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Farewell to the RNZAF P3K2
An era passes
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/131...r-force-orions |
55 or so years of service. A good run. Imagine we will see P-3's with other forces for some years to come. Some of the airframes have been extensively refurbished, some not so much, but by operators that tend to run MPA for years after primary operators that have since moved on.
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And Canada with a huge 3 Ocean coastline doesn’t even have a plan to replace the RCAF P3’s :ugh:
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And how long did Canada run the Argus?
They had to beg refineries to do special batches of 115/145. |
Nice flyover of Defence House and The Beehive yesterday and some images release by the RNZAF on twitter.
and some moving pictures |
Flew once with 5 Squadron on a sunny morning a lifetime ago.
Vivid memories of standing on the flight-deck and holding onto the frame of the co-pilot's seat, looking over his shoulder as we pulled hard Gs in turns low over the Waitemata - much more so than I ever would have thought possible in a P-3; what an aircraft. And how they slammed the aircraft down on that bumpy Whenuapai runway - then full beta pitch to stop (?). It was a hell of a ride. Farewell P-3K. |
What will happen to them?
Will they be scrapped or do they have some life left in them & can they be sold on? Buffalo Joe might want some if the tail can be put back to standard & the price is right! |
Hey! Just like Trudeau bought Australia’s old F-18’s to keep ours flying, we can now buy New Zealand’s P3’s to get another 20 years out of ours. The man’s a genius.
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Originally Posted by Commander Taco
(Post 11373256)
Hey! Just like Trudeau bought Australia’s old F-18’s to keep ours flying, we can now buy New Zealand’s P3’s to get another 20 years out of ours. The man’s a genius.
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When they were new -
Here's a nice bright shiny NZ P-3 :) https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....c670862521.jpg US Naval Station Sangley Point (Philippines)1970 |
Caveat I'm not totally sure of the base airframe, there's a bunch that seem to have been converted to firefighting air tankers here in Canada.
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According to Radio NZ (a usually factually accurate organisation) this morning, the P-3K2s are going out of service five months earlier than scheduled because the RNZAF has run out of aircrew. :ooh:
Apparently enough flight deck and/or Tacrail crew have quit that it's no longer viable to maintain the P-3K2s in an operational state, and because they were going out of service (in Q3?) soon, it's not worth training replacements. Somewhat astonishing |
Originally Posted by kiwi grey
(Post 11373925)
According to Radio NZ (a usually factually accurate organisation) this morning, the P-3K2s are going out of service five months earlier than scheduled because the RNZAF has run out of aircrew. :ooh:
Apparently enough flight deck and/or Tacrail crew have quit that it's no longer viable to maintain the P-3K2s in an operational state, and because they were going out of service (in Q3?) soon, it's not worth training replacements. Somewhat astonishing Radio New Zealand Story |
Originally Posted by RatherBeFlying
(Post 11373695)
Caveat I'm not totally sure of the base airframe, there's a bunch that seem to have been converted to firefighting air tankers here in Canada.
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Originally Posted by Big Pistons Forever
(Post 11372919)
And Canada with a huge 3 Ocean coastline doesn’t even have a plan to replace the RCAF P3’s :ugh:
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news...craft-project/ https://www.boeing.ca/resources/en_c...e-1110x345.jpg Last time I saw CP-140 was back in August lifting off from Mildenhall for the Little Gransden Air Show display https://scontent-lcy1-2.xx.fbcdn.net...Kw&oe=63D96EE9 https://scontent-lcy1-2.xx.fbcdn.net...Ng&oe=63D96BE1 cheers |
OK Boomer!
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Could they fit one in MOTAT?
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Think one is going to the Airforce Museum
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