The SAAF Forum

Harare - The body found on board a US-registered plane that has been impounded in Zimbabwe was in an advanced stage of decomposition, it was reported on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, plane-spotters reported that blood had been seen on the aircraft's fuselage in Liège already, suggesting that a suspected stowaway had boarded the plane in Africa before the Reserve Bank flight had commenced. Aviation reports say blood stains were reported to Munich Airport ground staff, who concluded that they were the result of bird strikes.

The body of the suspected stowaway was discovered when the plane landed in Harare.

Sources from Zimbabwe and South Africa confirmed that Minister of International Relations Maite Nkoana-Mashabane talked directly to counterparts in Zimbabwe to release the plane, after Zimbabwean customs officials had demanded to inspect the cargo.

"We had to intervene at the highest level. They have agreed to release it, but were trying to score something out of us either through taxes or penalties," a source said.

Zimbabwe demanded that Western Global Airlines, the owners of an aircraft chartered by the Reserve Bank, pay penalties for landing in Harare without permission.

Under Zimbabwean law, South Africa was obliged to pay duties for cargo, which meant it had to be off-loaded and scanned. But South Africa had "curiously" resisted efforts to do so by customs officials.

Four British plane spotters arrested in Kenya on terror offences are understood to be free to go providing they pay a fine.

The men, all from Greater Manchester, were held earlier this month after allegedly being caught taking pictures in an airport. A relative of one of the men said they had been threatened with jail unless they pleaded guilty to the charges.

Ian Glover, 46, Steve Gibson, 60, and Eddie Swift and Paul Abbott, both 47, are said to have been photographing planes taking off at Wilson airport just south of Nairobi while they sat in a bar.

They appeared in court on Monday morning and Kenyan website the Star reported that they were each given the option of paying a fine of 100,000 Kenyan shillings (£683) or spending a year in jail.

The unmistakable roar of the A-10's powerful engines echoed throughout Arlington National Cemetery this month as four aircraft saluted retired Col. Avery Kay for the last time with a rare flyover of the historic burial site.

Kay, 96, died on October 29 and was buried with full military honors.

A highly decorated navigator who led some of the most dangerous bombing raids against Germany during World War II, Kay was also credited with launching the concept of the A-10 Thunderbolt, better known as the Warthog.

Despite lacking the air-to-air combat ability of the F-15 Eagle and the high-tech stealth capabilities of the F-22 Raptor, the U.S. Air Force still uses the A-10 to support ground forces in close combat more than 40 years after its first flight in 1975.

But if it hadn't been for Kay, this iconic plane may have been grounded before ever seeing battle.

As an adviser to then-Air Force Chief of Staff John McConnell in the 1960s, Kay put his professional reputation on the line and led the fight to create a plane specifically designed to assist troops on the ground.

"Without Col. Kay, there would be no A-10 today," said Pierre Sprey, a former Pentagon official who helped Kay design the plane despite objections from many in the Air Force leadership.

At the time, the issue of close air support was at the center of a contentious budget debate between the Army and the Air Force over how to divide funding for fixed-wing planes and helicopters.

Army leaders often argued it took too long for the Air Force to respond to calls for assistance, specifically during the Vietnam War, and demanded control of budget funds to develop their own heavily armed helicopter that could better meet their needs.

The Air Force, however, wanted control over the development of all fixed-wing aircraft and insisted that any type of plane could perform close air support.

But in reality, the Air Force's top generals had little interest in dedicating budget dollars for improving support for ground troops, as they preferred planes that could carry out bombing missions deep in enemy territory.

Spearheading negotiations between the two service branches, Kay proposed an agreement under which the Army would relinquish control of the development of all fixed-wing aircraft as long as the Air Force fulfilled its promise to build a plane that was able to provide the air support that was lacking during Vietnam.

Using the very real threat of the Army's plan to build a helicopter to take over Air Force close support, Kay convinced McConnell that if the Army got its funding approved, he would go down in Air Force history as the chief that lost the close support mission and the money that goes along with it.

To counter the Army's proposal, Kay pitched a plan to build an airplane dedicated to the close support missions that would be cheaper and more effective than any helicopter.

McConnell approved the plan, but Kay quickly realized that he would have to circumvent the normal chain of command to fulfill his promise to the Army, as many of the Air Force's top generals still lacked interest in spending budget dollars on this cause.

Rather than approaching the Air Staff and Tactical command offices, which normally facilitate the building of new planes, Kay reached out to Sprey, who was working for the defense secretary, to help make his plan for the A-10 become a reality.

"What he did at this point is he put his career on the line," Sprey recalled.

Together, Kay and Sprey worked in secret to develop an aircraft that could cover ground troops from an enemy advance, buying time for grunts to regroup or get out with an aerial weapons strike.

"The entire A-10 community is basically due to his guts and his integrity," said Sprey, now an adviser for the Project on Government Oversight. "If anyone deserves the title of 'father of the A-10,' Col. Kay definitely does."

How does an SUV fleeing the police get inside a U.S. Navy base and take out a $60 million top-of-the-line fighter jet?

That's the question officials at Naval Station Lemoore outside Fresno, California, are trying to figure out after a Jeep Grand Cherokee racing away from a California Highway Patrol traffic stop got 7 miles inside the Navy installation late Wednesday and crashed into the tail section of an F/A-18 Super Hornet.
Navy and California Highway Patrol officials said at a press conference Thursday that two people were in the Jeep -- a male driver and female passenger. Both died and their identifications were being withheld pending notification of next of kin, officials said.
The air station's commander, Capt. Monty Ashliman, said neither of the occupants of the Jeep had a military affiliation and it was not a targeted attack on the base.
But an investigation was under way on how the vehicle got past armed security at one of the entry points to a base that's home to 15 F/A-18 squadrons, most of the Navy's fighter squadrons in the Pacific, and billions of dollars' worth of aircraft.

NA says it will replace the engines on its fleet of Boeing 787s after a series of engine failures caused by corrosion and fatigue cracking of turbine blades.
The Japanese airline plans to swap out all 100 Rolls-Royce engines currently used on its 50 Dreamliners. The process could take as long as three years, according to spokesman Yoichi Uchida.
ANA said the engine faults have already led to two cases where an aircraft was forced to return to its departure airport -- Kuala Lumpur and Hanoi. Similar issues affected a third flight in August.
Some of the cracks are the result of corrosion caused by chemicals in the atmosphere. ANA said the problem gets worse as an aircraft completes more flights.
The airline has already been forced to cancel 18 flights because of the problem, and more could be affected later this month.