Delivery of Afghan Air Force A-29B Tucano
On 23 August 2020, after a 24 hour delay, four Afghan Air Force Embraer A-29B Tucanos were delivered via Prestwick (UK) with call-signs Raven81-84. The aircraft arrived from Reykjavik (Iceland) around 13:00 hrs LT and departed after one hour to Nice (France). The four aircraft were accompanied by Dornier Do328 D-CAAN (msn 3061) operated by 328 Support Services. It is expected the aircraft will continue to Luxor (Egypt) on Monday 24 August 2020.
In total 26 A-29Bs were delivered to the 81st FS/14th FTW at Moody AFB (GA) for training Afghan pilots. Twenty aircraft were delivered between March 2015 and December 2016, one Tucano crashed in the USA on 6 March 2017.
An additional order for six aircraft was delivered from April 2018. Fourteen aircraft were already transferred to Afghanistan, of which one aircraft crashed in Afghanistan on 9 July 2020.
Untill last week, eleven aircraft were still in use with the 81st FS at Moody. The four aircraft delivered today via Prestwick are:
13-2003, 13-2005, 13-2011 and 13-2016. The future Afghan serials were taped over, but on 13-2011 the serial YA1511 was visible.
The seven Tucanos still in use with the 81st FS are: 13-2001, 13-2002, 13-2019, 13-2020, 17-2030, 17-2031 and 17-2032.
All photos: Dougie Connery