LOG trip Germany and Switzerland (ops and W&R) => Swiss part

[patrick dirksen]

Hi all,

After the short trip to Germany last week, we had another short trip planned, this time mainly passing through Germany on the way to Switzerland. In the end I took a day off one day earlier, so we could see the arrivals of the APROC exercise at Gilze-Rijen as well.

As always, everything in the log is actually read off unless between (brackets). And I post this on multiple lists, so please ignore the bits you’re not interested in…

As said, we spent Tuesday (22-5) at Gilze-Rijen. As this has been widely reported, I won’t repeat the activities here, it’s enough to say we had a nice day. We then drove through Germany on the way to Switzerland. The German part is reported in the appropriate part of this forum, see http://forum.scramble.nl/viewtopic.php?f=74&t=138579. So we'll continue at:

Pratteln (23-5)

5210 MiG-21MF pr, c/n plate in nose wheel bay has 5210

The first location in Switserland. This is not a Military Megastore (anymore), but is called Ranger Store. Most important for us however is that the former Czech AF MiG is still there! It is outside on the parking lot, so it can also be seen (and photographed) outside office hours.

Bern-Belp (23-5)

T-331 AS.532UL nn
T-352 EC.135P2+ no badge
HB-UUH Bu.131B c/n 76 (ex A-63)

Our main target here was T-352, as this was one of only two Eurocopters we still needed, and being a VIP version it’s difficult to catch. So you can imagine we were very happy when they put this one outside just after we had arrived!
The Bucker lives in a private hangar, and although it was already late and the tower had said there was nobody present to show it to us anymore, by coincidence we ran into the owner when we were about to leave. He was more than happy to show the Bucker to us and also confirmed L-18C HB-PRT (ex BAF L-10) is still at the airport. This was in another hangar though where he didn’t have access to, so one for another time. The guy was an enthusiast himself, and also showed us his 1929 Travelair NC645H (so 89 years old and still flying!) and Swift N90341. After this he invited us to follow him to Thun, where he was restoring two more oldies.

Thun (23-5)

(A-9) Bu.131B u. rest (HB-UUD)

This is completely dismanteled for a full rebuild, and will get its Swiss AF markings back. The civil serial will be applied in yellow, so it won’t stand out on the yellow skin of the aircraft, for which special permission has been granted. Also here is Erla 5 HB-SEX, with c/n 14. This is nearing its first post-restoration flight after 18 years of hard and meticulous work.
During the day we had been very lucky with the weather, but here we had to sprint inside because of a very heavy shower. It stayed like this during the rest of the evening and made our journey through the mountains to the next destinations ‘interesting’.

Ried (23-5)

J-17(46) Venom FB.54 pr, no mks

This is in a back garden, almost overgrown. Since it wasn’t in a decent position for a photograph anyway and it was still raining cats and dogs, we didn’t even get out of the car…. After seeing it, it was time to find some late dinner and then continue to our Gästhaus for the coming two nights.
Next morning we had a visit with ZFlSt 12 at Emmen, the reason for this trip in the first place.

Emmen (24-5)

PC-6 (all with LTST 7 badge): V-613, 618, 619, 623, 635
PC-7: A-912, 913, 914, 915, 916, 917, 919, 924, 925, 926, 928, 929, 930, 931, 934, 936, 938, 939, 940, 941
PC-9: C-405, 407, 411
PC-21: A-101, 103, 106, 107
EC.635: T-354, 355, 357, 370

J-3055 F-5E nn
J-3083 F-5E Patrouille Suisse
J-3085 F-5E Patrouille Suisse
(J-3201) F-5F arr, serial from flight plan
J-5007 F/A-18C no mks
R-711 Da.42 no mks
T-337 AS.532UL no mks
T-741 DHC-6 -300 BFLT
J-4070 Hunter F.58 pr, no mks

A fruitfull visit obviously. Unlike recent reports, ZFlSt 12 still has 6 PC-9s available, but only three were home. T-354 had ‘Guarda di Confine’ titles. Apart from the excellent visit with 12 Staffel, the Twin Otter and Diamond were the highlights of the day and probably the trip. There were no less than 6 F-5s in the first three boxes next to the viewing area, but the reflecting windows prevented them from being read off unfortunately. And we didn’t even try to look at the aircraft in the storage hangar on the other side of the road. Also present during the day was Da.42 HB-LZR, which was handled at the military platform, apparently this flies for the AF as well.

Happy with the results here we thought we’d try our luck at Alpnach, but that was less good for us than Emmen.

Alpnach (24-5)

EC.635: T-354, 360, 362, 364, 365
AS.332: T-317

Plus a helicopter with a very large LTST 6 badge on the side, seen through the windows inside the hanger furthest to the right. It looked like an Aloutte, but was very difficult to see. We were hoping to catch our last EC.635 and/or Super Puma here, but no luck. With the windows in ‘full reflect mode’ and all hangars being shut just after we arrived, we quickly moved on.

Stans-Buochs (24-5)

Hangar on airfield:
A-102 PC-21 no mks
A54-024 PC-21 Roulettes
A54-025 PC-21 Roulettes
(A54-026) PC-21 primer, c/n 259
(A54-027) PC-21 primer, c/n 260
(A54-028) PC-21 primer, c/n 261
(A54-029) PC-21 primer, c/n 262
1178 PC-21 Jordan AF
(1179) PC-21 Jordan AF, c/n 292 on board
(?) PC-21 primer fuselage, c/n 158

Maintenance hangar :
578/AH PC-7 DGA
665 PC-9M Bulgarian AF
260 PC-9M Irish Air corps
L-04 PC-7 KLu
L-09 PC-7 KLu

New PC-24 hangar:
(02) PC-21 HB-HVB, French AF
(09) PC-21 HB-HVI, French AF
(16) PC-21 HB-HVP, French AF

The old wooden hangar was a disaster in the fading light, but the rest we managed to read off. Anybody for the story about fuselage c/n 158?
It had been a long and tiring day, with lots of sunshine and heat, so we really longed for a meal and drink, which we found at a good restaurant almost on the airfield here. After that all that was left was the drive back to our Gästhaus. Next morning we came back for the wooden hangar though.

Stans-Buochs (25-5)

Wooden hangar:
10 PC-21 HB-HVJ, French AF
11 PC-21 HB-HVK, French AF
12 PC-21 HB-HVL, French AF
(A54-0)21 PC-21 HB-HWU, Roulettes
(A54-0)22 PC-21 Roulettes
(A54-023?) PC-21 Roulettes
(G-ETPB) PC-21 HB-HYY, ETPS

It still was very difficult to read off the stuff inside, the above was a combination of what we read off yesterday evening, this morning when they were pulled out the hangar and what could be seen from the side through the open doors. There were more Australian aircraft inside, we think we read off HB-HWT and HWQ (read off as D or O) as well. Recent logs for comparison would be helpful of course.

Alpnach (25-5)

EC.635: T-351 (with RUAG), 362, 369
AS.332: T-313
AS.532: (T-342) (with RUAG, from board)

Another try for the two helicopters, but again no luck unfortunately. Despite the nice weather, all hangars were closed. Inside the RUAG part also an Alouette II (or Lama) was seen, plus two more Pumas/Cougars. It was time for a decision, and we decided not to stay around here but gamble on Payerne. The weather was good, and if we hurried we should be able to make it before the morning mission would be back.

Payerne (25-5)

AS.532UL: T-332, 335
F/A-18C: J-5001, 5002, 5005, 5006, 5008, 5011, 5013, 5015, 5016, 5019, 5021, 5023, 5025
F/A-18D: J-5232, 5233, 5238
PC-7: A-917
Hawk, Red Arrows: XX177, 188, 219, 242, 244, 245, 278, 310, 311, 322, 325

Preserved Mirage 3s J-2323 and J-2334 are still present. And the gamble paid off: we finally got J-5019, our last Swiss Hornet for years and years! Being able to photograph in the sun the returning aircraft from the Tiger Meet, with J-5011 in full tiger markings and 5005 and 5023 with tiger tanks, was a nice bonus. And the locals were also happy with the arrival of the Red Arrows, who made a spectacular break before coming in one by one. They had a meeting with the team of Patrouille Suisse apparently. All but XX244 cary special RAF 100 markings. By then it was midday, and with no news on a possible support aircraft for the Reds and the Swiss air force having lunch, we decided to start making our way back. We did take a quick look at the local museum of course though.

Payerne museum (25-5)

A-908 PC-7 pr, no mks
J-1156 Vampire FB.6 pr outside, no mks
J-1157 Vampire FB.6 pr, no mks
(J-15)84 Venom FB.50 pr, nn
J-2012 Mirage 3DS pr, no mks, still flyable (HB-RDF)?
J-2301 Mirage 3S pr, no mks
J-3057 F-5E pr, nn
J-4078 Hunter F.58 pr, 5 Esc mks
J-4203 Hunter T.68 pr (HB-RVW), FlSt 24 mks
R-2117 Mirage 3RS pr, FlSt 10 mks
U-1211 Vampire T.55 pr, no mks
V-43 SA.313 pr, no mks
V-282 SA.316B pr, unknown mks

No sign of the nose section of Mirage 3 J-2312, that used to be here, but seeing photos on the www I think this was hidden from view looking through the windows. At the back of the museum is what seems to be the middle or rear fuselage of a MiG-21. It was covered, but we could see it’s in a grey c/s and has some eastern European stencilling on it. Whether this implies they also have the cockpit of it, I don’t know…. No sign yet of the Finnish Hawk that is expected according to EMOOS by the way.

We then returned home via Germany, so see the other topic for that part at http://forum.scramble.nl/viewtopic.php?f=74&t=138579.

And that concludes the trip. We can call it a successful one, with our last Swiss F/A-18 and EC.135 seen, plus our last (and only) DHC-6 and Da.42 and the last-but-one PC-9. And Switzerland is still a photographers paradise of course.

As always, comments, additions and corrections are welcome.

That’s all folks!

Frank Mink & Patrick Dirksen
Tristar Aviation

[Alpha Kilo One]

Not too bad at all....!