Quest for Egypt Air Force C295M tie-ups
The puzzle for the tie-ups of the delivered Al Quwwat al Jawwiya il Misriya (Egypt Air Force) C295M transport aircraft is almost solved. We are still missing two tie-ups.
On 4 February 2014, an Egypt Air Force C295M was photographed at Seville (Spain) with the full registration 1190/SU-BSH painted on the fuselage and construction number 111 on a large sticker. However, in October 2015, the 1190 was photographed at Cairo/Almaza (Egypt) with “civil” registration SU-BRP. A C295M with registration SU-BRP was already noted at Seville in October 2011, however this one was carrying construction number 083. Since October 2015 we assumed that c/n 111 was not delivered as 1190/SU-BSH, but we had no idea what happened to it.
On 19 May 2020, C295M 1184/SU-BSJ was photographed at Cairo/Almaza. Comparing the colour scheme of this aircraft with that of the 111 definitely showed a match. C/n 111 was delivered as EC-006 on 10 September 2014, with the serial taped over and so we assume, but are not 100% sure, that 111 was delivered as 1184/SU-BSJ.
Comparing images of c/n 083 and the 1190/SU-BRP proofs this is the same aircraft. Because we were still missing some tie-ups of other Egypt Air Force C295Ms we started to compare more photos and discovered that c/n 134 is 1180/SU-BSY and c/n 161 is 1198/SU-BTK.
For this moment we are still searching for photographic evidence of two C295s, one with c/n 102 and one with c/n 149. We know the missing serial is 1177/SU-BTF and it is almost certain that 1177 is c/n 149 and 1195 is c/n 102, but we need more proof, photoproof if possible. For c/n 102 we only have one sighting (Seville, March 2013 in primer) and no photos at all. So if anybody has photos of this aircraft we would like to receive them.
The Egypt Air Force ordered 24 C295M transporters, with the first aircraft (1190/SU-BRP, c/n 083) delivered in September 2011. The final C295M, serial 1199/SU-BTL (c/n 164) was delivered in December 2016. The C295M is used for military and humanitarian missions such as the transport of civilian and military personnel as well as support to populations in remote areas or in emergency situations. The transporters are operated by 8 Squadron at Cairo/Almaza.
Photos: Daniel Ablea (via JetPhotos.com) and Simon Butler