Basilisk

Most of you now ask, what the heck it a Philippine Air Force Tora Tora. For whatever reason, the North American AT-28D was called Tora Tora and not Trojan in the Philippines. The PhAF received over 50 T/AT-28Ds over the years and the 17th Attack Squadron under the 15th Strike Wing was the last unit operating the AT-28D untill late 1992. The last four AT-28D were used up to the end in front-line operation from the Tactical Advance Command Post at Cauayan Airport flying combat missions against CPP NPA rebels in the north of the Philippines. The four remaining aircraft had all different colour schemes in various state of decay. 54-77701 was the most attractive of the four in an all-black scheme with high-vis markings. It is always spectacular when an old Wright R-1820 Cyclone engine is started. In addition to the two gun-pods, there were two 500 and 260lb general purpose bombs fitted when flying combat missions against CPP NPA rebels. Trojan 4 was in the best condition of the four in its newly painted olive green, but lacked any kind of national markings. Undergoing an engine test before a test flight. 51-3644 was another black example, but with low-vis marking. Unfortunately, it was not serviceable during my visit. The fourth example was without any markings (part of a serial number were faintly visible under the paint) in a worn dark olive green finish. In addition to the two gun-pods and two 500 and 260lb general purpose bombs, this aircraft also carried a rack of 15 81mm cluster bombs. Ready for some fun. And we all made it back safely. This was my ride and if you look closely, you can see the backrest of the timber kitchen chair in the rear cockpit I was seated for the flight! The following pictures show the loading of a 500lb general purpose bomb. Fitting fuses to the bombs. And some close-up pictures of the armament. Spending two days with the Squadron was indeed a special experience for me. but also made me aware what military aircraft are designed for. Thanks for watching, Cheers, Peter

Thanks. Does make sense that they are names - or part of a name. Thanks. I actually feel that these images are a bit too cool. It is tricky to scan Kodachrome slides which has cool colours to start with, but also has sometimes some unpleasant magenta casts. and the silver aircraft do not help. The biggest challenge is to get the colours look more or less the same in a series of pictures as the hues on the original slides can be different from film to film. Changing temperature on a digital image should be straight forward as most image processing software have a temperature slider - yellow for warm and blue for cool. Thanks. The IAF had a "unique" approach on maintaining aircraft at the time and the condition of the paint wasn't part of it! I spent 6 weeks with them and flew in many aircraft types with up to 3 flights a day and never experienced any technical issues in all these flights in aircraft I flew with and aircraft I photographed. And as the Ajeets retired four months later, a repaint was no longer a priority. Cheers, Peter

The only thing crappy was the pay... The rest I certainly don't complain about. Unlikely, but there are at least three Ajeets in the US of A of which two are on static display. https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/model/HAL Ajeet F.1 https://www.historicalaircraftsquadron.org/project-folland-gnat.html#:~:text=At the present time%2C a,of The Royal Air Force. The IAF Historic flight had one airworthy HAL Gnat during my visit in late 1990, but unfortunately in a "fantasy" paint scheme. E265 is now on display in the IAF Museum at Palam (New Delhi), but most likely no longer airworthy as it is now mounted on a pole. https://www.jetphotos.com/registration/E265 Cheers, Peter

Indeed, but t that gives them lots of individuality! Thanks Martin. There is more to come. Thanks Steve. I flew in U460, a MiG-21U from No 8 Squadron "Eight Pursoots" as the Ajeet Traner wasn't airworthy at the time. I took this picture of U460 after the completion of the photo flight as a souvenir for myself. It was a lengthy flight as we met up with the four Ajeets as shown here, but also with four Hunters and three MiG-21FL. Pleasure, glad you like them. I am glad they are appreciated. Indeed none are alike. Also of interest is the difference in the fin flashes. the single seaters have a fin flash with a narrower white center strip, but they are all equally spaced on the trainer. Cheers, Peter

After photographing two HAL Ajeets from No.2 Squadron "Winged Arrows" at Ambala Air Force station, I received the go-ahead for a second Indian Air Force visit six weeks later which included a visit at Kalaikunda Air Force Station, the home of the "Winged Arrows" and also the home of the last Hawker Hunters from HOFTU (Hunter Operational Flying Training Unit) and TTF (Target Towing Flight) and MiG-21FL from No.8 Squadron "Eight Pursoots". Seeing the flightline of five Ajeet Mk.I and one of only three Ajeet Mk.II Trainer at Kalaikunda was beyond my expectations and I had no idea that the last Ajeet flight occurred only four month later. Each aircraft had a unique paint scheme and of interest is the substantially longer fuselage of the Trainer (by 1.4m). The brake chute is as tine as the aircraft! E1979 still exists and is currently preserved at the Faculty of Aeronautical Engine at Hyderabad. E1997 had an interesting "Aggressor" tail marking. This aircraft also had the blade areal behind the cockpit like E1996. E2022 was in the standard silver scheme, but unlike E1979, also had the #2 on the rudder. Of interest are the names SENGER on E2022 and MURALI on E2024 which are only on the port side applied. E2024 had an interesting "Aggressor" marking and a white squadron batch on the nose. E2035 was another Ajeet in a camouflage scheme applied over the silver finish like E1996. The Ajeet Mk.II Trainer was unfortunately not airworthy when I visited Kalaikunda, but a start-up procedure gave some nice photo opportunity. Of interest is that the No.18 Squadron "Flying Bullets" marking are still visible on the starboard side underneath the newly applied No.2 Squadron "Winged Arrows" squadron batch, but have been completely removed on the port side! If you don't have enough by now, there are more Ajeet pictures from Ambala and Kalaikunda in my flickr Album. Thanks for looking and I hope these pictures are of interest to some. Cheers, Peter

Thanks Colin. It was indeed a great experience to fly in the already then vintage T-33. Thanks. I am glad you like them. Thanks. Does anyone know a source which lists T-33 serial numbers and users? I would love to find out who were the previous owners of these FAE T-birds and what happened to them. Cheers, Peter

Thanks, and who knows we may see a model finished in these colours. Thanks Mark. For Scanning I use a Canon FS4000US scanner scanning at 4000 DPI together with VueScan as the Canon software doesn't work on Windows 10. Unfortunately, there isn't just one software to get these results. I use Photoshop for colour correction, ON1 Photo RAW to denoise and sharpen the image. Then again Photoshop to tidy up the image and finetune the colours and contrast followed by slight sharpening in Topaz Photo AI of the aircraft only and then again using photoshop to downscale and sharpen for the JPG file. This normally takes between 30 to 60 minutes. But I enjoy doing it as I finally can enhance the original pictures the way I like them as Kodachrome's colour weren't always perfect. Indeed, the T-33 nose is the perfect canvas for a sharkmouth. Of interest is that they are all slightly different and also some have painted on gills in the air intake duct! Glad you like them. Cheers, Peter

I visited the Fuerza Aérea Ecuatoriana (FAE) during June 1989, being able to take many pictures at various locations. Compared to now with only 18 A-29B Super Tucano's operated by two squadrons in the combat role, things looked very different 35 years ago when the FAE operated A37, AT-33, Strikemaster, Jaguar, Mirage F-1 and Kfir! ALA de Combate 23 (Air Wing 23) was based at Base Aérea Eloy Alfaro near the town of Manta on the Pacific coast and operated three squadrons of which Escuadrón de Combate 2312 was the largest of the three with over 20 Lockheed AT-33 T-Birds and some T-33 on its strength. FAE620 and 625 are two of the T-33s. FAE604 was fitted with rocket tubes. FAE-919 was one of the older airframes still in use. The squadron was very active during my visit. Also got some T-bird rides. Not the best aircraft to take air to air pictures as the wingtip tank is a pain in the but when taking pictures. And flying at 20000 feet and showing its teeth with the peak of mount Chimborazo, Ecuador's highest mountain standing at 6263 meters, as the backdrop. Two T-Birds look better than one. And four look better than two. And the "Manpower" who made it all possible. If you like to see more FAE T-33 pictures, there more in my flickr Album. Thanks for looking and I hope the pictures are of interest to some. Cheers, Peter

Found three more pictures from my Adampur visit when sorting out slides. Not the best picture, but it shows the massive size of the aircraft's engine. Cheers, Peter

Thank you all, and I am glad you like them. So hopefully your Ajeet build will be completed one day. Several of these pictures had been published during the 90s in various publications and some did end up on the web. Cheers, Peter

Some great shots! I especially like the take-off pictures. Cheers, Peter

The Indian Air Force performed a 10-ship formation in mid-October 1990 containing the 10 different combat jets in service at the time and flew two Ajeets from their home base Kalaikunda in West Bengal all the way to Ambala Air Force station close to the Pakistan border for one of them to participate in this 10-ship formation! The HAL Ajeet was a derivative of the Folland Gnat and No.2 Squadron "Winged Arrows" was the last squadron flying the type until April 1991 - so I was very lucky seeing the type still in action. When delivered from HAL, the Ajeet was in a bare-metal finish as was the case with E1974. In flight as seen from an Antonov An-32. No crew ladder needed to get of the Ajeet! After all, the saying goes that the Gnat/Ajeet was the only combat jet you strapped on and not in... The second example at Ambala was camouflaged - or what was left of it! It doesn't look to be factory applied as all the stencils are masked out. I am not sure why the No.2 Squadron batch on this aircraft was yellow and not white. Maybe the squadron had two flights? E1996 flew originally with No.18 Squadron "Flying Bullets" until 1989 after which it transferred to No.2 Squadron and the letters Flying and Bullets are still visible in front and after the yellow circle. Also of interest is the location of the blade antenna which is located behind the cockpit on E1996 and below the nose on E1974. And together with Ajeet E1051 from the Frozen tear' War Memorial in the background and as far as I know, E1051 is still there today. Fortunately, the opportunity presented itself to take some in flight pictures of the pair from a Jaguar IB flying up north to the Himalayan foothills. And together with another "classic" British jet. The whereabouts of E1974 is unknown, but there is an E1996 on display at Tejgaon in Bangladesh which could be the same aircraft I photographed in 1990. If you don't have enough by now, there are more Ajeet pictures in my flickr Album. I was able to visit Kalaikunda Air Force station six weeks later and will cover that event in Part 2. Thanks for looking and I hope these pictures are of interest to some. Cheers, Peter

Thanks for your kind words, but the accolade of the best aviation photographer surely goes to Katsu Tokunaga! The quality of my scans is only possible due to the power of today's processing software. I am still learning the art and I am often stunned what can be done. But it is a time-consuming process, taking me around 30 minutes for each picture. As my work covers mainly smaller air forces, they are unfortunately somewhat of a niche topic with limited interest, but who knows, it may happen one day.

Good to hear that you all like the pictures and thanks for your kind words. Yes, there was an incident in September 1973 when attacking some targets in the capital Santiago. You can find more on this LINK which is a good primer on the FACh Hunter operations.

Chile received 21 Hawker Hunter FGA Mk.71 (which was based on the FGA Mk.9) in 1967, and additional Hunter orders followed over the years and they saw service with Grupo's 7, 8 and 9. Grupo 8 was the last unit operating the Hunter until 1995 from Base Aérea Cerro Moreno near Antofagasta and I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days with the unit in March 1989. At the time, most active Hunters had been upgraded under the Águila (eagle) program which incorporated updated avionics, a standardized cockpit layout and a rear warning radar Caiquén II plus additional armament capabilities. Modified aircraft can be easily recognized by the RWR antennas on the tail. FGA Mk.71 Águila 708 was former Dutch F Mk.6 N-276 and was in Chilean service since February 1968 Here with a range of hardware it can carry. And in various angles on the ramp. Of interest is that aircraft with the Grupo 8 patch on the nose had it only on the port side. And during taxiing, they used an air intake cover to stop FOD. The same aircraft excellently flown by Capitán (A) Sr. Duncan Silva during a very low flypast! And back on terra firma. FR Mk.71A Águila 715 was former RAF F Mk.6 XK148 and was delivered in July 1968. Here during an engine test run. This aircraft was freshly painted and still without the Grupo 8 patch on the nose. of interest is also the white air intake I have only seen on this aircraft. FGA Mk.71 725 was former RAF F Mk.6 XF512 and was delivered in March 1971. This aircraft never received the Águila upgrade. Part of FGA Mk.71 Águila 728 which was former RAF F Mk.6 XE644 and was delivered in July 1971. FGA Mk.71 Águila 729 was former RAF F Mk.6 XE625 and was also delivered in July 1971. FGA Mk.71 Águila 731 was former RAF F Mk.4 WT801 and was delivered in September 1973. The desert climate at Antofagasta can be very corrosive and the aircraft need to be washed from time to time. FGA Mk.71 Águila 732 was former RAF F Mk.4 XF323 and was also delivered in September 1973. FR Mk.71A Águila 734 was former RAF F Mk.4 XF317 and was delivered in January 1974. FR Mk.71A Águila 735 was former RAF F Mk.4 WV326 and was also delivered in January 1974. Even though delivered as a FR version, it does have the FGA nose fitted here! T Mk.72 Águila 736 was former RAF F Mk.6 XE704/XE688 and was delivered in February 1974. This aircraft was sold to EMBRAER in 2000 and flew in Brasil in 2001 as PP-XHH. T Mk.72 Águila 718 was former Hawker owned Mk.66A G-APUX and was delivered in 1967. An air-to-air sortie was planned with this aircraft, and I was warned that it all depends on the serviceability of the old girl. Fortunately, I was lucky and I experianced a very memorable flight in this aircraft. Always fun flying low. Pictures from the left don't work too well on a side-by-side seating arrangement when seated in the right seat. But it worked well to the right. Here FR Mk.71A Águila 734 during a pull-up. And four Hunters (229, 740, 734 and 732) in a left echelon formation. And 740, 734 and 732 commencing a belly turn. (Actually 728 is there too but hidden by 740 and 734). And the four aircraft in a line abreast formation. And during a fan peel-off. Note the wrap around leading edge camouflage on 728 and 732 and the variations in the light grey colours plus the oil stains - a modelers nightmare! and the picture back on the ramp after the successful flight. Chile received several FGA Mk.9s and 747 was former RAF FGA Mk.9 XF376 and was delivered in May 1982. These FGA Mk.9s were never upgraded and flew for a relatively short time and ended as source of spare parts. I hope I didn't bore you too much with so many Hunter pictures, but it is one of my favored aircraft. Let me close with this picture I took in the Grupo 8 crew room. If interested in the Chilean Hunters, there is an excellent book on them. https://www.amazon.com/First-Hawker-Hunter-Chilean-Force/dp/1387508792/ Thanks for looking and I hope these pictures are of interest to some. Cheers, Peter