Yesterday I was told a French Air Force CN-235 ‘141’ went into Ashaig, this is pretty unusual and I’m kind of intregued as to why it landed. There have been quite a few military movements over the years that I lived on Skye, but this was the biggest military visitor that actually landed that I’m aware of.

There have been the odd C-130 touch and goes, but none actually put down as far as I’m aware. There have also been a couple of Hawks visited in the past couple of months, I’m pretty sure that these weren’t connected to Joint Warrior unless someone was scoping out where to get some lunch during the exercise. Although that pleasure usually falls to the Plockton Hotel, where the Merlins are operating out of Plockton International.

It’s more likely that you’ll see the odd light civil stuff at Ashaig, well upto the size of a Beech 350i – than anything military.

I’ll have to have a little dig around on this and see if they local grape vine throws anything up, but that’s the way that spotting is – someone probably saw it if they were out walking their dog on the airfield.

A second day on the mound at Prestwick, waiting for the second delivery of Nigerian A-29B’s from the states. A second day where we were all dissapointed, I say all – there were probably more than 100 spotters on the mound. Most would have been ardently wishing for the A-29’s to put in an appearance, All would have been dissappointed.

Still with the start of Joint Warrior 21-2 there were some Falcon 20’s, I remember when they were Fan Jet Falcons – these are the ones that have been through a few owners to get to where they are now.

Companies like Hurn Refuelling, names long gone – now they are Draken and I’d really like to see them in splinter camoflage, but they will probably stay in the dark blue until the paint shop runs out.

Over the past couple of days, there were five C-17’s and Galaxy, that will have to do just now. Still maybe the Nigerian’s will put in an appearance tomorrow, or will it be later in the week when I’m away?

Still as a friend would say, spotting is what it – I’d say Onwards and Downwards.

So a little further on the search for a registration, the originator of the request had mentioned an other picture in which the aircraft was more complete. The furnished image does provide a little more information, but what have I found out so far.

The aircraft seemed to appear outside at Chandler Memorial, between late 1993 and early 1998 – this information was gleaned from a number of satellite images of Maricopa County in Arizona.

Given the date when it first appeared, it could be recorded in the FAA database as any one of these types.

+———+——————————–+———————-+——–+

| type_id | mfr_name | model | alt_id |

+———+——————————–+———————-+——–+

| 0143006 | AERO COMMANDER | S2C | |

| 0143010 | AERO COMMANDER | 600 S-2D | |

| 0143012 | AERO COMMANDER | 600 S-2D RESTRICTED | |

| 0143022 | AERO COMMANDER | S2R | |

| 0970100 | AYRES CORPORATION | S-2R | |

| 0970101 | AYRES CORPORATION | S-2R | |

| 0970102 | AYRES CORPORATION | S2R-600 | |

| 0970104 | AYRES CORPORATION | S2R-800 | |

| 0970114 | AYRES CORP | S-2R | |

| 0970202 | AYRES CORPORATION | S2R-R3S | |

| 0970203 | AYRES CORPORATION | S2R-R1820 | |

| 0970210 | AYRES CORPORATION | S2R-R1340 | |

| 0970215 | AYRES CORPORATION | S2R-R1820 | |

| 0970216 | AYRES CORPORATION | S2R-G6 | |

| 0970217 | AYRES CORPORATION | S2R-G10 | |

| 0970218 | AYRES CORPORATION | S2R-G5 | |

| 0970219 | AYRES CORPORATION | S2R-G1 | |

| 6150135 | NORTH AMERICAN ROCKWELL | S-2R | |

| 7630201 | ROCKWELL/TEACH | S-2R | |

| 7630202 | ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL | S-2R | |

| 7630203 | ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL | S-2R-800 | |

| 7630205 | ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL | S-2R | |

| 7630206 | ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL/TAYLOR | S2R | |

| 8380206 | SNOW | S2C | |

| 8380302 | SNOW | 600-S2C | |

| 8380306 | SNOW | 600 S-2D | |

| 8380308 | SNOW COMMANDER | 600-S2R | |

| 8380309 | THRUSH AIRCRAFT INC | S-2R | |

+———+——————————–+———————-+——–+

Current thinking is that the badge displayed on the side behind the engine is actually an Aero Commander badge, but I’ll have to find an image to check this.

Still as they say in the spotting world, Onward and Downward.