So the first task of the day is to get the hire car, circle the airport and get some photos of these rarely used aircraft. All are ex-Airborne Express and I remember seeing these in service back in 1984 when I visited Michigan – I’ve included a scan of N922AX from that trip.
Although most of these aircraft will probably not escape to fly another day, the owner told me that he hopes to get at least one or two flying for resale. It would certainly be a great day if the sound of those Rolls-Royce Dart engines winding up could be heard again - think of the sound of the Handley-Page Herald and the Fokker F-27.
The YS-11 is still the only successful commercial aircraft to be manufactured in their home country of Japan. A handful are still used in the Philippines for cargo operations as most of the passenger configured YS-11s in that country were phased out a few years ago.
Rolled out in 1962 the YS-11 delivered similar performance to the Vickers Viscount and delivered 50% more capacity than the Fokker F-27 so it’s kind of surprising that the aircraft never really made it big outside of the Pacific Rim.
Also on the airfield was a Fuerza Aérea Argentina L-100-30 Hercules which proved tricky to get a decent angle on in the harsh light.
GAR wants to interact with its readers so if you have a question for the author or a comment to make on this feature, please click on the button below. The best comments will appear right here on GAR.If you would like to discuss using any of our imagery or feature content please contact us.