Oman Air Force Hercules

[RosscoPCole]

Driving past Bournemouth airport this afternoon and noticed a Hercules parked up near the terminal. It had an unusual flag on the tail. After some research it turns out it was from the Air Force of Oman just like the one below.

Has anyone got any ideas why it might be over here and at Bournemouth?

[Boatbuoy]

En-route to, or maybe a test flight from, Marshalls at Cabridge perhaps? They are Herc specialists!

[GT3ZZZ]

Check out Fighter Control for some pics of it landing. It came in on 3 engines having declared an emergency.

http://www.fightercontrol.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.ph...

[RosscoPCole]

GT3ZZZ said:

Check out Fighter Control for some pics of it landing. It came in on 3 engines having declared an emergency.

http://www.fightercontrol.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.ph...

Thank you, great pics.

[tim0409]

Bit of a coincidence and totally unrelated.. - I was watching Mighty Planes last night with the C130 and mentioned to the OH a story about my Dad when he worked on contract for the Omani Air Force (for a company based at Bournemouth Airport). My dad worked on Islanders and an opportunity came up to buy a wing for a plane they had in Muscat, the only problem was the wing was in New York! My dad built a cradle to carry it in the back of a C130 for the return leg then hitched a lift to oversee the operation - they stopped off in the UK en-route and I remember my Dad making a short over-night journey up to Edinburgh to see us before heading off (which was really exiting as I only saw him for 2 weeks every 20 when I was growing up!).

[ecsrobin]

Holy thread resurrection batman! Just sat in the terminal at Bournemouth and parked up opposite is the Omani C130 as mentioned here.

I know they used to keep their 747-sp here for when the royal family were in the UK. Any ideas what the Herc is here for clearly seems like a regular visitor looking online.

Edited by ecsrobin on Monday 23 October 12:16

[DuraAce]

Getting something done by Cobham I'd imagine?

[ecsrobin]

Correction to this it’s a c295m and a freight loader at the back. Maybe collecting some cars?

Edited by ecsrobin on Monday 23 October 12:28

[djc206]

ecsrobin said:

Holy thread resurrection batman! Just sat in the terminal at Bournemouth and parked up opposite is the Omani C130 as mentioned here.

I know they used to keep their 747-sp here for when the royal family were in the UK. Any ideas what the Herc is here for clearly seems like a regular visitor looking online.

Edited by ecsrobin on Monday 23 October 12:16

When I worked at the airport they used to come and go fairly regularly. Is it not likely something to do with a certain military unit based in Poole?

The 747sp is Qatari, they've also acquired a 747-800 which is often at Hurn.

[SVX]

The Qatari 747-SP is a frequent visitor to King Shaka International in Durban (DUR); I've seen it on the pan parked away from the terminal several times. I understand that the Qatari Royals are big horse racing fans, and come in for the Durban July races.

[RosscoPCole]

I wasn't expecting this to be resurrected. Is their 747SP still there as I believe that it was up for sale. I can't remember seeing it take off over my house recently. The engine noise is very distinctive and it is great to watch it slowly lurch up into the sky.

[marky1]

My sister worked on the SP. It's not in use anymore. The new one took over. Last I heard the sp was up for sale.

[SVX]

There can't be that many serviceable SP hulls around anymore then. I understand from a bit of cursory Googling that the new 74-8 has been extensively modified internally - I'm guessing gold taps, marble sinks and a dedicated cargo bay for the Bugatti, McLaren and the staff's RR.

[texaxile]

Back in the 80's , 90's and early 00's I used to fly on the Royal Flight Oman 747 regularly. Mostly out of Heathrow but once out of Cardiff, iirc it used to fly over to the UK twice a week out of the Military area of Seeb (no customs or queue) to pick up supplies and stuff for Qaboos and his palace staff, the rear passenger section wasn't all that great tbh, and the in flight menu consisted of egg sarnies and walkers crisps!.

It was a bit of a "pose" walking to the check in counter at LHR though, right at the front with all the other first class desks.