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From todays National Post...
The soar losers: Unloved, unwanted and just plain worn-out, nearly 150 discarded Canadian military aircraft await buyers at a graveyard of the air
National Post
Mon 18 Apr 2005
Page: A6
Section: Canada
Byline: Chris Wattie
Source: National Post
MOUNTAINVIEW, Ont. - This former Second World War airfield is the graveyard of the Canadian air force, home to nearly 150 outmoded, obsolete or just plain worn-out aircraft deemed too old for even the underfunded and overstretched Canadian Forces.
The base's dusty hangars and cracked tarmac are filled with row upon row of CF-5 fighter-bombers, Tudor training jets, Kiowa helicopters and CT-33 fighters, 144 in all -- enough to equip a fair-sized air force.
And all of them are up for sale to the highest bidder, from stripped-down hulks to fully operational jets. But Major Mike Gartenburg, the officer in charge of the sprawling facility an hour's drive south of Belleville, Ont., is quick to point out that it is not as simple as driving up to the front gate and writing a cheque.
"No, there's a bit more too it than that," he says, looking down the line of CT-33s, Korean War-era jets that stayed in service as trainers or target aircraft until this year. "You can't just throw in the keys and off you go."
Eight of the facility's CT-133s, known affectionately as "T-Birds," are kept in a state of what he calls "flyable preservation," maintained regularly, their engines tuned and the metal skin of the aircraft protected from the harsher extremes of the climate.
"The rest of them are 'Buy as you get; get what you buy,'" Maj. Gartenburg says. "The climate is hard on the aircraft ... those that we can we store inside. The lower-value assets we have to keep outside, but we're looking into ways of better preserving them."
He slaps his hand down on the nose of a Kiowa helicopter, raising a cloud of dust from the olive drab surface. "According to the Department [of National Defence], these babies are $25,000 each, so if you want something sporty to fly around in this is the one for you."
Maj. Gartenburg grins wolfishly at the partially dismantled Kiowa, phased out of service as an army scout helicopter more than a decade ago. "Only six left -- get 'em while they're hot!"
But buying even one of the stripped-down hulks, aircraft with all their engines, electronics and other equipment taken out, stored at Mountainview involves considerably more than driving a used car away from the lot.
Although the T-33 is 50-year-old technology, it still requires the approval of both the Canadian and U.S. governments to buy one. If the aircraft is in flying condition, reams of paperwork must be filled out to ensure its airworthiness and compliance with safety regulations.
For newer aircraft, such as the CF-5 fighter-bomber of the 1970s and '80s, or the Kiowa helicopters, many of which are still being flown by Third World air forces, the process is even more complicated.
"Yeah, a fellow bought a bunch of [Kiowas] a few years ago and it turns out he was trying to sell them to Iran," Maj. Gartenburg says, brushing the dust off his hands. "Canada Customs seized them all and they wound up back here in pretty short order."
Neil Cuddihy, of the Defence Department's directorate of disposals, sales, artifacts and loans, says none of the U.S.-built aircraft at Mountainview can be sold without Washington's approval. "It's U.S.-controlled technology," he said. "We can't finalize a sale until the U.S. Secretary of State department gives its approval."
Most of the aircraft at Mountainview will eventually be bought by museums or vintage aircraft collectors or will be sold for scrap metal or parts. "We get the occasional interested parties, potential buyers come and check out the aircraft," Maj. Gartenburg says. "There's quite a market for old aircraft."
But military experts say there ought to be a lot more aircraft in mothballs at the facility. Aircraft that are more than 40 years old are still in active service with the air force, including the aging Sea King maritime helicopters, Buffalo search and rescue planes and Hercules transport planes.
In fact, Mountainview is now effectively Canada's largest fighter base, home to more combat jets than the rest of the air force put together.
"In the last eight to 10 years we've cut the number of airframes in half," says Don McLeod, the president of the Air Force Association of Canada. "It's the incredible shrinking air force."
And while replacements for many of the air force's oldest planes have been promised, there is little hope that the aerial veterans of the Canadian Forces will be retired anytime soon. Some fear that the new aircraft will come too late and that Canada's air force, at one time the fourth largest in the world, may effectively die of starvation.
"I don't know where it all ends," Mr. McLeod says. "When we do replace our aircraft it's always in much smaller numbers ... the way things are going, at some point they're going to just roll the last Canadian aircraft into Mountainview and say: 'Will the last guy please turn out the lights?'"
_________________ Mike R. Henniger Aviation Enthusiast & Photographer http://www.AerialVisuals.cahttp://www.facebook.com/AerialVisualsDo you want to find locations of displayed, stored or active aircraft? Then start with the The Locator. Do you want to find or contribute to the documented history of an aircraft? If so then start with the Airframes Database.
Last edited by mrhenniger on Mon Apr 18, 2005 2:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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