WIX Archives
I guess that I'm kinda partial to the C-17...More RAF info
Posted by bdk on Wed Jan 30, 2002 01:06:11 PM
In reply top Re: Tornados flown to Falklands inside C-17s posted by david J burke on Tue Jan 29, 2002 05:40:30 PM
The U.K. RAF has begun ?flying? Tornado fighter jets to the Falkland Islands in a novel ?piggyback? operation that is expected to save thousands of pounds sterling. Four RAF Tornado F3 air defence aircraft are based in the Falkland Islands and have to be rotated from Britain, two at a time, every six months, a task which used to involve a complex and expensive flight plan. To get two Tornados 8,000 miles to the Falklands, the RAF has had to send at least six other aircraft to accompany them, providing back-up fuel, spares and search and rescue capability. The whole mission takes four days and many hundreds of tons of fuel. Now the RAF has turned to its newest aircraft, the C-17 to take over the job. With its wings removed, each Tornado is put into the belly of a C-17 which, with its strategic range, can fly to Ascension Island and on to the Falklands in less than half the time and without any accompanying aircraft. The technique is producing savings that had not even been imagined when the government decided to go ahead with leasing C-17s, four of which have been leased for seven years from The Boeing Company
: I think the Antonov An-124 is also capable of this feat !
: I remember dismantling Harrier GR.3's for the Belize which
: involved them being transported in a Hercules one at a ti
: me with a nice 'jolly' for the support personnel and the a
: bility to bring home duty free - I am sure the Globemaster
: is more capable than the Hercules - certainly it must be
: more comfortable !