Immaculate Czech Air Force Canadair CL601Challenger 5105 about to depart from runway 24. This aircraft, flown by 241.dlt is based at Prague-Kbely and operates alongside the unit’s two Airbus A319s in the VIP transport role.
Montijo-Setubal is the home airfield for Portugal’s three Dassault Falcon 50s, all of which are getting on a bit, having been delivered to the air force in early 1990. Esq 504 is the operating unit.
Boeing P8A Poseidon 167955/JA-955, about to touch down after a demonstration flight. The aircraft had arrived in the UK at the beginning of July and had been displayed at both Waddington and Fairford prior to the visit to Hampshire. US Navy test squadron VX-1 operate this aircraft at the moment, from the Naval Air Station at Patuxent River in Maryland.
Two aircraft from a bit nearer home, now.
ZH004 is a Britten-Norman BN2T Defender T3, the military version of the ubiquitous Islander, and is flown by the Army Air Corps’ 651 Sqn from RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland.
Slightly more upmarket than the Defender is Hawker-Siddeley HS125 CC3 ZE396 from the RAF’s 32 (The Royal) Sqn at Northolt. This is another long-serving aircraft and has been modified over the years with updated communications systems and defensive-countermeasures equipment.
Not strictly a visitor, I suppose, is HB-RSC, the magnificent Lockheed Super Constellation operated by the Super Constellation Flyers Association. The ‘Connie’ had been scheduled to arrive later in the week, in time for the public days; however, bad weather on the previous Friday at Duxford, its original destination, meant the aircraft came straight to Farnborough instead. Bonus!
Making the short hop over from Fairford after the Air Tattoo were another two exhibits destined for the Farnborough public days.
RAF-liveried English Electric Canberra PR9 XH134 is,part of ‘The Mid-Air Squadron’ collection at Kemble and is on the UK civil register these days as G-OMHD. This aircraft is one of 23 PR9s produced for the RAF by Shorts in Belfast.
A far cry from its original days as a primary trainer serving in the US Navy, Boeing-Stearman Kaydet N2S-3 N56200 is now privately owned.
Helicopters are normally much in evidence on trade days, but the number of rotary-wing movements on the Monday seemed well down on previous years.
Three choppers that were captured in pixels were Air Harrods Agusta A109S Grand, G-FUFU, Starspeed’s Bell 429 G-ODSA, and Castle Air’s Bell 206B Jet Ranger G-XBOX.
Part of the TAG Aviation hangar complex can be seen in the background as Vista Jet’s LearJet 60, OE-GVF, crosses runway 24’s displaced threshold.
There were quite a few of the bigger Gulfstream models on the field when I arrived and adding to their number is Gulfstream IV N394AK.
Various examples of Bombardier’s Global Express were also in evidence. About to touch down is an XRS variant, B-8266. Current ownership of this machine is unclear, but it has been noted in the past wearing Air China titles.
The tail fin of Global Express N904DS is adorned with the logo of the Washington Redskins NFL team, a rather appropriate marking in light of the aircraft being based at Washington Dulles airport.
Dassault’s larger business jets also featured during the day. HB-IGI is a Falcon 900EX while G-EGVO in one of the updated marques, the Falcon 900EX EASy.
Like its bigger sibling, Bombardier’s Challenger has also been produced in several versions. N3746 is a CL614, and locally-based G-NCCC is a CL615.
NetJets Europe aircraft are frequent visitors to Farnborough and one of five I noted during the day was CS-DXG, a Cessna 560 Citation Excel S. Another Excel S visitor was D-CEEE of Munich-based HTM Jet Service.
Still on the subject of Cessnas, D-CLAT is a 525B Citation Jet CJ3.
Lithuanian company Charter Jet are the operators of LY-LTA, a Hawker-Siddeley HS125-800XPi. The aircraft was previously flown by NetJets Europe as CS-DRJ.
Nearly 200 Embraer 505 Phenom 300s have gone to customers since the Brazilian company delivered the first example in December 2009. Despite the large number in service, Danish-registered OY-PWO is the first one I’ve managed to photograph.
Another good seller is the Pilatus PC12. LX-TAI is captured just after take-off.
