Baldonnel visitor

[GoneToTheCanner]

Hi Tony
I seem to remember that, when a list of possible candidates was being drawn up to replace the King Airs as Maritime aircraft, the Atlantic was considered, along with such aircraft as the Hs748 Coastguarder and a King Air with a proper Maritime rig and an F-27.I think the Atlantic was rejected on the grounds that it was really an expensive sub-chaser rather than a "pure" maritime patroller.Not to mind the fact that it was in only limited production and was more military-orientated than the other candidates.If anyone has a photo of one in Baldonnel, it'd probably be Kevin Byrne.
regards
GttC

[Guinness]

Clog,

sounds like a plan.
We have to do it on a thursday than.

But Tony, Frank, GttC and others........
Shall I arrange a visit??

Guinness

[Tony Kearns]

Hi GttC,
I have no record of a Atlantic visiting Baldonnel, so I think we can consider it a first
A lot of people were trying to sell the Air Corps a Maritime Patrol aircraft. Checking through some of my files ( all filed under "C" for confusion) I have amongst the many , the HS748 Coastguarder on 10-3-77, a Nomad VH-AVN 26-10-76, Casa212 SE-IVG 1-9-88, Caravan N9698F 26-9-88 (possibly a FR172 replacement), DHC-8 G-GEDA 1-12-88, F27 G-SOFS a few visits by CN235's etc.The 748 never seemed to sell cannot recall if there was a user for maritime work.

Guinness Can't commit to a vist at this stage, but many thanks anyway.

[Tony Kearns]

The Scottish Fisheries F27 demo. aircraft was in a very nice scheme.
Regards to all,
Tony K

[GoneToTheCanner]

Hi Tony
I remember N9698F well, as I took quite a few pictures of it and had a good nose around it.I assisted in fitting the then-new Marchetti camera pods to it (as it was fitted with pylons) whilst Pearse Cahill of Iona clucked around like a particularly annoying hen! There was more than one visit by C212s over the years, especially SE-reg'd aircraft. Both good aircraft that the Don could well have used, and still could.
regards and best wishes for 2007.
GttC

[pym]

so the camera pods were made with a standard nato fit i assume..

is it possible they could be used on the pc-9's? or would they be outmoded by this stage?

[GoneToTheCanner]

Hi there
The pods had the standard 14-inch pick-ups, so, in theory, they could fit anything with a NATO pylon.They were, as far as I know, speed-limited to slower aircraft.As an example, the GPMG pods could be used on the Marchetti beyond the aircraft's Vne(Velocity Never Exceed) of 235 kts, which is pretty bloody quick, when you're diving at a beach at Gormo.In theory, they(the gunpods) could be fitted to a Fouga, which was good for 360 kts (work it out in MPH...as fast as a Spitfire!) but I don't know if they ever were.
regards
GttC

[Tony Kearns]

Hi GttC,
Never did get to see the Caravan, the one day I did go to Baldonnel it was at Gormansburgh. Any chance you could put a pic up on the forum if you still have them?
Best wishes for the New Year
Tony K

[Claudel Hopson]

The Marchetti Gun Pods were never fitted to the Fouga, whereas the Fouga Matra rocket pods were fitted and used by the Marchetti.

The "old" Marchetti Vinten Camera pods could be fitted to the PC9 but Pilatus has a strict licencing and certification with FOCA and adding the pods will affect the PC9's swiss certification as it would involve re-wiring and loads of testing by Pilatus before it can apply for change of certification, which would in turn cost more money than the pods are worth. This was teased out in an earlier post if memory serves me.

Anyway the pods are now no longer serviceable for different reasons that cant be gone into here.

[Fouga]

Quote (Claudel Hopson @ 30 Dec. 2006,12:03)

Fouga Matra rocket pods

I thought the rocket pods used were the SNEB rocket pods.