Hi David...had a good day yesterday...must have been a long one for you.
The Flying displays was excellent.
Sad to see the F111 is poor form. I think the Museum will be at it some time in the future. Also noted lack of Mirage IIIO and the state of some of the facilities...Hangers in poor nick.
Yes ARDU is not what it once was but this is pretty much the same as most units in the RAAF. Big drive for modernisation and reduction of maintenance/support costs so they can have more planes/pilots.
They forget the Roman army history lesson...it marched on it's stomach.
Anyway David objected to my ARDU hat offer, didn't even want a 75SQN hat.....in his defence ...they did look a bit moth eaten....
...and worse
.
The Mirage at ARDU was in a paddock for years. It was used for radar turbine signature tests. Had a big electric motor stuck in it to turn the turbines/compressor, holes in canopy lots of corrosion, it's pretty rough.