Royal Saudi Air Force Museum
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| Established | 24 January 1999 |
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| Location | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| Coordinates | 24°45′14″N 46°44′21″E / 24.7538°N 46.7392°E |
| Type | Aviation Museum |
| Founder | Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud |
| Owner | Minister of Defense |
| Website | https://www.mod.gov.sa/en/Services/SaqrAlJazira/Pages/default.aspx |
The Royal Saudi Air Force Museum or Saqr Al-Jazira is located on the East Ring Road of Riyadh between exits 10 and 11. A Lockheed L-1011 Tristar formerly operated by Saudia Airlines serves as a gate guard visible from the ring road.
Overview
The museum presents the history of the Royal Saudi Air Force from its establishment in the 1920s to the present day.
The museum comprises an outdoor static park and a large and modern indoor museum.
Static park
Aircraft on display include:
- BAC Lightning T-55
- BAC Strikemaster Mk80
- Boeing 707 in Saudia livery
- Boeing F-15D Eagle
- Cessna O-1 Bird Dog
- Cessna 310
- Douglas A-26B Invader
- Douglas DC-4
- Lockheed C-130 Hercules
- Lockheed L-1011 Tristar in Saudia livery
- Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star
- Panavia Tornado ADV F3 & IDS
- North American T-6 Texan
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BAC Lightning T55 -
BAC Strikemaster Mk80 -
Boeing 707 HZ-HM2 -
F-15D Eagle -
O-1 Bird Dog and C-130 Hercules -
Cessna 310 -
A-26B Invader -
Douglas DC-4 -
Lockheed L-1011 Tristar -
T-33 Shooting Star -
Tornado ADV F3 -
T-6 Texan
Display halls
The display halls contain exhibits on the history of the RSAF, aircraft engines and weaponry, uniforms, insignia and decorations and a special display on Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the first Saudi in space, who served as a payload specialist on the Space Shuttle Discovery during mission STS-51-G.
Aircraft on display include:
- BAC Lightning F53
- Bell UH-1
- Bell OH-58
- de Havilland Chipmunk Mk 10
- de Havilland Vampire FB Mk 52
- Douglas DC-3 outfitted to represent the aircraft given by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to King Ibn Saud in 1945
- Hawker Hunter F Mk60
- North American F-86F Sabre
- Northrop F-5E Tiger II
- North American T-6 Texan
- Temco T-35 Buckaroo
History of F-15 with Royal Saudi Air Force
After the outstanding performance with the Royal Saudi Air Force, the Saudi officials decided to say “good-bye” to the BAC Lightning and go ahead and enter into the new era of technology with the F-15 aircraft. For that very purpose, in the mid 1981 the first F15Es arrived at RSAF.
Joint aircraft missions
The newly inducted F-15s were allotted to No 13 Sqn at Dhahran, the unit already operating with the Lightning aircraft received from the disbanded No 6 Sqn. The two types of aircraft performed joint operations during the first two months of 1982. Hedley Molland who was a British weapons instructor in Dhahran stated that although the F-15s were having an upper hand in terms of new technology and fuel capacity the Lightning performance was identical compared to the F-15s in straight performance. However, he admitted, in dogfights, the Lightning stood no chance due to the F-15s wide wings that gave them a killer turning performance. Mr. Molland claimed that he was pressured not to show any sign of the Lightning superiority by the overwhelming belief that the F-15s were better[1].
Saudi F-15s at war
During Operation Desert Storm, the Saudi Air Force was operating with the allied forces along its northern border. The Saudi F-15 pilots showed courage and marksmanship in their efforts to liberate Kuwait from the Iraq forces that left Western allied forces in awe. On January 24th 1991, No 13 Sqn pilot, Capt Ayed Salah Al-Shamrani, was on a combined air patrol mission when he was warned by an American Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) and two British vessels in the Arabian Gulf that three Iraqi Dassault Mirage F1s were about to attack. He took off from Dhahran Military Base and initiated the intercept before they reached the coalition naval vessels. Al-Shamrani fired two AIM-9P sidewinder missiles which headed to its targets and shot them down in less than 30 second while the third Mirage fired an Exocet missile in desperation that didn’t hit any target and fled back to Iraq[2][3]. Mr. Al-Shamrani was applauded by many experienced pilots. There is footage on Youtube from inside Al-Shamrani’s cockpit while he was engaged with the three Iraqi aircraft.
Engagement with Iranian Aircraft
on June 6th 1984, two Saudi F-15s were on a routine patrol mission when they were alerted by an American radar plane (AWACS) that about two Iranian Air Force aircraft (F-4Es) that had taken off from Bushier Airbase. The Iranian jets were heading towards two American warships which were in the Arabian Gulf. The Saudi F-15s chased the Iranian F-4s and got them near Arabi Island. The engagement ended when the Saudi F-15s fired Air-to-Air missiles which ultimately shot them down. Just after the aerial fight, the radar caught again 11 more Iranian F-4s. To counter the threat, Saudi Air Force got its 11 F-15s in the air to retaliate against the Iranian aggression. As a result, the Iranian aerial attack was neutralized when the Iranian aircraft fled the scene[4].
See also
References
- ^ Trevor, Hugh (2017). "DESERT LIGHTNINGS. (Cover story)". Aviation News: 32–39.
- ^ "Saudi pilot who made history by downing two fighters in 30 secs". Al Arabiya English. 2015-03-30. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
- ^ Leone, Dario (2018-01-18). "THE CONTROVERSIAL KILLS SCORED BY SAUDI F-15s DURING OPERATION DESERT STORM". The Aviation Geek Club. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
- ^ Halloran, Richard; Times, Special To the New York (1984-06-06). "2 Iranian Fighters Reported Downed by Saudi Air Force". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
