A selection of photo's taken during the
visit
Gate
ZF202/202 Tucano T1
Note ; all the Tucano’s listed are resident aircraft and repeat
their last three on the nose , flaps and tail . I have omitted
these for ease of listing but have given shadow squadron
allocations were noted .
HQ Flying Wing on display outside the CFS Cheshire Hall building
XN589/46 Jet Provost T3A carries 1 FTS markings
Flightline-flying
ZF139 Tucano T1
ZF142
ZF244 72 Sqdn
ZF269
ZF287 72
ZF338 76 Sqdn , WHIZZO
ZF339 72 , 100 years of excellence-CENTRAL FLYING SCHOOL
ZF374
ZF377
ZF407
XX258/CE Hawk T1A 100 Sqdn
XX303 /303 no squadron markings
XX346/CH
G-BYUF/UF Tutor T1 YUAS/9 AEF
G-BYVJ/VJ
G-BYWP/WP
G-BYWV/WV
1 Hangar 72 Squadron/CFS/Tutor
2 Hangar The gym !
3 Hangar Tucano Rectification/YUAS
ZF135 Tucano T1
ZF171
ZF239
ZF289
ZF290 207 Sqdn
4 Hangar Tucano Depth Maintenance
Noted through an open hangar door !
ZF143
ZF243
ZF378
Stood between 3 and 4 Hangars were ;
ZF489 Tucano T1
ZF491
5 Hangar 642VGS/spray shops/wash bay
Notes ;
1) Bombardier run a Tucano Operational Load Measurement (OLM)
program which compares the airframe fatigue of an operational
Tucano to that of a test airframe at the company factory at
Sydenham in Belfast . The current test airframe is ZF512 and the
internal measuring and recording equipment is routinely
analyised and compared to the static airframe to check for any
departure from the predicted norm . The Tucano has an 'end of
life' service date of October 2019 and an airframe fatigue life
of ~4,800 hours which , with using the OLM data , Bombardier
hope to increase up to ~6000 hours . The previous test airframe
was ZF406 which is now withdrawn from use in 1 Hangar alongside
several other withdrawn Tucanos .
2) The 100 Squadron Hawks are on a 2 week detachment here and
the Hawks may change during that period ? The runway at Leeming
has been closed while work continues on improvement work to the
adjacent A1-M1 upgrade which requires a tall tower crane to
complete some work on a new over-bridge .
David Thompson