Elementary and advanced jet training - LENTOKOULUTUSTA
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This Finnish Air Force fast jet trainer Fouga Magister (FM-49) is now flying in Canada as an experimental aircraft. It served FAF Air Academy, Kauhava, until 1986 when sold to Warplanes Inc, USA. Glorious history from “old pilots” point of view. Thanks to Tom!
 Fouga Magister CM 170 |
Fouga Magister
Wikipedia
Potez Air Fouga C.M.170R Magister oli maailman ensimmäinen palveluskäyttöön otettu suihkuharjoituskone. Pierre Mauboussinin suunnittelema kone lensi ensilentonsa 23. heinäkuuta 1952. Ranskan ilmavoimat Armée de l'Air tilasi 10 esituotantokonetta, ja niiden jälkeen 400 kappaletta Air Fouga -yhtiön valmistamaa sarjatuotantomallia. Koneesta on valmistettu myös 32 kappaletta vahvistetulla laskutelineellä ja pyrstökoukulla varustettua CM-175 Zephyr -tukialusversiota Ranskan laivaston ilmavoimille Aéronavalelle.
Potez osti Air Fouga -yhtiön vuonna 1958, Sud-Aviation vuonna 1967, ja lopulta se myytiin Aérospatiale-yhtiölle. Fouga Magisteria käytettiin ja myös lisenssivalmistettiin useissa maissa, Saksassa valmistaja oli Messerschmitt, Suomessa Valmet ja Israelissa Israeli Aircraft Industries. Israel käytti Fougiaan myös taistelutoimintaan Kuuden päivän sodassa vuonna 1967.
Suomi osti Ranskasta 18 Fouga Magisteria vuosina 1958–59 sekä koneen rakennuslisenssin. Valmet rakensi 62 Fougaa vuosina 1958–67 rakennuslisenssillä. Koneiden tunnukset olivat FM-1...-18 ja FM-21...-82. FM-21 oli ensimmäinen Suomessa rakennettu Fouga. Konetyyppi oli Suomen ilmavoimien suihkukoneiden koulukoneena vuosina 1958–88.
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Ralph D. Miller:
POEM FOR OLD PILOTS TO ENJOY
FLYING WEST
I hope there's a place, way up in the sky,
Where pilots can go, when they have to die.
A place where a guy can buy a cold beer
For a friend and a comrade, whose memory is dear.
A place where no doctor or lawyer can tread,
Nor a management type would Ere be caught dead;
Just a quaint little place, kind of dark, full of smoke,
Where they like to sing loud, and love a good joke.
The kind of a place where a lady could go;
And feel safe and protected, by the men she would know.
There must be a place where old pilots go,
When their paining is finished, and their airspeed gets low,
Where the whiskey is old and the women are young,
And songs about flying and dying are sung,
Where you'd see all the fellows who'd flown west before,
And they'd call out your name, as you came through the door.
Who would buy you a drink, if your thirst should be bad;
And relate to the others, "He was quite a good lad!"
And then through the mist, you'd spot an old guy
You had not seen in years, though he taught you to fly.
He'd nod his old head, and grin ear to ear;
And say, "Welcome, my son, I'm pleased that you're here."
"For this is the place where true flyers come,"
"When their journey is over, and the war has been won."
"They've come here at last to be safe and alone";
"From the government clerks and the management clone,"
"Politicians and lawyers, the Feds and the noise,"
"Where all hours are happy, and these good ole boys"
"Can relax with a cool one, and a well deserved rest;"
"This is heaven, my son;
“You've passed your last test!"
FOUGA Magister in Finland
In 1958-1959, Finland purchased 18 Fouga Magisters from France. At the same time they also obtained a manufacturing license. The Finnish aircraft manufacturer Valmet later built 62 Fouga aircraft between 1958–67. The French built aircraft carried the designations FM-1...-18 and the Finnish built FM-21...-82. The aircraft was a jet trainer in the Finnish Air Force between 1958-1988. Twenty-one Fouga Magisters were destroyed in accidents.