Excellent Peter - I hope we see them up in Queensland like last Exercise!
Another forum has info suggesting one of the main attractions for Central Qld (Rocky) the USS Essex may not come at all - it is stuck in Japan for 'operational reasons'... USAF Hercs may make up for this!
Anyway a report from Saturday 9/7
Hundreds of locals turned out for the Talisman Sabre 2011 Open Day at the Showgrounds. There was no US equipment, but a vast range of ADF military equipment was on show including Recovery Vehicles, Armoured Vehicles, a Kalmar Container Handler, an Abrams Tank, an Armoured Personel Carrier, a Lighter Amphibious Resupply Cargo Vehicle. Airborne assets included Sikorsky S70A-9 Blackhawk helicopter (A25-224), Eurocopter EC665 Tiger (ARH) Helicopter (A38-008), and Westland Sea King Mk.50A "Shark 10" (N16-125).
At Rockhampton Airport, military movements were limited with a couple of Army Eurcopter EC665 Tiger helicopters and Sikorsky S70A-9 Blackhawk helicopters flying sorties to Shoalwater Bay.
Other movements included...
- Another Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Westland Sea King Mk.50A arriving as "Shark 07" making it N16-118.
- Three Australian Army Commonwealth CA-32 (Bell 206B/OH-58A) Kiowa helicopters arrived from the South as "Redback 38". These were A17-038, A17-051, A17-014. These Kiowas joined A17-027 which went for a test flight late in the afternoon after being stuck in Rockhampton with maintenance issues.
- Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Lockheed C-130H Hercules returned and left again as "Trojan 06".
- United States Navy (USN) Lockheed C-130T Hercules 165349 (Tail Code RU5349) of the VR-55 Unit, which returned to Rockhampton briefly, arriving and departing as "Convoy 7901".
Reports may dry up for a bit now as I head back home tomorrow, but I should be back next weekend!
Photos as always are on the CQ Plane Spotting Blog -
http://cqplanespotting.blogspot.com/
Cheers
Damian