RSAF museum Riyadh (Saudi Arabia)

[patrick dirksen]

Hi all,

A recent visit to Saudi Arabia for the World Defense Show could not be complete without visiting the Saudi AF museum of course.

Saqr Al-Jazeera Aviation Museum, Riyadh

Outside:
“612” A-26B pr, no mks, ex 302?
450 C-54A pr, no mks
460 C-130H pr, no mks
(??) C-130 pr, cockpit, no mks, see below
131 Ce.310K pr, no mks, real id?
802 CeF.172G *pr, no mks, c/n 0308
804 CeF.172G pr, no mks
“1315” F-15B pr, no mks (ex USAF 71-0291)
507 F-86F pr, no mks, ex 709?
120 SH-3D pr, no mks, c/n 6108, ex 123 acc to c/n plate
121 SH-3D pr, no mks, c/n 6106, ex 1413 acc to c/n plate
2124 Hawk mk.65 pr, 21 sq mks, Saudi Hawks c/s, ex 3762 (and 8814)
2131 Hawk mk.65 pr, 21 sq mks, ex 3754
230 Lightning T.55 pr, no mks (also ex 55-716)
1109 Strikemaster mk.80 pr, no mks, real id? (allegedly w.o. in 1979!)
1123 Strikemaster mk.80A pr, no mks
206 T-6 pr, no mks => subtype ?
786 T-33A pr, no mks, real id ?
1510 T-33A *pr, no mks (used to be on spot of Hawks)
(??) T-33A pr, no mks
2915 Tornado ADV pr, no mks
228 Vampire FB.52 pr, no mks
HZ-105 BAe.125-800A *pr, no mks
HZ-109 BAe.125-800B pr, no mks
HZ-110 BAe.125-800B *pr, no mks
HZ-130 BAe.125-800B *pr, no mks

Inside:
“1220” AB.206A pr, no mks, c/n 8068, ex 1410
1437 AB.212 pr, no mks (real id 1429?)
SA-R-1 C-47B pr, HZ-SARI (also ex 44-76318)
- Ca.100 pr (I-BIZZ), no mks (ex MM56271, not real Saudi)
600 DHC-1 pr, no mks
1504 F-5E pr, no mks
5518 F-86F pr, no mks
“60-602” Hunter F.60 pr, no mks (ex RAF Hunter FGA.9 XJ634)
(52-)610 Lightning F.52 pr, no mks (ex also 52-656)
1127 Strikemaster mk.80A pr, no mks
91-713 AT-6B pr, no mks, real id ?
713 T-28A pr, no mks
619 T-34A pr, no mks, real id ? T-34E acc to museum
34470 TE-1B pr, no mks, also 34470 on call plate
541 Vampire FB.52 pr, no mks, real id, or 514?

Storage:
(2910) Tornado ADV std, on belly, markings painted over
HZ-NC1 Maule std, civil only ?

Information on the www regarding opening times seemed to differ on almost every website I checked. We went here in the morning and were told the museum opens at 16 h, but after a quick phonecall the guard let us in after all. A really nice museum, with more aircraft than expected and especially the inside displays looking very neat. Only downside is quite a few aircraft seem to carry false markings and real identities are often not known.
The ones marked with * are parked on a separate platform, and seem to be overflow, possible to be used as exchange material. The C-130 cockpit is in use as a flight simulator by the look of it, and seemed real. Unfortunately it was closed, so we couldn’t check for a call plate of c/n plate. Possibly one of the crashed ones got converted, any info would be welcome. Finally inside were also a Wapiti IIA and DH.9, both believed to be a mock up.
Regarding units, what squadrons did fly the T-28 and the TE-1B Buckaroo? And did the F-86 fly with 5 sq or 55 sq (or both)? Did 7 squadron fly the T-33 as well, apart from 15 sq? And the same question for the Vampire, did 2 sq fly those as well apart from 5 sq?

By the way, a log of the World defense show can be found here https://www.scramble.nl/community/messa ... /18/174164.
And a short log of the IAP is here: https://www.scramble.nl/community/messa ... /82/174166

[BennoT6]

Hi Patrick,

Unfortunately former identities of the T-6s, both those inside and outside, are unknown.

Saudia-Arabia, at least, had AT-6 (2), AT-6A (4), AT-6B (3), SNJ-3 (1) and SNJ-4 (2)

Regards,

Benno

[patrick dirksen]

Thanks Benno. We checked the cockpit of the one outside (the canopy is blacked out but we could get a hand with a phone inside as the canpoy wasn't fully closed). However no c/n plate of call plate or anything else useful was found unfortunately.