September 2024

This month we make up for a lack of articles the past few months by having three!

Pitch Black 2024 is an exercise held in Australia and happens every two years. It always generates lots of flying activity with exotic visitors, especially if you are from the European continent. Editor Hans van Herk paid a visit and came back with this article and lots of pictures.

Resolute Sentinel 2024 is another exercise, this time in Latin America, Peru to be exact. The article was sent in by Daniel Ledesma Silva, Sebastian Leuchter and Dennis Deis and describes this multinational military exercise with armed forces from seven nations.

Last article this month is titled 'Farewell German Navy Sea King'. Editor Peter Wilmink visited Nordholz for the event, which had two Sea Kings in special colours present, and marks the end of an era for the Deutsche Marineflieger. Their roll will now be taken over by the NH90-NFH Sea Lion.

The October 2024 edition will be available from Sunday 6 October and the deadline for photos is Tuesday 1 October.

A majestic sight on Sproat Lake, Vancouver Island (BC) is no more as the last flying Martin JRM-3 Mars left her Coulson Aviation base on 11 August 2024, flying a farewell route to Patricia Bay near the eastern tip of the island and Victoria International Airport. From there, she was brought ashore to be preserved in the British Columbia Aviation Museum at the airport, with the ribbon cutting planned for the end of September. Geurt van den Berg was at Sproat Lake on 19 July 2024 and enjoyed the sight of Hawaii Mars, the red-tailed one, moored on the lake as she had been for decades.