Other Military

This is a collection of mainly foreign aircraft. This page also includes some air show planes which were either foreign or US military and are now in civilian service. Last updated August 1, 2001

Based on the P-3 Orion platform this WP-3 is assigned to the United States Department of Commerce and is operated by NOAA. The plane is equipped with secret instrumentation used to map out and analyze cloud formations and storm systems, in particular - hurricanes. The probes on the nose and wings are lasers used to analyze the storms. This plane is very similar to the one that crash landed in China in April 2001, but is lacking the large radio antenna found on the top of the fuselage as the EP-3.

On it's way to Thailand, this Royal Thai Navy TA-7 is at NAS Meridian. The A-7's have the folding refueling boom on the side of the nose. This model also is equipped with two wing mounted auxiliary fuel tanks for it's long trip.

This is only one of just a few Chinese Mig 15's imported into the US. They were held up in customs when delivered so that the machine guns could be removed. I also learned that one of the Migs crashed a couple of years after this photo was taken. The Mig visited NAS New Orleans on November 7, 1988. Recently, I came across a bright red Mig 15 at an "auto repair shop" in Wilmington, DE. The plane was in tact and appeared to be under restoration.

Another Mig that made the air show circuit was this beautiful Mig 21. I could never understand why the air show promotors would not fly the Mig with a F-15 or F-14 on it's wingtip. Just think of the potential for a great shot that would make.

Believe it or not I had to wait until 2001 to actually see one of these fly. I have been to numereous airshows and bases and have never actually seen one fly. This F-104 Starfighter is one of the "century" series aircraft used during Viet Nam by the air force and still in service with some foreign militaries today.

I do not have a US Army page so here is the Fokker Friendship F-27 used by the Golden Knights parachute team. This is at Charleston AFB and sporting its newest paint scheme.

The Longbow is one of the latest attack army helicopter out there. It has four weapon pylons providing rockets, bombs, missles and a laser aimed machine gun in the nose. It also has night vision and heat tracking electronics.

A visitor to the Columbia (SC) Airport is this US Army C-23 Sherpa aircraft. Civilian cousin is the Shorts 330 used by at least one airline, Olympic in Greece and civilian skydiver haulers. This is only the second one I have ever seen. Primarily used for cargo and troop movements, it can also be used for army paratroopers who jump out from the dropdown ramp at the rear of the aircraft. I was surprised to see this Indiana Air National Guard C-23 in navy low visibility gray verses green as most army aircraft are painted.

This was a regular visitor to Dover AFB. This Greek C-130 was photographed one Saturday morning at the base. Also along with it was a Saudi C-130, another regular visitor.

The Royal Saudi Air Force is also a regular visitor to Dover AFB, but this was the only time I have ever seen a "stretch" version of a C-130 as pictured here. Check out the comparison between it and the standard length Greek C-130 pictured in the image above.