A great 4Aviation tour to all military bases in Sri Lanka was concluded with two days at the main fighter base. Access all areas and positioning of the aircraft for perfect shots was also no problem.

A great 4Aviation tour to all military bases in Sri Lanka was concluded with two days at the main fighter base. Access all areas and positioning of the aircraft for perfect shots was also no problem.

A great 4Aviation tour to all military bases in Sri Lanka was concluded with two days at the main fighter base. Access all areas and positioning of the aircraft for perfect shots was also no problem.

Preserved near the Air Force HQ on Sir C A Gardiner Street. [Photo taken from a moving bus.]

Delivered just a few weeks earlier from Horizon in Australia (my shot of A6-ABM gives a summary history of this interesting frame). By virtue of being a very active SLAF transport base, this was one difficult place to visit for photography. The airport was built in 1934 as Colombo's first terminal and served in that role until Bandaranaike (formerly RAF Negombo) was opened on the other side of the city in 1967

One of nine of this Chinese workhorse delivered to Sri Lanka in 1986, of which two were lost in 1997 during their service with 8 Sqn, which has also made them available to Helitours. Four more were on order. Soon after this, re-serialling in the SCL-32** range was carried out

The Sri Lankan AF had 10 An-32s but only seven remained by this time; one was wrecked on take-off in 2.97 when the gear was retracted too early, one crashed into the sea near Negombo in 9.95 and one was shot down 11.95, carrying 81 and 68 people, respectively

Retaining the basic colours of its previous operator Oman Aviation, this Friendship was bought in 2.03 and was operating regular schedules to Jaffna in the then troubled north of Sri Lanka. Shown on board by the captain who was ex-Air Force and had been shot down by the rebels while flying one of the SLAF's Y-8s (Chinese-built An-12). Seen at Ratmalana stored in 2.17

Looking somewhat weathered here, this exhibit in the playground of a downtown park has since been at least partially repainted. One of 12 export versions of the JP T.3 acquired by the R Ceylon AF for the light-attack role. Similar aircraft were built for Sudan and Kuwait

Not one of my favourite aircraft types by any means, but I'll make an exception for this one