Springtime In Provence
With a daughter nearing the end of a year as an “assistante” at a school in
Flew from
Stansted to
My flight was due in 45 minutes ahead of John’s which meant that after quickly noting based Ecureil 1756/JCH and EC145 F-ZBPO I had time to collect a car and drive to Nimes just in time to see him land. First item on the agenda was then a pre-arranged visit to the Securite Civile:-
LFTW
NIMES-GARONS 5.4.07:
Noted here with the Echelon Central Groupement d'Helicopteres were:-
EC145C2s F-ZBPA, F-ZBPK, F-ZBPM, F-ZBPN, F-ZBPY, F-ZBPZ, F-ZBQB.
Alouette IIIs F-ZBAN, F-ZBDJ.
‘QB was
being prepared for shipment to Guadaloupe (presumably to replace ’QC) and left
by road on 6.4 for
With the French show season coming up, it may be helpful to list the current allocations of the Securite Civile EC145 fleet (though I seem to have ‘lost’ ‘PF). These change as the aircraft come up for servicing, unlike the Gendarmerie fleet which are permanent allocations to their base, however this gives a good indication as to what should be where for the next few weeks/months:-
F-ZBPA |
Nimes |
F-ZBPB |
W/o 5.6.06 |
F-ZBPC |
W/o 20.7.03 |
F-ZBPD |
Perpignan |
F-ZBPE |
Ajaccio |
F-ZBPF |
|
F-ZBPG |
Pau |
F-ZBPH |
Grenoble |
F-ZBPI |
Clermont Ferrand |
F-ZBPJ |
Annecy |
F-ZBPK |
Nimes (overhaul) |
F-ZBPL |
Le Havre |
F-ZBPM |
Nimes (overhaul) |
F-ZBPN |
Nimes (overhaul) |
F-ZBPO |
Montpellier |
F-ZBPP |
Lorient |
F-ZBPQ |
Marignane |
F-ZBPR |
Bastia |
F-ZBPS |
Strasbourg |
F-ZBPT |
Granville |
F-ZBPU |
Lille |
F-ZBPV |
La Rochelle |
F-ZBPW |
Paris |
F-ZBPX |
Quimper |
F-ZBPY |
Nimes |
F-ZBPZ |
Nimes (overhaul) |
F-ZBQA |
Cannes |
F-ZBQB |
Guadaloupe |
F-ZBQC |
Guadaloupe |
F-ZBQD |
Besancon |
F-ZBQE |
Lyon |
F-ZBQF |
Bordeaux |
Dumped here is ex ALAT Alouette III 1575 which used to serve as a spares “Christmas tree”. Recently mounted at the gate is Securite Civile example F-ZBAF (c/n 1075) whilst F-ZBDC (c/n 1435) sits derelict. Stored next to the civil terminal is ex Gabon Government DC-8 TR-LTZ.
Stored over on the Aeronavale side are Alizes 49, 50, 52, 53, 55, 56 and 59. More active were Xingus 65, 67, 68 and 56S Nord 262Es 52, 63, 70 and 71.
Preserved
here are C-47 87, Alize 5 and
LFML
MARSEILLE-MARIGNANE 5.4.07:
I don’t normally make a habit of lingering at civil airports, but Marseille has lots to offer being the main water bomber base for the Securite Civile and also being the home of a Eurocopter factory:-
Securite Civile:
Turbo Firecat: |
F-ZBAZ/01, F-ZBEY/07, F-ZBEH/20, F-ZBAA/22, F-ZBCZ/23 |
CL415s: |
F-ZBFX/34, F-ZBFV/37, F-ZBEG/39, F-ZBEU/42, F-ZBME/44, F-ZBMF/45 |
DHC-8Q-400MR: |
F-ZBMD/74 |
King Air: |
F-ZBFJ/98, F-ZBFK/96, F-ZBMB/97 |
EC145C2: |
F-ZBPQ |
Good
to catch two new CL415s but a shame the other Dash-8 was not around as the Sec
Civ are having problems with these and they may be sold on.
Aeromecanic:
2254 Alouette III, ex '341-DB' CIEH.341, AdlA, and Chateaudun store.
There are a lot of Alouette IIs and IIIs stored here. 2254 was the only one identifiable from outside and happily a new arrival since our last visit to Aeromecanic.
There is a lot of activity at Eurocopter these days, with the ramping up of NH90 production of particular interest. The following were noted outside the factory.
(704) AS532AL Cougar, (c/n 2704?) No.4 for Bulgarian AF.
(2375) AS532UL Cougar, ‘FV’ GAM.56, AdlA (rework).
(2633) EC725AP Cougar, 'BJQ' DAOS, ALAT (rework).
(1018)
NH90-NFH, (c/n 1018) ‘F-ZWTO’ No.1 for Aeronavale.
- NH90-TTH, (c/n ....) ‘F-ZVLF’ No.1 for Australian Army.
(ES-...) NH90-TTH, (c/n 1032) ‘F-ZWTH’ No.1 for Hellenic Army.
(ES-...) NH90-TTH, (c/n ....) ‘F-ZWTS’ No.4 for Hellenic Army.
(142055) NH90 (Hkp14B), (c/n 1012) (F-ZWTG’ for RSwedAF.
(2016?) Tigre HAP, (c/n 2016?) ‘F-ZKBK’ for ALAT.
John got lucky on his return visit next day and picked up Finnish NH90 KH-203 and Saudi Navy Cougar 716 (one of three currently back here for rework).
A mile or
two from Marignane is preserved CL215 F-ZBBV/46
at St Victoret. In a building nearby a new aviation museum is being put
together. Its not open as yet and was shut up (nothing visible) on this
occasion, but John returned the next day and was allowed a quick preview by the
workmen. Here are the cockpit of CL215 F-ZBBD/29, Alouette IIIs 1692 (ex ALAT),
F-ZBDG, Mirage 3B 225,
VITROLLES
5.4.07:
The Lycee P Mendes-France has several instructional airframes. Of interest to us are:-
2 SN601 Corvette, ex 'MW' CEV and Istres store.
453 Mirage IIIE, ex ’13-QA’ EC.1/13, AdlA.
372 CM170R Magister, ex EC.12, AdlA.
Apart from the Mirage, inside access is required to view these. It’s a sobering thought that it was a quarter of a century ago when Mirage IIIE 453 and I first became acquainted.
LFMY
SALON-DE-PROVENCE 5.4.07:
The highlight here was my last French Tucano, 480/312-JY which I was most pleased to pick up as the Ecole de l’Air start to retire the type next year, being replaced by (civilian) TB10s and Grobs the first of which are already here. Lesser examples of the Tucano seen were:-
456/JA, 461/JF, 462/JG, 463/JH, 464/JI, 467/JL, 468/JM, 471/JP, 472/JQ, 473/JR, 474/JS, 479/JX, 483/UB, 484/UC, 488/UG, 489/UH, 490/UI, 492/UK, 493/UL, 494/UM, 500/US,
Jodels active were D.140Es 198/XE and 200/XY. Surprisingly no Tucanos flew today but all these were outside and the following day was a normal flying day (Good Friday is not a bank holiday in France).
Still on the dump is the wreckage of Tucano 482 and of course there is an assortment of preserved aircraft around the base including a Mystere IV, Jaguar and several Magisters.
LFMV
AVIGNON-CAUMONT 5.4.07:
There
is a warbird outfit at the airport witn some interesting hardware:-
124541
F4U Corsair, (F-AZYS) “133704” ex Argentine Navy.
127002
AD4N Skyraider, “20-LA” (F-AZHK).
28
CM175 Zephyr, (F-AZPF) ex Aeronavale.
50-0244
T-28A-NA, ex Zaire AF FG-244, and Eric
Voormezele collection.
87958
A-37B-CE, (c/n 43105) ex SVNAF.
The
A-37 is best described as stored, dismantled. The T-28 was fully stripped and
dismantled ready for a thorough rebuild whilst the remainder are all active.
ORANGE
5.4.07:
Musee
Aeronautique d'Orange
The
collection here is well known and I will not repeat a listing. New for me was ex
EPNER Mirage IIIB-1 231, still in special marks
“1996”. This is available for exchange as is Magister 350. Further new
arrivals are Mirage IIIE 495/3-XL and Paris 91 (which is inside). The IIIE was
supposed to have been supplied to Brazil after leaving storage at Chateaudun but
obviously never made it. The owner would like to acquire an ex RAF Jaguar (most
of the remaining French examples are, or will be, extensively stripped for
parts).
A night-stop in Beaune gave me the opportunity to call at Savigny to catch up with some new arrivals here:-
Musee
du Chateau
1811 Lim-2, (c/n 1B01811) ex Polish AF,
609 Lim-5P, (c/n 1D0609) ex Polish AF.
A-057 F-84G Thunderjet, (52-3057) ex 'KP-X' Esk.730, RDAF, Wfu 1.5.61.
323 TS-11 bis B, (c/n 1H0323) ex Polish AF and Biala Podlaska.
Again,
Savigny is well documented elsewhere. If you have never been there, go for it.
Savigny is the largest private collection of aircraft in
LFSD
DIJON-LONGVIC 8.4.07:
A couple
of wrecks had eluded me here in the past but were tracked down on this occasion,
preserved on the east side of the base and accessed through the
14 Mirage 5F, ex ’13-PW’ EC.2/13, AdlA.
226 MH1521M Broussard, ex '2-HF' SALE/EC.2, AdlA and Apt.
SKY479 H-34A, (c/n SA4) ex AdlA and instructional at Nimes-Courbessac.
On the way
home we called at the Canadian war memorial at Vimy,
which was to be re-dedicated the following day after extensive renovation. This
was a major event involving Mirages from Cambrai, Fennecs also from Cambrai and
whilst we were there a Gendarmerie Ecureil
1811/JCL from