Airforces phantoms at andravida

Colombian

T-37 serials

explained

I was very glad to see the

extremely versatile and long-

lived Cessna T-37 celebrated

on p76-78 of the June issue,

but I fear the authors rather

confused the history of the T-37 in

Fuerza Aérea Colombiana (FAC,

Colombian Air Force) service and

have introduced or perpetuated

a number of inaccuracies.

On p76, the authors report

that the first batch of T-37s

acquired by the FAC consisted

of 15 T-37Cs, serials FAC-

2100 to 2114 in “mid-1968”.

The first batch actually comprised

only ten aircraft, serials FAC-

2101 to 2110, and they arrived

in two batches: the first five on

November 26, 1969 and the

second five in December that year.

On p77 they described a small

follow-on batch of T-37s acquired

in 1977, comprising three aircraft.

In fact, there were four aircraft, all

T-37Bs, and these were not serials

FAC-2115 to 2117 as reported

but serials FAC-2111 to 2114.

These were followed, in June

1992, by eight more T-37Bs (FAC-

2115 to 2122) and in October

2008 by four more T-37Bs. Other

small batches followed in January

2009, and around May 2009.

Readers might be interested to

learn that the US first discussed

the possibility of providing T-37s

to Colombia – as replacements

for the FAC’s T-33s and F-86s

• as early as December 1961,
  with funding to have followed
  in Fiscal Years 1962 and 1963
  and actual initial deliveries to
  have commenced with five in
  FY63, followed by five more in
  FY64 and three in FY66. The
  FAC, instead, opted to further
  reinforce its T-33 fleet until the
  new T-37Cs arrived in 1969.
  Dan Hagedorn
  Curator Emeritus, The Museum
  of Flight, Boeing Field

Errata: BUFF re-engining

and UAV loss in Syria

On p15 of the September 2018

issue, with reference to the GE

Passport turbofan option, the

section on B-52 re-engining

states “...the Passport would

‘increase fuel burn’ by a

double-digit figure...”

This should read

‘decrease fuel burn’.

Meanwhile, on p91 of the May

issue, the March 5 Attrition entry

details the crash of a Russian

unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)

in Homs province, Libya. It

should, of course, be Syria.

MSgt Chris Dierkes

106th RQW

New York ANG

Black Knights

no more

Regarding the two F-16s in the

main photo of Singapore’s Air

Combat Command – the first

decade, on p44-45 of the April

issue, it is not factually correct to

say that these aircraft “transferred

to the Black Knights display

team”. This formation is not a

full-time unit and the team is

in fact inactive (for now); all of

the team’s F-16Cs and pilots

were operational fighters and

pilots. The two Fighting Falcons

in question, serials 620 and

645, flew displays as part of the

Black Knights team in 2015.

Chen Chuanren

Above: Slovak MiG-29UBS serial 5304 combines a striking tiger artwork added over this old non-digital camoufl age

scheme applied after the division of Czechoslovakia. US Air National Guard/Staff Sgt William Hopper

Twitter user @MiG_Aviator got

in touch to shed more light

on the caption on p38 of our

Intel Report in the October

issue: “Interesting article.

Just one small correction. This

camo [on MiG-29UBS serial

5304] was applied after the split

of Czechoslovakia, which ceased

to exist on January 1, 1993. All

MiG-29s delivered after that date

didn’t have the Czechoslovak

camo pattern, which was

brown/green, but instead were

green/grey, like serial 5304.”

Czech camo clarifi ed

Left: A member of the 5th Maintenance Group inspects a B-52H’s TF33 engine

at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota. General Electric’s Passport turbofan

is one of the candidates to re-engine the Stratofortress. USAF/Airman 1st Class

Jonathan McElderry

Above: Colombia, together with Pakistan, is one of the fi nal military operators

of the classic T-37. Cees-Jan van der Ende

http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #369 DECEMBER 2018 // 79

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