versions of the MB-326 had been active in Australia. 1966 saw CAC start construction of the armed versions of the aircraft, which would be known as Taipan in RAAF service and Kahu in the RNZAF.

Through most of 1965, experienced RAAF and RNZAF instructor pilots had been learning the ins and outs of the Prairie Rattler in Canada at RCAF Cold Lake.

In anticipation of the new version of the aircraft, upgrades were being made to the RAAF air weapons ranges at Evans Head, Salt Ash, and Learmonth.

An RNZAF instructor pilot recalls:

"Cold Lake was a great experience as we were working with a very international group of people. There were the Canadian and Italians running the training unit, along with guys from other NATO countries and some others. It was busy, but incredibly well organized.

Aside of the Canadians and Italians, there were also trainee instructor pilots from Germany and Mexico at the time were were there.

We were there for the full treatment. Not just to learn how to use the plane, but how to teach others to use it as well. Knowing the trainer version of the MB-326 was just the start for us, the Prairie Rattler had its own learning curve.

We arrived just as a group of Dutch pilots, both air force and navy, were graduating the course and getting ready to go home. For most of the time we were there, we shared the ramp with a training group made up mostly of Pilots from Germany and Austria.

Germany was already a user of the trainer version of the MB-326, and were working up on the armed version. Austria had committed to purchasing both trainer and armed versions in autumn of 1965 and were getting their first group of pilots ready for the armed version.

The Prairie Rattler was an eye-opener to us, it was surpizing that a refitted trainer could pack the sort of punch it did. Before we left for Canada, we were told that it was a "light attack" version. Once we got to know the aircraft, we could say that was a definite understatement. It was swift, responsive and accurate; it was the kind of aircraft you could confidently ruin someone else's day with.

The prairie Rattler had a more powerful version of the Viper engine and a substantially strengthened wing to carry a good weapons load. It also had larger wingtip tanks for a bit better range than the trainer.

The first time I put the throttle to full on a Prarie Rattler, I could feel the thrust difference from the trainer model immediately.

The trainer version was like a sports car,  the Prairie Rattler was Formula One by comparison!"
« Last Edit: August 03, 2025, 07:18:29 PM by upnorth »
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