Skyhawk Back To Nowra

[Dave Masterson]

War bird comes back to roost
27 Apr, 2011 08:23 AM
A FAMILIAR face, or at least a familiar fuselage, is on its way back to Nowra.
One of the New Zealand Air Force’s Skyhawk fighter jets that was stationed at HMAS Albatross for 10 years has been allocated to the Royal Australian Navy’s Fleet Air Arm Museum.

New Zealand Defence Minister Wayne Mapp announced the allocation last week, after the NZ Government spent nearly nine years trying to sell its Skyhawk Fleet.

While the Skyhawks were based at HMAS Albatross, they were used to help train the crews of Australian warships to defend from air attacks.

From 1991 three single-seaters and three dual-seat aircraft were assigned to Number 2 Squadron at the Nowra naval base, and were highly regarded because they were fast, small and posed a significant challenge to the air defences of Australian warships.

The Skyhawks had a top speed of 1160km/h and a range of 3200km. They could carry a combat payload of 3700kg of rockets, bombs, missiles and cannon ammunition.

However the lease arrangement with New Zealand defence ended in August 2002 after the New Zealand Labor Government disbanded the Air Combat Force and also canned an earlier deal to replace the Skyhawks with a fleet of F16 fighters.

New Zealand bought 14 new Skyhawks in 1970 and 10 more second-hand aircraft from Australia in 1984.

However by the time the fleet was mothballed in 2001 there were just 17 left as several had crashed, including one in bushland at Nowra Hill on February 16, 2001, killing pilot Squadron Leader Murray Neilson.

When the fleet was mothballed the New Zealand Government announced its intentions to sell the aircraft for an expected price of $80 million, however a sale was not organised until 2005.

American company, Tactical Air Services arranged to buy the 17 aircraft for US $110 million, however the sale fell through and no money changed hands.

Last week Dr Mapp said six of the aircraft had been allocated to aviation museums predominantly in New Zealand along with the Fleet Air Arm Museum, while the government was continuing its efforts to sell eight of the Skyhawks.

This post has been edited by Dave Masterson on Apr 28 2011, 07:30 PM

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[Walrus]

:D Unreal news. Pity she"ll only be static but cant beat a scooter. I only hope we dont have to send the ring in home nice to have them both nestled between the tracker and the wessex. Any ideas what will happen to Seakings after decom?

[Dave Masterson]

I believe that 07 will be going to the Museum...the others are going on the world market.

This post has been edited by Dave Masterson on May 2 2011, 07:20 PM

[Mick Raftery]

Hoped to photograph the Whitehawk line over Easter before they started to be scattered - but a couple of Devons and a B727 interrupted the count !

Mick



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