Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Turkey To Retire Its RF-4E Fleet After Crashes.

As reported by the Associated Press agency, a senior Turkish military commander says Turkey is retiring its RF-4E Phantom reconnaissance planes.

The announcement came after two RF-4E reconnaissance airplanes crashed on February 24 during a training exercise in the central province of Malatya, killing all four crew members.

Combat Air Force Commander Gen. Abidin Unal told reporters on Wednesday that the Turkish Air Force had decided to ground the planes as of March 12, retiring them several months earlier than scheduled.

The two RF-4E planes crashed into a mountain in Malatya, central Turkey, during night training exercises on February 24. Nine days later, an F-4E Phantom jet also crashed, killing its two pilots and raising questions about the safety of Turkey’s aging fleet.

Unal said reconnaissance flights would now be carried out by F-16 jets. The more modern F-16 will take over the task of reconnaissance from the RF-4Es, Abidin Ünal, a four-star general and commander of the Combatant Air Force, told members of the press on Wednesday.


http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-news/turkey-retire-rf-4e-fleet-crashes.html

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