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Picture of the Day: Aussie Aussie Aussie
By John
06/17/07 - Australian army Warrent Officer Andrew Shore, with Reconnaissance Platoon, 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, jumps out of a DHC-4 Caribou aircraft with an MC5 freefall parachute over Rockhampton, Australia, June 17, 2007, during exercise Talisman Sabre 2007. The biennial exercise is designed to train Australian and U.S. forces in planning and conducting combined task force operations, which will help improve combat readiness and interoperability. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Chelsea D. Terrell)
Those Caribous kind of...well, suck... if you know what I mean. No offense to our Canadian brothers, who developed the thing. Just an ancient aircraft, is all.
I've heard rumblings that the Aussies want new C-17s (who doesn't?) But at a cool $202 million an airframe, and a national defense budget that barely scrapes above 18 billion in total expenditures, the Globemaster might be out of reach for our Australian friends.
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just a hair short of 1/18th of their total defense budget for four airframes...nice
The Caribou may not be very pretty but they did a great job in Viet Nam. And the Aussie pilots really knew how to handle them.
They had a pad at the south end of the strip at Da Nang. When landing from the north, most aircraft put down as soon as they crossed over the field boundry. The Aussies would fly the entire length of the runway and drop the aircraft at the last possible second. Guess they didn't like taxiing much. Hauled some interesting stuff, too. I was driving by their area one day and saw a small herd of cows unloaded from a Caribou, followed by about a platoon of young, pretty Vietnamese girls, all in camoflage utilities and armed. Would have loved to know what that was about.
In 1968 I took the luxury flight from Nui Dat RVN to near Melbourne. Many stops, noisy, bumpy, but we got there. Thank God we flew back commercial.
Also taxied around RVN with 3 RAR in the Caribou. Sure gets you in and out quick!
Fine aircraft, tough as nails, but not for long flights.
I have no sympathy for the Aussies. ;)
Not when we Canucks are still flying 45-year-old Sea Kings, 40-year-old Buffalos, and C-130E's with over 40,000 hours on 40-year-old airframes.
"Ten thousand parts flying in close formation" is just how the rest of the world other than the U.S. rolls these days, folks.
just a hair short of 1/18th of their total defense budget for four airframes...nice
Given that the other 17/18ths isn't much use unless it's where it needs to be, it kind of makes sense...
"Three cheeseburgers and two orders of fries to go!"
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The Assies allready have at least 1 of their 4 C-17s