Doha Airport - Update

Few aircraft I could spot during my long transit in Doha airport, starting with Qatar Airways Airbus A320-232 reg. A7-ADF.

Air Arabia Airbus 320-214 reg. A6-ANC.

Another Airbus A320-214 reg. A9C-AD operated by Gulf Air.

Nicely schemed Boeing B737-8KN reg. A6-FDD operated by Fly Dubai.

MNG Cargo Airbus A300C4-605R with its crazy "driver" whom cuts corners and rotates very fast in taxiing...this aircraft is reg. TC-MNV.

Bell 412EP reg. A7-HBQ operated by Gulf Helicopters.

Now...these are the real stuff...two QEAF Mirage's 2000-5 just few seconds before taking off...

QEAF Mirage 2000-5DDA dual reg. QA85, note under the front canopy, there are marking of 6 laser-guided bombs dropped of this aircraft, it might be one of those joined in operation over Libya.

QEAF Mirage 2000-5EDA reg. QA91.

QEAF Mirage 2000-5EDA reg. QA98.

QEAF Mirage 2000-5EDA reg. QA96.

QEAF Mirage 2000-5DDA reg. QA87.

Our hero, the trainer in the Mirage 2000-5 reg. QA87 whom noticed us photographing his aircraft while taxiing...here waving his hands to us !!
It's good to know that QEAF operates 9 single-seat Mirage-2000-5EDA in addition to 3 two-seat 2000-5DDA.

At last I could spot an AlphaJet E reg. QA54, QEAF operates 6 advanced trainer / light attack aircraft of this kind.

Air Force Museum - Shanghai / CHINA (Part II)

Shenyang F-6 reg. 30733.

Another shoot for the same F-6 shows the three canons on the wing roots and under the air intake.

A very rare Dongfeng 102 day-time fighter reg. 2996 !! Only 33 units of this type were built by Shenyang in late 1950s.

Does this fighter hide a radar under the tapered nose inside the air intake hole?

Shenyang F-5 reg. 12641 (Chinese copy of my beloved Soviet made Mig-17).

Note the 37mm canon under the reg. number with which such agile fighter (Mig-17) could bring down the bigger F-4 Phantom !!

A Soviet made Mig-15UTI reg. 12347.

Total 350 units were deployed in 1950s for training pilots in Chinese flying schools.

WoPen-5, China's first turbojet engine put into production in 1956, it was a licensed copy of the Soviet first jet engine Klimov VK-1 which in turn was derived from the British Rolls-Royce Nene.

This engine was used for F-5 fighters and B-5 bombers and few other aircraft.

A glider...

Chinese made Hongqi-2, the two-stage medium-range all-weather SAM; It uses the radio wave guidance system.

Torpedo boat was displayed in the adjacent river.

Air Force Museum - Shanghai / CHINA (Part I)

True it's been a long period since I last posted here, but i came back from China with some nice load.

I could have the chance to visit "Shanghai Aerospace Museum" located somewhere to the south of Hongqiao airport, it's realy kinda hard to distinguish the entrance of this museum !!

First you will find the Douglas DC-8-61 reg. JA8048, the super long range airliner which made its first flight on March 1966.

In 1982, this airliner happened to have a braking failure when the aircraft landed on Hongqiao airport and it suffered serious damage, after being restored it was sent here as a showpiece.

Note above the First / Business class seats in Beige while the economic class in Blue.

Contrary to the nowadays jet airliners, the cabin is realy spacious, every row of seats is aligned with a window providing more than enough space for passengers while seated.

Another airliner in this museum is the twin-engine Ilyushin Il-14 reg. 652.

The piston-engined Nanchang CJ-6 primary trainer which is known as the cradle of Chinese pilots since it started its service in December 1961.

The military transport helicopter Harbin Z-5, the Chinese copy of the Soviet Mil Mi-4.

Shenyang J-8 reg. 80057 with its original fuselage design (Finback-A).

Another shoot for this interceptor which is fitted with Four machine guns (Two under each side of the fuselage under cockpit).

I would always love to see this capable aircraft !! the Nanchang Q-5 Fantan in its A-5 variant here (as written) reg. 10406.

View from below to the internal weapon bay which can carry up to 1000 Kg of ordnance.

This supersonic attack aircraft was independently developed by China and is still active in limited service.