BAe Hawk 127

[ross blackford]

:D, Great Hawk there Ido. I've enjoyed viewing the pics of this special Hawk and reading about the work you've done to improve it. The colour scheme was actually designed by an ARC member who used to be in 76 SQN and now works for BAe at Williamtown. The animal on the sides of the Hawk is actually a Panther and harks back to the SQN's Sabre days when they had an aerobatic team called The Black Panthers. Growing up in Newcastle (30 klms from Williamtown) I used to get to the annual Air Force week air displays at Willytown and I can still remember the Black Panthers of 76 SQN. Those were the days when just about every fighter sqn had its own demo team, now we can apparently only afford one team for the whole Air Force.

,

Ross.

ps. Just read up on the cougar in Wikipedia and it seems that the cougar is also called the panther in the Americas. You learn something new every day. Wiki says that there is no such thing as a black panther but one has been reported in the Lower Blue Mountains area west of Sydney. It has been photographed and videoed but noone seems to know really exactly what it is.

Edited June 27, 2012 by ross blackford

[HOLMES]

Ross,

Ido's HAWK is EXQUISITE..Good job Ido..

but what makes this interesting is your knowledge Ross and the backgorund behind the work..THANK you so much for the little history

behind the color scheme. etc ....I always learn something from you..

[ross blackford]

:D,My pleasure HOLMES. There's a lot I learn from you too mate. I appreciate your humility my friend. As you can see from my correction I don't always get it right. I've grown up thinking a panther and a cougar were two slightly different animals although about the same size. Still not sure about there being no such thing as a black panther though as there have been many reports about one living in the bush west of Penrith on Sydney's outer western fringes and ranging as far west as Faulkenbridge and as far north as Springwood. What I've seen on video is definitely much bigger than a domestic black cat (or even a domestic cat gone feral) but exactly what it is I don't know. But I digress; this paint scheme was designed by Darren Mottram (Motty).

,

Ross.