Bravo TRC!
For 'Eric the Ferret'
Here's what I have of MPN:
Bell 206B JetRanger II 5H-MPN landing at Bahari (north of Dar es Salaam) in 1986 flying as 'Kilimo 5'
This was a contract I flew (just a teenager back then .. commercial licence fresh in hand) for the UN's Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
We were tasked to assist in the control of Quelea Bird and Desert Locust. We were aided by two teams .. one from the Tanzania Ministry of Agriculture flying unit called 'Kilimo Anga' (literally 'Agricultural Air) based in Arusha, who provided Cessna 185's .. the other was the Desert Locust Control Organisation based in Nairobi who supplied the trusty De Havilland Beaver. Both the 185's and Beavers would support in spraying whereas the Ranger, when not spraying, would serve as a scout to locate the swarms.
This is NOT a swarm .. but a 'normal' size (for Africa) flock of Quelea birds visiting a watering hole
Quelea's in a tree
Before the animal activists get up in arms .. you should firstly know that I am an animal lover myself .. and absolutely mad keen on dogs and horses!
Secondly .. an average size swarm of African Quelea birds can consume upwards of 50 tonnes of grain
per day .. causing devastation to rural villages which, if unprotected, would starve. In East Africa the principal crops to be affected by Queleas are cereals such as millet, sorghum, rice and wheat.
Spraying Quelea birds was something of a task, not only because of the irregularity of the areas to be sprayed .. but mainly because this was only ever done at night once the birds had roosted.
It was
impossible to carry out this work without hitting the birds as some of them would fly up as you approached the roost. At one point we had snow baffles fitted in order to protect the air intakes. I have to admit though .. it did take a while to get used to the sound of these small creatures banging into the aircraft. However, as they are generally quite small (and very light) their impact was 'relatively' insignificant although .. on one occasion the chin perspex on the pilot's side 'imploded' when .. after hitting what I felt were simply too many of the creatures .. I climbed .. only to slam into a larger flock which were trying to escape the mayhem. Pieces of perspex hit the instrument panel and my legs! Not fun.
The Colonel coming out to greet a landed Savoia
You can tell its the Colonel holding the door .. because .. well what can one say .. he wore those white gloves to the very end of his career!
Eric: You can be thankful that by the time you arrived I had managed to persuade the Colonel to 'consider' a uniform other than tropical whites, citing the fact that deep in the bush while assisting to load chemicals and fuel, this was perhaps not the
ideal form of attire. So I was permitted to 'experiment' (under trial) with the khaki coveralls which were eventually worn. However, I was under strict instructions that for all formal meetings with the client, meeting the Tanzania DCA, Ministry of Agriculture and the like .. that the 'whites' had to be put back on!
The Colonel had of course been recently encouraged in Brasil where, with 12 pilots under his charge (operating a fleet of S76's) he discovered (to his delight I should add) that they
loved donnig the whites and standing-out from their 'blue slacked' brethren!
By the time you arrived, MPN was probably wearing red stripes. Between the blue and red schemes, she was (for about 3 months) painted in camouflage for a short contract with the TPDF (Tanzanian Army) which involved carrying an armed patrol across what are now Tanzania's western most goldfields.
Regarding ANI .. sadly was never able to get a photo of her before her demise. But, as you may recall .. she was imported from Germany (where she had flown as D-HOOL) and was an ex-Rotorflug bird and still wore Rotorflug's old colours.
ANI's colours