PAC CT/4 Airtrainer

[UpForce]

Perhaps the retirement from (RAAF) service is an opportune moment to start a thread about an aircraft. Not that many PAC CT/4s were built - 155 in all - but it is widely known since so many pilots did their basic training in it.

Nearly five decades after introducing generations of military aviators to flight, the Air Force's CT4A trainer aircraft has completed its final flight.

On June 18, the iconic aircraft took to the skies above RAAF Base Point Cook one last time, closing a chapter in Australian military aviation history at the very place where both the Air Force and the CT4A's service journey began.

Its retirement marked the end of an aircraft type that quietly shaped generations of military air power.

Introduced into Air Force service in 1975, the Australian-built CT4A became the first military aircraft thousands of aviators would fly. For decades, it provided the foundation upon which operational careers were built.

Aircraft with rich history retires from service (Aus Gov Defence)





NZ Aero CT/4 main site (description, development history, specifications, video)

RNZAF Museum

NZ Warbirds

View: https://youtu.be/ME_YJLj7nSE