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This is a Paramount bird previously deployed at their training academy in Polokwane South Africa. My guess is that this craft is headed for the Mozambique Air Force.
SA342M F-MGAB (3476) as seen on 16th May 2019 NFI (Photo by Martin Wraight)
SA341B XZ327 (WA1645) and co. as seen at Middle Wallop on 15th May 1994 (Photos by Neil Brant)
This photo is labelled as being taken at Wallop, but I have to confess that I don't recognise this perspective, then again its been a while since I was at Wallop.
This is a Paramount bird previously deployed at their training academy in Polokwane South Africa. My guess is that this craft is headed for the Mozambique Air Force.
No, I am not 100% sure, but here she is at Paramount's training academy in Polokwane in October last year engaged in pilot training for a foreign defence force:
A recent UN Security Council report shows that Gazelle and Super Puma helicopters are being used and operated illegally against the Libyan Government of National Accord.
Three Gazelles were acquired in South Africa in mid 2019 and shipped directly to Libya... they were:-
ZU-HFV WS341B AH.1 (WA1797) ex ZA728 (this is one of the Gazelles that was stored at Stapleford Tawney)
ZU-RNO WS341B AH.1 (WA1999) ex G-CHMF
ZU-ROF SA341F2 (1210) ex N210GZ
These three Gazelles were cancelled from the South African register as sold in Jordan !
At the same time three Super Pumas (all ex North Sea helicopters) were purchased. These were trucked to Gaborone, Botswana 6.19 before being airfreighted to Benghazi. They are:-
ZT-RYH AS332L (2032) ex N203VA, G-TIGG
ZT-RYK AS332L (2161) ex N216VA, G-BMCW
ZT- AS332L (2154) ex N215VA, G-BLXR
These were all registered to a Wells Fargo Trust company before being cancelled to South Africa.
We discussed this a little last year on the thread. There was also a Russian Gazelle which participated in this campaign for a short time, in fact I shared a photo of it inside an IL-76 being transported to Libya.
SA341B G-UNNS (WA1284) as seen at Redhill on 31st July 2021
G-UNNS after having received a full detail over the weekend together with some corrective work to her paint and protective coating in the area surrounding her new reg.
SA341B G-ZZEL (WA1152) as seen at Goodwood on 1st August 2021
Do you know if there are many privately owned Gazelles which have their maintenance performed with Airbus at Oxford?
I don’t think anyone in the UK has Gazelles serviced by Airbus. If you were thinking G-RBIL was off to Oxford for maintenance with Airbus I wouldn’t think so, but Falcon are at Landmead which is just a few miles from Oxford.
SA341B ZA774 (WA1816) as seen at Blackpool on 24th July 1985
SA341B XZ330 (WA1651) as seen at RAF Mildenhall on 29th May 1982 (Photo by Robert Nichols)
Republic of Guinea
SA342L as seen in the Republic of Guinea NFI
Moroccan Air Force to Replace Gazelles
Morocco is negotiating a deal with Turkey to buy 22 T129 ATAK helicopters worth 1.3 billion dollars. This deal would add to an order of 36 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters and related equipment at an estimated cost of $4.25 billion.
The acquisition will bolster the attack capabilities of Morocco’s Royal Air Force which currently operates 24 Aerospatiale SA342L Gazelle helicopters procured from 1978 which are in need of replacement.
I'm in the market to purchase a 'G-' reg permit to fly MOD gazelle with decent hours remaining...
If anyone knows of any available or potentially willing to sell theirs, please feel free to contact me on 07568 165 519
or via email at: liambarnes2005@gmail.com
A warm welcome to Avia.
I believe you have already had contact with one of our members (Elipix) but its nice to see you on the forum.
As you may have noticed, we've featured your craft a couple of times on the thread already.
One of our members has an ex-Army cab ready to go, and there are several other ex-MOD examples immediately available and I'm sure people will start contacting you shortly about this. If for whatever reason you can't find exactly what you're looking for, then get back to us and we will do what we can to track down the right aircraft at 'hopefully' the right price.
I have been in brief contact with Stefano (Steve?) regarding G-CDNO and it definitely seems to be a contender!
As I get my one maintained at MW helicopters I have been told that the remaining engines they have to put in the new MOD rebuild project don't have the best hours remaining....although I could be mistaken.
With regards to Falcon I was aware that they were selling G-CBKA however I believe it could have just sold.
If you hear of any in flying condition with good hours or anyone else hears of any please feel free to drop me a message.
In the meantime, G-CDNO is on my radar!
Apologies for cluttering up the forum with my chatter
If you have difficulty in posting the photos (and many do, and for which I apologise) then just write the post without the photos and I will add the them to your post afterwards. You can mail them to: aviafora1@gmail.com
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