Australia 2022
4Aviation ventured Down Under to witness the exercise Pitch Black 2022 at RAAF Base Darwin and also a couple of other places in Australia.
This was our second visit to this exercise and it seems to be increasing in size every time. There was also time to visit some beautiful places to enjoy the local flora and fauna. All in all, another successful tour with a nice variety of aircraft that were able to view and photograph.
On Sunday 21 August, a pleasant group of travellers was ready for a long journey. The program includes a trip to the other side of the world, Australia, with the main goal being the exercise Pitch Black. Despite reports on the news and the Schiphol app, it was very quiet at the national airport, in fact, the check-in desk for the Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul was virtually empty. We were very happy with that, within 30 minutes we had all the checks behind us. In Istanbul we welcomed a participant from Germany who, a few hours later, left for Singapore with us.
In the meantime, it was Monday evening, August 22, and we meet the last three participants of the group of ten in Singapore. Together we went to a small hotel in the city and there we visited a local restaurant for a delicious meal.
It is already Tuesday morning, August 23, when we take an early taxi to the airport of Singapore for our flight to the last destination for the time being, Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia. We arrive here around 2:30 PM and are very lucky. We taxi along a number of flight lines filled with exotic aircraft that participate in the exercise. A mission of Exercise Pitch Black has begun and we land in the middle of it. While we want to cross the runway, F-15SGs from Singapore take off, the RAAF EA-18G Growlers come out of their covered parking lot and we also see an MMF A330MRTT take to the air. Picking up luggage, customs and car is very fast and in less than an hour after touchdown we are in the wrong approach at the airport, the wind direction had changed….. With ten minutes, however, we are in the right place. We can take quite a few nice pictures before we go to our hotel for the coming week. Here is a bar and simple restaurant where they serve delicious food.
On Wednesday 24 August we start early with a visit to ‘our’ bakery in Parap for coffee and fresh sandwiches, then by car to a beautiful spot near the Babcock hangar. Here you can see the aircraft very nicely in the take-off. At this time of the day heat haze is not a problem. Unlike in other years, they don’t seem to fly in big waves, but several smaller ones throughout the day. That is why at some point we have to decide to go to the approach to photograph the returning planes.
This day starts with very low flying American ZZ F-15s, followed by French Rafales, German Eurofighters and A330 tankers from Singapore, our ‘own’ MMF and the RAF. That’s not really something we travel to the other side of the world for, but after that Singaporean F-15s and F-16s, Japanese F-2s, Indian Su-30 and F-16s from Indonesia and South Korea pass by interspersed with Australian EA-18Gs and F-35s, everyone is very happy.
During the day we alternate between the take-off spot and a approach spots on either side of the airport and stay until 6:00 PM. Then back to the hotel for a beer and a nice bite to eat.
The morning of Thursday 25 August looks almost the same as Wednesday. Aircraft we hadn’t yet seen include a departing Singaporean C-130H and USAF KC-10A as well as a shy USMC MV-22, ten of which are on the field. Around 13:30 we leave for the beach, Mindil Beach to be precise, where that evening a flypast and handling display will take place where all participating countries will be seen. From the beach we see that a small afternoon mission is being flown, we missed it.
We don’t miss the lively Sunset Market and will look for a place to watch the event. Unfortunately, most aircraft fly quite far from the coast, but with the help of current digital cameras we can take some very nice pictures of a few participants. After about an hour it is done and almost dark. We again go to the Sunset Market for a nice meal from one of the many food trucks and enjoy the setting sun. It doesn’t get much better.
Friday August 26 was known as a day without Pitch Black traffic. That is why we planned the beautiful Darwin Aviation Museum for the morning. But, where would we be without ADS-B? In the hotel we see that two military Boeing 737 variants are on their way to the northwest, they are a VIP B737 and an E-7A AWACS, we can both capture beautifully. Then breakfast at Ruby G’s Canteen before we go to the museum. We are there for a few hours until ADS-B dictates that we have to move for a RAAF C-17A and Falcon 7X.
The rest of the day we spend on tourist activities in beautiful Litchfield Park. Here we visit the beautiful Magnetic Termite Mounds and take a dip in the Florence Falls Waterhole. Northwest Australia is very hot and, as in many other parts of the world, there is a danger of fires and we are witnessing that too, but luckily from a safe distance.
The open day of the exercise is planned for Saturday 27 August. With shuttle buses you will be driven onto the airfield and the pick-up point is close to our hotel. Beforehand we go to our bakery and then we wait for the bus service that starts way too late.
It is difficult to photograph at this public event, but some nice detail and arty-farty shots are certainly possible. In addition, there are stalls from all participating countries with nice things and also knick knacks. There is no flying program and after a few hours we have seen it and are getting ready for the next tourist adventure. We drive via the Fogg Damm Reserve, where thousands of birds of all kinds are present, to the Billabong Wetlands where we have booked a sunset cruise. Hundreds of birds, various crocodiles and much more natural beauty can be seen in this nature reserve.
After a delicious meal, we make a short stop in the pitch dark to enjoy the Milky Way, then continue to our hotel, where we arrive just before ten, just in time for a final beer.
On Sunday 28 August we start very early, because we have to catch a flight at 07:00 to the other side of the country, that works and after four hours we land in Sydney just before noon. We have to wait a while for the suitcases and there is a bit of confusion about the location of the car rental company, but a few hours later we found a nice place to see the landmark of Sydney, the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge next to it. Then we drive north for a two hour drive, via a look at RAAF Base Richmond for the C-130s, to Newcastle where we will stay for two nights. At the Icon Thai restaurant we end the day outside on the terrace.
Monday August 29 we start at the Coles supermarket and then half an hour in the car to RAAF Base Williamtown. It is now winter time in Australia and we are starting to notice that a little more here, in Darwin it was more than 30°c and here it was more than 10°c less and also a lot more clouds. Furthermore, part of the runway is out, none of which are ingredients for a top day. But in combination with the Fighter World Museum we still had a great time. This day wo E-7As and seven based Hawk trainers flew several missions. At four o’clock we call it quits and go back to the city.
Tuesday August 30 is almost the same as Monday, only we left at one o’clock for a drive of almost five hours to Nowra. Close to the beautiful hotel we have eaten a delicious Indian meal together.
On Wednesday, August 31, the Fleet Air Museum was the first to be on the program with a little bycatch on the operational naval field. We left early again hoping to see some kangaroos and managed to do so near the airport. Before the museum opened its doors, we had some time to observe the start-up of EC135s. The military police didn’t think it was a good idea to take pictures, it was even forbidden, and that turned out to be true according to official documentation. Then to the beautiful museum where you can also observe operational flight movements. At 11:00 we left for Albion for the HARS museum. There we got a very nice tour for two hours through their great collection with many airworthy aircraft, including a P-3C Orion, various DHC-4A Caribous, etc, etc.
Then it was time to go back to Sydney because we were to fly to Melbourne that evening. An RAAF A330 tanker was parked at Sydney airport. The flight was slightly delayed, but in Melbourne everything went super-fast so that we were quickly on our way to our hotel in Warragul, about half way to our destination for the next day.
A new month, new opportunities on Thursday 1 September. RAAF Base East Sale is on the program and on arrival we already see several PC-21 trainers in the air, even a gray one from the FAC squadron from Williamtown. In addition to the red Pilatus trainers, a squadron with twin-engine Beech 350 variants is also stationed here. There are several places along the runway where you can stand. There is plenty of flying and at 2:30 pm we decide to move after we have seen 23 PC-21s, 17 of which photographed, and 7 Beech 350s and four captured digitally.
Then it was time for the hospitable West Sale where several warbirds are housed and for years a shed full of old Royal Australian Navy S-2G Trackers. Very nice to see. For the next two hours we were in the car on our way to the hotel for the next two nights on the east side of Melbourne.
Friday 2 September was planned as a museum day, already the last full day of the trip. Today we were allowed to sleep in until 09:00 to arrive at the airport of Moorabbin at the Australian National Aviation Museum. A great group of enthusiastic volunteers is more than willing to open the sheds to show all their beautiful aircraft. Some projects take many years to get ready.
This also applies to the aircraft in a hangar at the airport where they are restoring no fewer than FIVE Curtiss Kittyhawk aircraft. The owner of the hangar had great stories to tell, interspersed with a good dose of humour, a unique visit! Then it was the turn of the Naked Racer, a vintage motorcycle shop a stone’s throw from the museum, where you can eat and drink with a view of beautiful things, a kind of KAEVE avant la lettre.
Google Maps then directed us to Tyabb airport, where the Old Airplane Company was very welcoming and gave us a nice tour of both their hangars. The warbirds here looked immaculate, including a CA-18 Mustang, CA-25 Winjeel, P-40, SNJ, T-28B and many more.
Then another hour further south to the National Vietnam Veterans Museum. Inside were four helicopters on display, a US Army AH-1F and Australian Bell 47, UH-1 and Wessex as well as a real English Electric Canberra that is currently being restored. Outside another great looking DHC-4 Caribou and Grumman S-2G Tracker.
That were the last planes of the trip, but we were at the tip of Philips Island and decided to watch the daily Penguin Parade. Thousands of penguins come ashore every evening, after a day foraging for food, and looking for a place for the night. You can see these little penguins up close from different elevations, fascinating to see.
This was followed by a two-hour ride, with a quick bite in between, back to the hotel, where we arrived again around ten o’clock after a long day. Time for a pint.
On Saturday, September 3, the long journey back began, but not before we had a joint breakfast at Mocha Jo’s. Via Singapore and Istanbul we arrived back at Schiphol on Sunday morning, 4 September.
They were two very nice weeks, the first week focusing on the military hardware of Pitch Black. In the second week we had hoped for a little more movement on Wiliamtown, but everything else was just as hoped. 4Aviation will certainly plan this trip again for 2024.
