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Scramble 468
North America
United States
Joint US Forces (JF)
Europe was visited several times during March and April 2018
by unknown flying US operators. Although clandestine is not
the right word, the “cover” aircraft, and predominantly seen
in civil colours, are believed to be operated by/for different
US departments. The Department of Defense (DOD) or the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) are the most probable
operators.
Coming from Norway, an ATR-42-300 with serial N212AZ
was noted above Denmark at the beginning of March. Also,
looking at the different flight histories, the ATR aircraft are
frequently seen in and above disputed countries. Searching
deeper on the Internet for an operator you will find Blue
Ridge Aero Service, Jefferson Financial Group and the Kramer
Investment Company as the facilitators and/or owners of
such aircraft. Also, Blue Ridge Aero Service seems to have
a fleet of three Aerospatiale/Aeritalia ATR42s that are
frequently visiting Europe. The following ATR42s, are known
to be operated by/for different US departments: N212AZ
construction number 016 , N470JF construction number 247
and N315CR construction number 252.
An all-white civil looking Lockheed L-100 (Model L-382)
Hercules with N-number N2731G transited Lajes on the
Azores. The Hercules transport aircraft was believed to be
heading to the remote Cape Verde island Sal on 31 March 2018.
At this moment it is known that at least four L-382G Hercules
aircraft, with different mentioned owners, are registered in
Wilmington (DE). They are regularly flying on a global scale
for US agencies and on behalf of the US government. The
overall white aircraft, with sometimes almost unreadable
N-numbers, are operated by Gulf Air Group Inc./Tepper
Airways Inc. out of Crestview airport (FL). The US Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) database shows:
N2731G c/n 4582 JJS&D (LLC) ex N2189M
N3867X c/n 4684 T3D&H (LLC)
N2679C c/n 4796 Q2P (LLC) ex N8183J
N3796B c/n 5027 NORTHCAP (LLC) ex N4278M.
Besides the six well known US Army De Havilland DHC-8s, also
known as the RO-6A, there seem to be more of those heavily
modified Dash Eights. Some recent N-registered aircraft were
Iraqi National Intelligence Organisation (IA)
Beech 1900D
YI-BAJ “Fly Baghdad” c/s, f/n UE-396 jan18
Oman
al Quwwat al-Jawwiya al-Sultanat Oman (AF)
Hawk Mk166
161 6sq del OM001 sep17
162 6sq del OM002 jul17
163 6sq del OM003 jul17
164 6sq del OM004 sep17
165 6sq del OM005 oct17
166 6sq del OM006 oct17
167 6sq w/o 01apr18 OM007
168 6sq del OM008 dec17
Typhoon
211 BAE Systems f/n NS002 sep17
212 BAE Systems f/n NS003 sep17
213 8sq del NS004 nov17
214 8sq del NS005 nov17
215 8sq del NS006 feb18
216 8sq del NS007 feb18
218 BAE Systems f/n NS009 mar18
Syria
Al-Quwwat al-Jawwiya al-Arabiya As’souriya (AF)
L-39ZA/ZO
2139 w/o 26dec17
Mi-8
1367 f/n, photo, or 1267?
MiG-21MF
1532 photo
2296 photo sep17
MiG-23ML
2750 photo
MiG-29SM
3430 photo
3435 photo
SA342L
1329 photo
1337 photo 1730
1363 photo
Su-24MK2
3514 photo
Unfortunately none of the mighty Block 50 F-16s of Iquique showed up at the FIDAE 2018 and so only two former Dutch F-16AMs could be pho-
tographed. The 747 of Grupo de Aviación 7 is the former KLu J-864 and attended the flying display. (Santiago/A.M.Benitez, 2 April 2018, Leonard
van Teeffelen)
