Hello all,
Wow, we needed that sleep.... When waking up we saw a very misty Graz outside, which didn't make us happy obviously. We started the day at the local airfield.
Graz
J-3030 F-5E FlRgt 2, 2 st
J-3041 F-5E FlRgt 2, 2 st
Three more Tigers were present under the QRA sheds, but due to the fog those couldn't be read off. Both of us did see two Tigers during a quick visit in 2005, and those were exactly the same two. A chance of some 1.5%, brilliant.... As things looked hopeless here we quickly left for Zeltweg.
Zeltweg
3A-CO L-19A pr
(18 ) J.35OE std, no tail (serial from Perry Dirkx log, snow on the wings prevented it form reading off)
25 J.35D pr, real id SweAF 35339
And that was all! Like Graz the whole airbase was covered with fog, and nothing moved apart from many trucks on the airfield. We waited about an hour, but as things didn't improve a bit we decided to move on again. Next were two small airfields, Timmersdorf (where nothing ex-mil was seen) and Trieben.
Trieben
I-KGKM SA.315B c/n 1241/48, see below
OE-5034 L-13 (c/n 026150), not ex mil?
The Lama is a bit of a problem. Searching on the registration I found ex F-GIBB and Jordanian AF 318, but both seem to be an Alouette III and not a II. But the c/n listings I find all give Alouette III with c/n 1241 as I-KGKM, which obviously can't be right as this definately was a Lama. Who can help me out here please??
Not too far from here is the Austrian helicopter base Aigen.
Aigen im Ennstal
SA.316B (FlRgt 2, 2 st): 3E-KM, 3E-KS, 3E-KU and 3E-KX.
We got stuck in the snow on the road running along the fence here! We spent some two hours of digging snow with a tripod and our bare hands without result, but luckily a guy at the airbase noticed our situation and came with a jeep to pull us out. The good thing was that we were able to photograph three Alouettes here, all nicely in the sun (which was shining here unlike at the first stops). And I also made my first new operational aircraft of the trip here; 3E-KM with the nice orange windows was new for both of us!
Just a little further west along the road is the little airfield of Niederoblarn. Here again things looked deserted, but we heard a radio playing in the hangar and waited for someone to appear. This finally happened, and we were very welcome to look around.
Niederoblarn
OE-APA PA.18-150 (c/n 18-8872) civil only?
OE-0739 L-13 c/n 173219, civil only?
OE-0758 L-13 c/n 173311, civil only?
D-ELOF PA.18-135 (c/n 18-2490) civil only?
NL-971 Tiger Moth I D-EDEM (this used to be PH-III, which Frank actually worked on....)
N11FX TAH-1F ex ??
Our target here was the Tiger Moth, which was in the hangar. A nice bonus was the red Bull Cobra, which we both had not seen before. I understand this has been constructed from a wrecked cabin, with the help of (a lot of) new parts. But I can't find the id of that wreck on the net! I guess it must have been a military one, since I never heard of civilian Cobras, so I would be very interested in the background.
As it was already late afternoon by now we wouldn't be able to get to Bad Ischl on time to see something (only some 45 minutes of daylight left....), so we decided to drive to Salzburg and look up the Red Bull collection here which should be open for visitors till 22:00 h.
Salzburg
outside:
D-IADM Alpha Jet ex 41+11
D-IBDM Alpha Jet ex 41+30
hangar 7:
(96995)/RB-37 F4U-4 (OE-EAS)
138179/BA T-28B (OE-ASA)
OE-AFK PA.18 (c/n 18-2415) civil only?
OE-CDM PA.18 (c/n 18-09019) civil only?
N6123C B-25J ex 44-86893
hangar 8:
(N11FX) TAH-1F (flew here just after we left Niederoblarn)
(D-HEBA) TH-13H ex 66-8075
(N996DM) DC-6B ex Zambia AF 110
(40+50) Alpha Jet pr, nose
D-IBDM Alpha Jet spares, ex 41+32
D-???? Alpha Jet ?
The two Alpha Jets outside looked like the real thing. Very annoying that they have two more aircraft in the same c/s and with the same registration, which are only used for spares. There was one more Alpha jet in hangar 8, in the smae c/s, but this was half hidden behind other aircraft and could not be read off. Unfortunately they are supposed to have three more, so we will never know which on ethis was I guess....
others:
OE-LBC C-47A pr, ex 42-93189
OE-AHx Yak-50? ex mil? (last digit not visible)
The Yak was at the other side of the road, where some general aviation aircraft were parked. I can't find any registration for it, help! Next to it were also three former BGS Pumas stored (D-HAXL, D-HAXP (white c/s) and D-HAXT).
Hangar 8 is not open for public, but since the front is made of glass you can see most inmates easily. We were told that there might be a possibility to photograph the aircraft there anyway if we came back tomorrow morning, so we decided to find a hotel in Salzburg and come back here.
As always any comments, additions and corrections are very welcome.
That's all folks!
Frank Mink & Patrick Dirksen
Tristar Aviation
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