SyAAF MiG-23ML (Part II)

Back to the previous post of SyAAF MiG-23ML; and looking at the above photo showing Su-27's and few L-39 Albatroses, we can generate a preliminary layout for the area, starting from the segmented shield adjacent to a higher and bigger bldg. in the background to the hanger where aircraft are being painted.

I spent hours on GE searching and checking base by base for where this overhaul/repair might took place in, I found out the following:
- Uzbekistan: for sure it's not the targeted place, as no airfield has the same configuration.
- Kazakhstan: also no airfield can be that place.
- Belarus: most airfields' images are not clear, moreover most of them look abandoned, the only interesting airbase was Baranavicy where 32 MiG-23 were stored as shown above (the first image dated May.2003 while the second is Oct.2005 both shows the same quantity of MiG-23's but moved from place to another); I can't assure that these are the same MiG's delivered to Syria.

Ukraine: the most famous country in repairing and overhauling the eastern europe aircrafts, the above map shows the most important military airfields indicated in Yellow, the Red pins indicate the most important repair facilities.
Checking one by one made me exclude Lviv, Odessa, Zaporizhia and others, I may focus and pay more attention to Chuguev...the famous facility for L-39 which appears everywhere in these images.

An airial photo for Chuguev airfield with red circle indicates where - in my opinion - the event took place near the lines of stored aircrafts, unfortunately the Google Earth image is still blur.

With your help I think we may reveal two facts: the first is that MiG-23ML with SyAAF roundle is not the one imported from Belarus...it was from the Syrian fleet, the other fact is the place of overhauling.

Special thanks to "Spongefob" & "SyAAF SIG" for their great and precious additions.

SyAAF MiG-23ML (Part I)

Some stunning takes for a SyAAF MiG-23ML which was photographed apparently in Russia or one of the former Soviet countries, just hoped the photographer would do some more 'walk-around' photos...especially inside the cockpit...

Damas Airport 2006/08

A GE aerial imagery dated March 2006 looks very close to the photos I took below. Most of aircraft are located as what appear below:
Note in spot 'A' there are 2 scraped Tu-134, in spot 'B' there is a phased-out Il-76 left there since years, while on spot 'C' lays the Caravelle.

An aerial shot for Damascus IAP showing the same area as explained above, the area on left hand is dedicated for cargo and to be more specific: the Military Transportation Brigade. 

Closer photo for 2 operational Il-76 belongs to Syrian Air cargo. On the left we can see a Tu-134, few Yak-40 and one Falcon-20.

A close take for the phased-out Il-76, seems to be too old since it wears the old Syrian Air livery. On the left hand 2 An-26/24.

The only remaining airframe of Sud Aviation Caravelle in Syria nearby the runway greeting arrivals to Damascus, in the background there is probably wreckage of a Syrian Air Yak-40.

Caravelle was the aircraft which enabled Syrian Air to enter the jet era when 2 were ordered on 1965, served for the Syrian Air  till early 1990s.

Stored Boeing 727s waiting for maintenance and intense overhauling, note the first one has its engines off. Among these Boeings there is a Tu-154 recognizable by its fin tail.

An interesting An-12 doesn't carry any flash and without any distinguished livery, only marked EK-12201. This An-12 was spotted in Dubai airport only (as per airliner.net).

Photos by Luftwaffe A.S (2006-2008)

Wings Over Syria : NORTH AMERICAN T-6 TEXAN

Harvard or Texan joined the SyAAF in 1947~48 coming from the stock of South Africa and some from RAF forming two combat squadron based in Mazze AFB, some as far as I know based in the training base near Alep, I remember wreckage of some silver Texans (not in the same camo as above shown) were visible to public in the Aviation School in Aleppo city, that was in early 1990s before they shifted the school completely to other place.

Nice archive photo for this Texan, seems the artist inspired the above shown diagram from it.

Now believe it or not..!!! this is not a real Texan..!!! a perfect scaled flying model carry the very fine details including the pilot himself..!!!

I collected these amazing images from Strega's website, seems he is a professional modeller for flying warbirds...I would like to shake his hand for his fabulous artworks..!!!

The only remaining Texan of SyAAF is still surviving at the Military Museum in Damascus which was my daily way to faculty, when i go back there again I'll archive all aircrafts there for new posts.

Amazing how it looks in sky, just remove the antenna and no one would believe this is a scaled model.

Wings Over Syria : ILYUSHIN-28

In early 1960s, SyAAF received the first jet bomber the Il-28, this profile shows the exact camo for most of jets delivered from Soviet Union at that time (all in metallic silver same as MiG-15/17).

 

Many sites state that SyAAF received dozens of Beagles, the correct story is that SyAAF has received and operated only TWO of this aircraft; one of these aircraft crashed when its engine inhaled a STORK !!! Eventually, the engine caught fire and caused of aircraft falling down.

 

The second Beagle R.I.P in Neyrab airbase, you can see its tail here, note there are wreckage of many Mi-8's here also.

 

Another image from sky. The two drop tanks don't belong to this Il-28, they look too close to these famous ones attached to the belly hard points of the MiG-21.

 

Note the extra fuel tanks attached to wing tips, this aircraft looks intact and in a very good situation taking into consideration the 40~50 years it laid here.

Photos by Luftwaffe A.S - where marked - (2009-2011)

Photos from Cairo Airport (2011)

Egypt Air Boeing 737 in the new attractive livery, in the background you can see a probably Airbus in the old HORUS theme.

 

Part of EAF C-130 fleet is stationed at Cairo Airport.

 

They appear here above, at left note the private jets in queue waiting to take off from the northern runway.

 

In these 3 spots I could photograph interesting wreckages of three transporters. 

Very interesting wreckage of ex-Uzbekistan Alim Airlines Ilyushin-62 belongs to R.I.P in Cairo Airport (Spot A)

 

Another photo for this poor Ilyushin-62M SU-ZDA, as per Wikipedia this is the only aircraft flew for Alim Airlines, so now they are no more..!!

 

Another petit airlines...Pharaoh Airlines, here in (Spot B) one of the only 2 Boeings 737 operated for this airline, this one carries the serial SU-PMA. 

CentrAfrique Air Express Boeing 727 with serial TL-ADY, seems this aircraft is scrapped recently in (Spot C) as it's not visible in Google Earth at least as of June 2010.

Photos by Luftwaffe A.S (2011)

Wings Over Syria : GLOSTER METEOR

Gloster Meteor was the very first operational jet fighter used in SyAAF, in Kweres (Rasm Al Abboud) airbase 15 Meteor's lie scrapped...you may recognize the Night-Fighter ones which have their wing span wider and their radome longer, the one mentioned in the aerial imagery above is a NF also.

Note the roundel of SyAAF in 1950s till early 1960s

Meteor was debuted into SyAAF in Sept. 1952, Hafez Al Asad (the former president) was one of the first pilots whom flew Meteor in SyAAF.

2 SyAAF Meteor's were performing a patrol when located a RAF Canberra which was in Recon mission over Syria, Canberra was shot down..!! this occurred in Nov. 1956

In early 1960s and upon the arrival of MiG-15/17, all Meteor's were withdrawn from service although they were in full operational status