Re: Italeri 1/48 Chinook HC.1 CH-47 Part 1
I never put alot of faith in media reports, as they always spin it to suit their needs, truth be-damned.
When they signed the contract for the F's, part of the agreement was the 6 D's for Afghanistan, it was always the intention to return the D's when they were done in Afghanistan for the F's.....in all likelyhood they will end up being refurbed into F's, and could very well end up back in our hands when our F's are delivered.
Its just like the CBC report about CDN pilots flying the Mi-17s. We have long leased Mi-8s from Skylink out of Toronto, but they have only been flying cargo and no troops, and flown by Skylink pilots. Now there is a report that we have actually leased/bought Russian Mi-17s, being flown by our own pilots hauling troops. Its not really new news, but the CBC is blowing it up asking why we are spending the money on the new Chinooks when these Mi-17s are much, much cheaper, and the pilots seems to like them.
Big thing...the Chinooks will be brand new, not used like the Mi-17s, and the Mi-17 isn't even in the same class of helo as the Chinooks is, as it is only a Med Lift helo, and the Chinook is a heavy lift. Not to mention the availability of spare parts.