ANNIVeRSARY AIR SHow! - Royal New Zealand Air Force

More documents

Recommendations

Info

celebrating 75 Years of service to new Zealand the 75th aNNIversary AiRCRAFT LivERy PRojECT By D.A. Bacon, Project Officer, Directorate of systems evaluation Many plastic model makers will be familiar with applying decals to model aircraft; however, it’s not often we get to apply decals to the real thing! 10 Air Force news The ‘Air Force’ decal is revealed on the underside of the b757 This year has allowed us to do just that—the 75th Anniversary is a major milestone and to celebrate we developed a highly visible aircraft livery. After extensive research, decals were chosen as the most effective way to do the job. The project had a secondary goal of attaining maximum public exposure throughout our anniversary year, so we developed the project to include a b757, c-130 and a cT4-e Airtrainer. The c-130 (NZ 7004), is scheduled to attend the international exercises cRoIX dU SUd in New caledonia, TRoPIc ASTRA in the South Pacific, MAPle FlAG in canada and RIMPAc in Hawaii. Along with this busy exercise schedule the c-130 will be conducting displays in New Zealand. Similarly, the b757 (NZ7571), is planned to fly to exercise SeA lIoN in Australia, take the longlook deployment to the Uk, attend exercises beRSAMA SHIeld in Malaysia and RIMPAc in Hawaii. To cap things off the b757 will fly our veterans to the dedication of the bomber command Memorial in london as well fly a number of operational deployments and take part in our own Anniversary Air Show. Red checker 1, the lead cT4-e Air Trainer (NZ 1994), has also been given Anniversary livery; it will be seen during the extensive Red checkers’ tour throughout NZ and at the RNZAF Anniversary and wanaka Air Shows. decals are relatively easy to install and remove, are low risk in terms of paint scheme damage and are very cost-effective. The project team put together three design options and sent the options to the chief of Air Force.
The tail of Hercules NZ7004 checkers 1, the lead Airtrainer of our aerobatic team boeing 757 in the new livery celebrating 75 Years of service to new Zealand The decal designs were subject to the following design constraints: • Use of standard RNZAF insignia, • Use of RNZAF tri-colours, • Use of 75th anniversary colour in design (diamond white and/or Gold), and, • complied with the RNZAF’s 75th Anniversary ‘brand’. The cAF’s chosen design concept was put together by F/S Trent wyatt, an Air engineer at No. 5 Sqn. well known for his artistry, F/S wyatt’s design incorporates: • Four contrails made up of the Air Force tri-colours and gold—which represents 75 years of RNZAF service. • Four symbolic strike aircraft representing a link to our past and the four force elements of Maritime, Fixed wing transport, Rotary wing transport, and Training aircraft. • The Southern cross, to represent New Zealand and our flag. david Sherriff at the Auckland drawing office then applied the design concept to each aircraft type. david’s expertise as a former Safety and Surface technician and now as a Technical drawer was invaluable in translating F/S wyatt’s design concept to each aircraft. The team had to take into consideration a number of constraints. The designs could not utilise primary flight control surfaces; the decals could not impinge on anti-icing systems or instrument and sensor components; while we also needed to avoid areas of oil, soot or dirt accumulation and areas requiring regular inspection. decal quality is extremely important and installed on RNZAF aircraft they have to withstand the full range of environmental factors: • Altitudes up to and including 42,000 feet. • Speeds up to and including Mach 0.86. • Temperatures ranging from -56° to +55°c. • Good resistance to water, Mil-l-7808 oil, and Jet A and AVGAS fuels. The preferred commercial provider was Admark Visual Imaging ltd, a New Zealand firm which is an authorised 3M product applicator and is recognised internationally as specialists in the printing and application of aircraft graphics and signage. Admark provides decal products to Air New Zealand and are original equipment Manufacturers to boeing. The installation was undertaken by Admark technicians under the supervision and assistance of No. 40 Sqn Maintenance Flight (for the b757 and c-130) and Pilot Training Squadron Maintenance Flight (for the Airtrainer). The directorate of continued Airworthiness Management in both Auckland and ohakea provided important specialist engineering advice and the required technical approvals to install the decals on the aircraft. The newly-liveried b757 was quickly observed in christchurch and in the Antarctic, while the lead Red checker was soon turning heads around the South Island. The Anniversary aircraft livery project is a simple but eye-catching and cost effective means of communicating the RNZAF’s 75th Anniversary year to the public, both in NZ and internationally. Air Force news 11
Page 1 and 2: ANNIVeRSARY AIR SHow! FIGHTING SPIR
Page 3 and 4: First word First Word By Air Vice-M
Page 5 and 6: The chief of defence Force has laun
Page 7 and 8: Rear Admiral Steer, VcdF and AVM St
Page 9: SECoND P-3K2 ACCEPTED on 16 March P
Page 13 and 14: Air Movements personnel at work: lA
Page 15 and 16: Antarctica seen from a c-130 cockpi
Page 17 and 18: celebrating 75 Years of service to
Page 19 and 20: wwI dogfight; the Fokker dVII ( r)
Page 21 and 22: The c-17 on a slow pass with flaps
Page 23 and 24: A No.3 Sqn Iroquois is crowded with
Page 25 and 26: one of the warbird stars of the RNZ
Page 27 and 28: y simon gault ThunDER MuSTAnG! why
Page 29 and 30: Air Force Photographers corporals b
Page 31 and 32: dUMbo dIARY, RoYAl New ZeAlANd AIR
Page 33 and 34: y FlTlT lee bradford RNZAF personne
Page 35 and 36: Activity camps for young offenders.
Page 37 and 38: Avionics Pirates meet a watery end
Page 39 and 40: The 75 Years of the RNZAF stamp iss

ANNIVeRSARY AIR SHow! - Royal New Zealand Air Force

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?