Around the RAAF Open Day: Sukhois, MWDs, and yet more aircraft

If you want to see what this exercise (and these planes) is like up in the air, have a look at this ABC video where the journo is airborne in a RAAF F/A-18. Way cool to a plane junkie! Oh, BTW, that noise is quiet compared to yesterday afternoon at our place.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-16/nt-skies-to-fall-silent-as-war-games-end/4201904

But returning to my own photos:

The Russian-made Sukhoi SU-30 jet flown by the Indonesian Air Force has generated a lot of interest since it arrived in Darwin a couple of weeks ago. As you can see there was a photo shoot going on last Saturday at the Open Day.

Sukhoi SU-30 with an older model SU-27 Sukhoi behind it.

A rear view of the Sukhoi SU-30

My other post gave an example of what happens when you mess with a Military Working Dog (MWD) on duty. One of the things I noticed was that two of the handlers were women and later while looking around the aircraft we saw LACW Bowden with MWD Rocco on duty patrolling the RAAF’s F/A18-F Super Hornets. She kindly gave me permission to take their photo for this blog and we had a chat about being a MWD handler. Rocco is a Belgian Malinois. I think it was Rocco in the other series of photos and also LACW Bowden with the puppy-in-training. I’ve never seen these dogs in action before and I was so impressed (can’t you tell?).

LACW Bowden and MWD Rocco on duty.

It must be devastating if something happens to either the MWD or its handler given the closeness of their bond. You can listen to another handler talking about it here during Pitch Black 08.

The RAAF Hercules was generating a lot of interest from the crowd. Master Nearly-6 was thrilled to be able to have a look inside.

Interior view of the Hercules.

Republic of Singapore Air Force Gulfstream G-550 early warning aircraft with heavy-duty electronics and radar

Republic of Singapore Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker with the RAAF’s AP-3C Orion behind it. The KC-135 is their mid-air refuelling tanker.

Republic of Singapore Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon.

RSAF F-15 Eagle.

Young (and not so young) boys were having fun checking out the APCs and the Army’s weaponry.

P