Flightpath - May 2018

FLIGHTPATH|77

1 BoultonPaulBalliolT.2CA310

is the rarest aircraft in the

museum. Sri Lanka operated

twelve Balliols and two are

preserved here. The last

Merlin powered aircraft type

built, only one other, a Sea

Balliol, exists in the RAF

MuseumatCosford(besidesa

composite reconstruction in

the UK).[All images Nigel Hitchman]

2 ThisDouglasDakotaIV(CR821)

is a former Air Ceylon aircraft.

The airline gave it to the Air

Force after it retired the type

from revenue service.

3 ThisTigerMothwasusedby

theCeylonAirAcademyinto

the seventies and was

registered 4R-AAB. It was

transferred to the Air Force and

restored to lying condition.

4 Two examples of the Shenyang

FT-5 (MiG-15uti). By 1979 the

AirForcehadnojetaircraftso

theseaircraftwerepurchased

to restart jet training.

5 After his service in W.W.II,

Sri Lankan James Peter

Obeysekara bought this Auster

J-1Autocrat(VP-CAO)andlew

it home in a 103-hour, 31 stop

journey. It was heavily

damaged in a take-of accident

in 1971 and restored to static

displaybythemuseum.

6 Sri Lanka was the only Pucará

operator outside South America.

This one, CA-605, an IA-58A, was

the last of the four aircraft

delivered from Argentina in

1994. They saw action during
      the Sri Lankan Civil War.

7 Twelve Hunting Jet Provost s,

likethisT.51,weredelivered

in1959andusedforlight

attack duties. They had two

.303in calibre machine guns

near the air intakes and racks

for rockets and bombs.

8 One of only three Scottish

Aviation Pioneers still in

existence, the others being

displayedinMalaysiaandatRAF

Cosford, this machine was one of

four acquired for crop-spraying

and transport work.

9 TheirstfourDHC-1

Chipmunks arrived in October

1950andwereassembled and

lying by early 1951.

10 Originally delivered as a

Heron 2D, the Riley

conversion, to replace the

Gipsy Queens with Lycoming

IO-540s, was performed

in-house.

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