9Q-COA_1977-02_MUC_1600_WH
Photo taken by Wilhelm Hell, scan kindly provided by Michael Bernhard for inclusion on this page.
München-Riem
ca. February 1977
9Q-COA
Armstrong Whitworth AW-660 Argosy T2
6791
Otrag Range Air Services (ORAS)
„Jason“ covered in snow shortly after its first arrival at Munich-Riem (according to my notes, that was on 26 January 1977). Retains the cheatline and name from its RAF days as XR136. It would become a regular visitor during the year to come (I noted it last at MUC on 30 April 1978). Eventually scrapped at East Midlands Airport in June 1981.
Otrag Range Air Services (ORAS) was an airfreight operation to support the building of a missile launch facility in Zaire by the German „Orbital Transport- und Raketen Aktiengesellschaft“ (OTRAG or Otrag). Lots of information to be found on the web. There was even a film made about the project recently (Fly Rocket Fly, 2018).
More information from flickr - thanks to Dick Gilbert:
One of very few ex-RAF Argosies to get an afterlife, XR136 "Jason" was converted by Field Aircraft Services for ORAS (OTRAG Range Air Services) as 9Q-COA. OTRAG was a German rocket-launching company who intended to put small satellites into orbit from the Zaire plateau, because it was near the equator. The Argosy was considered an ideal aircraft for carrying rocket parts.
ORAS operated two of them (9Q-COA and 9Q-COE) but no rockets were ever launched and the aircraft mostly flew general charters in the region. In the end the firm ran out of money and Fields impounded 9Q-COA for unpaid maintenance bills. They never got paid and it was eventually scrapped at East Midlands in 1981.
This airframe as XR136 with RAF at RAF Benson (EGUB) ca. 1965:
abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1810002
9Q-COA at EMA ca. 1977 (full ORAS colours, Zairian flag not yet applied):
www.airhistory.net/photo/64417/9Q-COA
9Q-COA engineless at EMA in 1981:
www.flickr.com/photos/harryclaggers/51274112268
Scan from Kodachrome slide.
9Q-COA_1977-02_MUC_1600_WH
Photo taken by Wilhelm Hell, scan kindly provided by Michael Bernhard for inclusion on this page.
München-Riem
ca. February 1977
9Q-COA
Armstrong Whitworth AW-660 Argosy T2
6791
Otrag Range Air Services (ORAS)
„Jason“ covered in snow shortly after its first arrival at Munich-Riem (according to my notes, that was on 26 January 1977). Retains the cheatline and name from its RAF days as XR136. It would become a regular visitor during the year to come (I noted it last at MUC on 30 April 1978). Eventually scrapped at East Midlands Airport in June 1981.
Otrag Range Air Services (ORAS) was an airfreight operation to support the building of a missile launch facility in Zaire by the German „Orbital Transport- und Raketen Aktiengesellschaft“ (OTRAG or Otrag). Lots of information to be found on the web. There was even a film made about the project recently (Fly Rocket Fly, 2018).
More information from flickr - thanks to Dick Gilbert:
One of very few ex-RAF Argosies to get an afterlife, XR136 "Jason" was converted by Field Aircraft Services for ORAS (OTRAG Range Air Services) as 9Q-COA. OTRAG was a German rocket-launching company who intended to put small satellites into orbit from the Zaire plateau, because it was near the equator. The Argosy was considered an ideal aircraft for carrying rocket parts.
ORAS operated two of them (9Q-COA and 9Q-COE) but no rockets were ever launched and the aircraft mostly flew general charters in the region. In the end the firm ran out of money and Fields impounded 9Q-COA for unpaid maintenance bills. They never got paid and it was eventually scrapped at East Midlands in 1981.
This airframe as XR136 with RAF at RAF Benson (EGUB) ca. 1965:
abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1810002
9Q-COA at EMA ca. 1977 (full ORAS colours, Zairian flag not yet applied):
www.airhistory.net/photo/64417/9Q-COA
9Q-COA engineless at EMA in 1981:
www.flickr.com/photos/harryclaggers/51274112268
Scan from Kodachrome slide.