RAAF
Oddity #98 - Australian Air Force Cadets DG40 NG.
by Steve Mackenzie
Originally I intended to do an article covering the history of the airframes flown over it's history by the Australian Air Force Cadets (AAFC) but some research showed that is a bigger subject than I expected. So this time I have restricted it to the airframes currently operated (12 x Diamond DA40 NG Star aircraft). The AAFC is quite a large organisation with 7500 - 8000 cadets (fiqures differ depending on the souce) and 1200 instructors. While this article concentrates on the flying training side of things, they also have many other activities (see the Wikipedia article listed below for details). The DA40 NG aircraft are leased under a capability support contract with Airflite and are supplemented by other powered aircraft under a Powered Service Provider program, to ensure all cadet wings have access to the powered flying program. In addition to the powered flying program, the AAFC also operates a fleet of 11 DG1000S gliders in QLD, NSW and SA.
VH-UEZ in the hangar. A good image showing position of the wing roundels
In 2019, the Australian Air Force Cadets introduced a fleet of 8 Diamond DA40 NG Star aircraft, which are ideal for flight training. These aircraft offer excellent visibility and comfortable seating for four persons, who can communicate using individual headsets. Each aircraft is fitted with a Garmin 1000Nxi dual flight display system, a fully capable autopilot, and a 170hp turbocharged AE300 engine which is controlled by the pilot using a single power lever. These aircraft are registered to the Commonwealth of Australia and are maintained by Cadet Branch - Air Force, and are flown by qualified AAFC instructors. In 2022 they took delivery of four new Diamond DA40 NG aircraft, bringing the total fleet to 12. The aircraft are core to the Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS), and currently based on the east coast in EFTS Flights at RAAF Bases Amberley, Richmond and Point Cook. The AAFC EFTS flights cover 70 per cent of the cadet population, with planning commenced to establish a fourth flight at RAAF Base Pearce in the next two years.
The following table lists the airframes involved. Very few images exist
online yet for the new airframes. I have been able to confirm that VH-YWF
carries airframe I.D number '9', the remaining 3 in my listing are conjecture
but almost certainly correct (all 12 I.D numbers have now been confirmed by Michael Dalton on Facebook) . As can be seen the colour scheme is basically Red and White, with Insignia Blue under surfaces (when in shadow it looks Black). There are White stripes below the wing and tailplane for visibilty reasons (similar to the RAAF PC-21s). Regos and AAFC titling are Insignia Blue and I.D numbers are Black and the AAFC insignia is on the vertical tails. There are small full coloured RAAF roundels near the extremities of both upper and lower wings (the under wing roundels have a very fine light, probably White outline to make them stand out against the lower surface colour). These colours have now been confirmed by Michael Dalton on Facebook.
There is a very comprehensive webpage at 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Air_Force_Cadets' which gives much info on the organisation of the Australian Air Force Cadets. Also see 'https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Australian_Air_Force_Cadets' for more info.
For those interested there has been a Resin model in 1/72 scale of the Diamond DA40 from Decarli models from the Czech Republic.
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