Children's Day Thailand, 12 January 2013
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First bases visited during the first days of the week leading up to Children's Day were Kamphaeng Saen and Kanchanaburi. Kamphaeng Saen, a base situated to the North-West of the capitol Bangkok, used to be a USAF B-52 base during the Vietnam War, but now houses rather lighter aircraft in the shape of the New Zealand designed and built Pacific Aerospace Corporation CT/4E Airtrainers. These little piston powered trainers flown by 1 FTS "Chicken Flight" provide aspiring Thai military pilots with their first taste of flying. The more familiar Swiss built Pilatus PC.9 is the advanced trainer of the syllabus. Most PC.9's are finished in white with a red and blue trim, but some like the one above centre sport the colours of the RTAF "Blue Phoenix" aerobatic team. All PC.9's are with 2 FTS "Mustang". Nearby Kanchanaburi - Camp Surasri would also open its gates to young Thai. This Army base houses the 7th Infantry Division's Aviation Company and their Bell 206B-3's and Hughes TH-300C's. A visiting Army Bell UH-1H was in evidence already on the preceeding Tuesday 8 January.
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Arriving for Childrenīs Day at Don Muang on Friday 11 January were these two F-5's. Both the F-5B two seater and the F-5E were from 211 sq "Eagles" at Ubon Ratcathani. Don Muang's static show was also to feature a Bell UH-H. This example came from Don Muang's own 203 "Scorpion" squadron.
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Korat Air Base, near the Eastern town of Nakhon Ratchasima, opened its gates as planned on Saturday 12 January. The base is home to Wing 1 which is the leading RTAF fighter wing and operates close to 50 Lockheed Martin F-16's. Interestingly, these comprise a mix of F-16A and B Block 15's, as well as some F-16A Block 15 ADF's. These former USAF air defenders can easily be distinguished by their bulged fin bases. The F-16's put up a series of displays, comprising formation fly pasts as well as a solo demonstration by a suitably decorated jet.
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One of the F-16A-Block 15 ADF's may be seen above left.
Like Don Muang, 203 sq sent one of its Hueys over to Korat, performing a
Combat Search and Rescue demonstration. Interestingly, the RTAF bought six
Diamond DA.42 Twin Stars for multi engined training. One of those new
aquisitions operated by 604 "Sunny" sq at Don Muang could be seen in the static
park.
All in all, Children's Day 2013 was a good opportunity to see some of the varied and sometimes rare hardware in service with the Thai Armed Forces. |
All pictures (c) Hans Rolink