Syrian and Iranian AF 2003

"William Wright" wrote in message
news:kPehb.721214$uu5.119765@sccrnsc04...

"Tom Cooper" wrote in message
...
snip
Iran has also a sizeable tanker fleet (Boeing 707-2J9Cs and Boeing
747-2J9C), and by far the largest transport fleet in the area (Boeing
747Fs,
snip
Boeing converted three 747s to tankers but they were converted from
ex-Eastern, ex-TWA 747-131s. Pictures of 5-8105 and 5-8103 can be found on
the web. It appears that both of these aircraft currently have civil
registrations and are operated by Saha Air Cargo. I don't the about the
third one for sure. It was probably 5-8104 which crashed in Spain or
5-8107.
The for 747-200Fs are 747-2J9. All four have civil registrations, three
being operated by Saha Air Cargo and one is parked.

See the page 294 of "Iran - Iraq War in the Air":
- the example that crashed near Madrid, in 1976, was 5-283; that one has
never got five-digit serial, introduced with the arrival of the first F-14s
in Iran, in January of the same year;

- other examples rebuilt into -2J9C or delivered in the -2J9F (these were
tankers too) configuration we 5-8103, 5-8105, 5-8107, 5-8113, (probably)
5-8114, and 5-8115. The whereabouts of the last two are unknown to me; the
5-8113, for example, has spent most of its career with the Saha - and this
did not prevent it from acting as a tanker and a flying command post for the
"H-3 Blitz" operation...

Don't forget that the main customer of the Saha Air is - and always was -
the IRIAS (i.e. all the three branches of the military): after all, that was
also the background on which this company was founded.

Tom Cooper
Co-Author:
Iran-Iraq War in the Air, 1980-1988:
http://www.acig.org/pg1/content.php
and,
Iranian F-4 Phantom II Units in Combat:
http://www.osprey-publishing.co.uk/t...hp/title=S6585