US Military in Aer Lingus Disguise?

by barry Tue Dec 03, 2002 20:41

I was wondering if anyone has further details of the Israeli use of Aer Lingus colours during their bombing of the Osirak nuclear facility near Baghdad on the 8th of June 1981.

From what I can recall the IAF used a KC130 mid-air refueling tanker disguised as an Aer Lingus Boeing 707 but I've been unable to find further details of this during my quick search.

American intelligence up to their old tricks eh???

by William A Finnerty Tue Dec 03, 2002 20:54

Aer Lingus have been using World Airways MD11s for the last 5 or 6 summer seasons. This is common knowledge. In fact one of them overshoot the runway at Shannon about 3 years ago and ended up in the grass. The report on that incident is somewhere on the internet - Air Accident Investigation Unit website I believe. I assume World didnt want to spend the money repainting this aircraft if it is going to be back in Aer Lingus schedules next April or May.

I know they use Airbus A330s, but the MD11 is needed for the extra passengers in the summer. I think the pilots are from World Airways however.

I also assume that you simply got through to the wrong people in Aer Lingus (Mabey they just weren't interested in the query).

Airliners often appear in mixed up colours between leases. Aer Lingus used to hire in a British Caledoniian Tristar also but all that was painted was the tail with the Shamrock, The rest of the aircraft was blue and white.

So I think there is no need to get too alarmed about this observation!

by Gerry Tue Dec 03, 2002 22:09

Why doesn't the IRA shoot the planes down?

by mike Tue Dec 03, 2002 22:24

I know that Air Lingus didn't use any MD-11s last summer and I'm not too sure about two years ago. Thus it's been perhaps 30 months and suddenly this plane reappears in an Irish airport in (near) Irish colors carrying US troops to war.

by Don Martin Wed Dec 04, 2002 06:43 dtimothy42 at hotmail dot com

Boo!

by William A Finnerty Wed Dec 04, 2002 09:57

Is this report verifiable? I just find it unusual that somebody would be 'regular planespotting' in the dark at 6.30am and INSIDE the airport building. The photo was taken from inside the building. Sorry for asking these questions but can this be confirmed by any other source?

by Joe Sheehan Wed Dec 04, 2002 12:41

World Air may be used by Aer lingus during the summer season but;
1) It is not the summer season, they are carrying us troops to Kuwait for their supposed training
2) Why would World Air have their planes repainted in the Aer Lingus paint scheme just to work with them, surely that would be very expensive.

From what I know the photos were taken from behind a perimeter fence (take note Garda), as is evidenced by said fence in photo, at Shannon airport in fact the Aer lingus ramp is seen in the ramp.

by Tim Hourigan Wed Dec 04, 2002 15:36

Yes, this is verifiable. I have a witness,
It was October 8th 2002. Just around 8am.

My "regular planespotting" is to monitor illegal military flights at Shannon airport. By regular I mean I do it regularly.

The photo was obviously NOT taken inside the building. Small details like the fence and barbed wire in the shot should verify that.

by easier Wed Dec 04, 2002 15:42

IF Aer Lingus really did hire the plane for a few months from World wouldn't they just paint the shamrock on a white plane?
like Will said about BA, the did they just painted on the logo. not putting on the logo, but putting on three other layers of paint seems illogical, not to mention over-the-top. looks to me like they just wanted the illusion of Aer Lingus without putting the name on in case Aer Lingus sued there ass. the whole things stinks.

by Tim Wed Dec 04, 2002 15:46

ATA, World, Evergreen & Atlas tapped for military charters
Brendan Sobie, Washington DC (11Sep02, 18:04 GMT, 397 words)

Over 20 US carriers will operate charter cargo and passenger flights for the US military in fiscal 2003, as part of contracts awarded last week by the US Air Force Air Mobility Command (AMC).

AMC awarded $685 million in contracts to three teams with a combined 20 carrier members. A fourth contract, valued at $5 million, was awarded to Arrow Air.

An AMC spokesman says a $328 million contract was awarded to a team of seven carriers: Atlas Air, American Trans Air (ATA), FedEx Express, Gemini Air Cargo, Northwest Airlines, Omni Air International and Polar Air Cargo.

ATA stands to get 62% of the work, which equates to $203 million. Atlas and Polar stand to receive $36 million each. Gemini will get $13 million and Omni will get $10 million. AMC says another $29 million will be distributed “team-wide”, including to FedEx and Northwest.

The $339 million contract awarded to a team led by North American Airlines includes ten other carriers: American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, DHL Airways, Evergreen International Airlines, Southern Air, United Airlines, United Parcel Service Airlines, US Airways and World Airways.

World has a 44% share in this team, equating to $149 million. North American and Evergreen stands to receive $75 million each. Continental has a 3% share, worth $10 million. Another $30 million will be spread across the team, including the six carriers without any specific shares.

A third contract worth $18 million was awarded to a team consisting of Miami Air and Alaska Airlines. Miami Air stands to receive all but $1 million of this contract, with the remainder going to Alaska.

The spokesman says AMC still plans to award additional charter flying contracts for fiscal 2003, which begins on 1 October. All the participating carriers are part of AMC’s Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF). Besides operating pre-established charters, members also are sometimes asked to operate flights on short notice during times of military build-up. During war, the carriers are also must dedicate their aircraft entirely to military missions if required.

All the carriers participating in the military charter program have done so in the past except Atlas. Polar, another subsidiary of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, has historically been a large player in the program. But Atlas, looking for new source of revenues to offset declining demand for its wet lease operation, decided to join the FedEx-led team this year.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news

by iosaf (the writer dude with the Nobel) Wed Dec 04, 2002 18:46

The Reclaim the Streets address to the
Gardaî
Blue Block
Unison
and people in general.
by the Mr O^as if himself, concerned the helicopters that the Norwegian state lent the Blue Block for the Pope^s visit.
Great helicopters lads.
They were painted grey and had Garda written on the side. The Pope (great man) had one painted white.

by King Mob Rules Thu Dec 05, 2002 00:25

A B-2 flew into Shannon recently and nobody saw it

by Tim Sat Dec 07, 2002 13:37

A journalist friend of mine phoned World.
He told me that they said they haven't done business with Aer Lingus this year.

Mob, I think you'll be surprised soon about that B-2.

by Alastair Mon Jan 06, 2003 12:04

In response to the 'aer lingus refuelling plane' theory posed by barry Tue, Dec 3 2002, 7:41pm

"I was wondering if anyone has further details of the Israeli use of Aer Lingus colours during their bombing of the Osirak nuclear facility near Baghdad on the 8th of June 1981.

From what I can recall the IAF used a KC130 mid-air refueling tanker disguised as an Aer Lingus Boeing 707 but I've been unable to find further details of this during my quick search.

American intelligence up to their old tricks eh??? "

I know sod all about planes, but a cursary search showed that the israelis did indeed use a KC-130 plane for the refueling of the planes bombing Osirak. A KC-130 is however a Hercules type plane (with propellors), and looks nothing like a 707, or any civilian type jet.

The logic of an aer lingus plane (with propellors) overflying saudi arabia and iraq escapes me, and I'd imagine, any air traffic control/anti aircraft people in either country.

Additionally I couldn't find anything anywhere that suggested anything like this aerlingus story. I'm not saying it couldn't have happened, it just makes no sense whatsoever.

by planenerd Mon Jan 06, 2003 21:50

It was a KC-135 not a KC-130.
A KC-135 is the same airframe as a B707.

by Reality Check Tue Jan 07, 2003 14:43

For your information and to stop you lot looking like bigger idiots than you already do......
The World Airlines MD-11 flying in and out of Shannon is painted in a similar livery(colors for the uneducated which i have to assume many of your ilk are) to Aer Lingus because pre Sept 11th 2001 Aer lingus had leased the exact same aircraft for nearly 2 years(post Sept11th Aer lingus cut its services and returned the aircraft.Abit like a car-hire).It is not unusual for leased aircraft to be painted to match the colors of the airline leasing them.If you dont believe me then contact GE Aviation(formally Guinness Peat Aviation)an international aircraft leasing company.In fact if you lot can drag your heads out of your asses you may recall the same MD 11 had a litttle misshap on landing at Shannon a few years ago.It drove off the taxiway and into the grass where it became stuck.It took a couple of hours to drag it back out again.If you dont believe me ring RTE because they had it on the 6 o clock news that evening and will have the story in their archive .As it is not illegal to have similar colored aircraft World Airways can keep their airplanes whatever color they like (Again you can contact ICAO ,the international civil aviation organisation,who set down the internatioal rules for aviation.Also just to point out to you that it costs well over £1 million to paint an aircraft+ and can take weeks to do.So the more likely reason why World have a plane in a similar color to Aer lingus is down to money than trying to hide it from the dopes you have watching the airport.Do you really believe that anybody in their right minds would spend that much money to make one single aircraft blend in at an irish airport.Also consider this if it blends in at Shannon while being painted green it must stick out like a sore thumb when it reaches the Gulf which based on your arguements which you lot seem more than willing to hand out to the public( i should know after one of your unwashed persons shoved it into my hand)are doing.

A note to your leadership Check your facts before publishing them!
Also the only persons who have broken any laws are the 200 odd rioters who brought down the fence and the idiot who painted the C-130.If you read the Irish air navigation Acts you will see that both actions were dangerous ,highly stupid and illegal.
I hope i may have enlightened a few of your feeble and dull lives wuth a dose of reality.

by David Sun Jan 19, 2003 10:35

We who protest against the immoral abuse of the facilities at Shannon Airport and contribute to this site ARE the public. Who are those leaders you refer to in your piece? I'd love to meet them.

by ceedee Mon Feb 03, 2003 02:42 cd at mt dot net

Reality Check may not be very polite -- but does have a point.
Anybody tried sticking the registration into a search engine?
Fancy photos of the plane going back over the last couple of years?
Check out the www.airliners.net page at

Their are weird enough things going on without us seeing ghosts!

Rgds to all.

by Mike - US Citizen / US Marine Wed Feb 05, 2003 21:20 ProgrammerGeek at comcast dot net Hold my mail as well. Hold my calls please.

Thanks for the interesting reading lads. I'm a United States Marine and we sure do like to hear where we get our support and where we don't. You sound like a bunch of scared women sitting around telling stories about airplanes painted the wrong colors and carrying "The Devil Incarnate" around. I am an Irish American and in less than a week I will be paying my first visit to Ireland. What a shame that my girlfriend and I might end up overhearing one of your complaining little conversations or like Reality Check actually meeting one of your unwashed crew as we travel through Shannon. I have always been proud of my Irish heritage and I hope that the opinions I have come across here are of a small band of conspiracy theorists and not the whole of Ireland. See you soon boys!

by NOT A US MARINE Thu Feb 27, 2003 02:06

First off the 200 fence jumpers did break the law, but Reality check aint' living up to the name in asserting that they are the ONLY ones breaking it.

CHECK Bunreacht na hEireann 28.3.1
Hague Convention V 1907
Geneva Convention, Nuremberg Charter... and more besides... or else change your nom de plume to
"uninformed whinger" cos Reality check is way off the mark...

IF N272WA sticks out like a sore thumb in the gulf then there's no danger that a genuine Aer Lingus plane would be accidentally targetted out there is there? Whereas,,,, here in Ireland

Mike The MARINE...
I hope you enjoy your stay in Ireland, and have a nice time on duty. Hope ya get home in one piece physically and mentally. If people's opinions piss you off well maybe you should broaden your mind instead of being arrogant. people have legitimate reasons to objecting to a foreign military power treating our country as if they had a divine right to slobber all over it.
This ain't your rallying point, we don't have to salute your flag, and the US is not keeping us free... wake up.

Feel free to come back to Ireland as a tourist, don't bring your gun, open your mind.
On this trip however, remember, your government is breaking OUR laws and you have the status of an illegally invited guest.
Don't kill no nice innocent Iraqis or Afghans, that would wear out your welcome in our country real fast and we don't give a f*$£ WHO you think you are or how overly patriotic you are,,, whether your are Hussein, Sharon, bin Liner or USAF, USMC,etc, people who kill innocent people are about as welcome in Ireland as a case of the Ebola virus. We've had enough home grown killers, we don;t want to import any.

Don't imagine people are happy to see the Marines going to Iraq. Iraqi people know they're gonna get the shitty end of the stick. carpet bombing, and starvation, occupation, rangers, marines delta force shoot-outs with them getting killed in crossfire. And then a new leader, pro-Bush and about as democratic and respectful of human rights as the pro-Bush regime in Saudi..
the pro-war hype ain't fooling us here.

By the way, how happy would you be if we got an army surplus jeep with US Marine Corp stencilled on it and dressed up in green fatigues pissing people off a few miles from a US base in Europe?

You wouldn't give a damn about the technicalities of who owns the jeep.
It would get people pissed off at the Marine Corp, just like troops flying in Aer Lingus camouflage (by whatever co-incidence) will endanger genuine Aer Lingus passengers. Madmen with SAM 7s don't always take careful notice of tail logos on aircraft...

by Louise Wed Jul 05, 2006 04:09

My son was one of those soilders carried home on this plane. Patrick is his name and all four grandfather were born in Ireland. While in Iraq he wore a tato of a celtic cross on his forearm to be identified. Patrick proudly stated to anyone who wanted to know that he was of Irish decent. When Patrick got out of the army he visited Ireland to meet family for the first time and to see this country were his fathers were born, along with his mother and father and sister. We were all greatful that Ireland was there for us in time of need. I regret putting Ireland in any danger because I would always want to be able to go home to a safe place. I'm so proud of my son who gave up his life so that others can be free. I'm sure that not many would do the same. I felt sad when I read this piece of news as I looked on the net to book my next flight home to Ireland.

by name Wed Jul 05, 2006 04:28

I'm so proud of my son who gave up his life _so that others can be free_

This is a lie. It is that simple. Be proud of your son but don't lie for him.

by Name Wed Jul 05, 2006 17:10

Louise, I am sorry for your loss.

by BarryM Thu Jul 06, 2006 11:57

I am confused, the message about Patrick was about him being alive, and suddenly refers to him giving up his life..... a complete non-sequiter...... it was him on the plane, not his body, he visited Ireland after the transit, when and how did he die?

Bye

by The Cat Thu Jul 06, 2006 13:23

"We who protest against the immoral abuse of the facilities at Shannon Airport and contribute to this site ARE the public."

No David. You are PART OF the public.
Don't make the same mistake as that Clareman / American De Valera!