Unusual Visitors due in Melbourne shortly - C32 and E4B

[markis10]

Due into MEL sometime before AUSMIN starts next week is United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on a C32 (modified 757) while SECDEF Robert Gates is expected to arrive on an E4B or Kneecap aircraft.

Commonly confused with the VC-25's (of which there are 2) that perform the duties of Air Force One, the E4B is the airborne command post for both the President and SECDEF and is characterised by its hump aft of the coughpit containing its SHF satellite antennae. A few years ago when President Bush was in Sydney there was two E4Bs stationed within an hours flight of him (Canberra and Brisbane) as well as the VC-25s. The photo below was taken from the last AUSMIN in CBR (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:E-4_&_C-32s_Fairbairn.JPG)

 

[Maca44]

Hillary Clinton is due in to MEL today from NZ where she has numerous meetings etc with heads of state. Should have a good time as long as nobody mentions the words Bill or cigars in the same sentence

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Hillary Clinton is due in to MEL today from NZ where she has numerous meetings etc with heads of state. Should have a good time as long as nobody mentions the words Bill or cigars in the same sentence

I remember when George Bush Snr was here circa 1991 the backup Air Force One (blue 747) had the call sign "Sam 29 thousand" as the rego was N29000. Listening to the banter between Twr & the a/c the crew asked a question regarding their approach & the ATC response was virtually "whatever you want". Not bad & it's not like Georgie was even onboard. :shock:

What's the callsign of Hillary's flight? I was going to say Moniker but that may not be appropriate either!

 

[markis10]

The C32 is due around 11-2PM today. The E4B was due in about an hour ago and appears to have gone awol, maybe they stopped for a burger somewhere enroute.

 

[markis10]

What's the callsign of Hillary's flight? I was going to say Moniker but that may not be appropriate either!

SAM8278 for Clinton while the E4 with SECDEF is BUST025.

 

[albatross710]

When I landed in Canberra two weeks ago there was an unmarked all white B747 with Nxx_xx tail number parked on the RAAF VIP tarmac.

I assumed it was a precursor to Clinton's visit.

Alby

 

[pauly7]

I wish they would redesign the livery on our govts little 737! It's so budget and nasty. Is it done like that so as not to attract attention or something?

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I wish they would redesign the livery on our govts little 737! It's so budget and nasty. Is it done like that so as not to attract attention or something?

Were you think of something along the lines of your Avatar"?

 

[pauly7]

Were you think of something along the lines of your Avatar"?

God no not a LCC festival. I was thinking the old Ansett livery - the Australian flag or something.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

God no not a LCC festival. I was thinking the old Ansett livery - the Australian flag or something.

Denver based Frontier Airlines have all kinds of cute animals on their tail. Their tagline is "a whole different animal".

Frontier Airlines

Wonder how the RAAF BBJ would look with an orangutan on the tail? :shock:

 

[Maca44]

What's the callsign of Hillary's flight? I was going to say Moniker but that may not be appropriate either!

Time goes fast. Monica Lewinsky is now 37 years of age, and it feels like just the other day she was crawling around on her hand and knees in the White House.

 

[pauly7]

Time goes fast. Monica Lewinsky is now 37 years of age, and it feels like just the other day she was crawling around on her hand and knees in the White House.

This will make you feel older - but I had to google to find out who you were talking about

But to be fair I was never much into current affairs growing up either

 

[markis10]

Bust025 arrived this morning, some good shots here:

Jetspotter.com • View topic - C-32 or C-40 coming?

Note the different tail assembly, the E4B has two APUs and the inflight refuel facility is located under the coughpit, it takes two KC-135s to tank up to capacity.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I think someone forgot to tell Hillary that K Rudd is no longer in the top job as she referred to Kev more than once as PM.

Doesn't say much for her advisors however who the leader of a country is should definitely be something she should know. :shock: :shock:

 

[Batesy]

Saw both of them at MEL this morning on my way back to SYD. Lined up on the same jetway near the engineering base.

 

[samh004]

Bust025 arrived this morning, some good shots here:

Jetspotter.com • View topic - C-32 or C-40 coming?

Note the different tail assembly, the E4B has two APUs and the inflight refuel facility is located under the coughpit, it takes two KC-135s to tank up to capacity.

Why does there appear to be a wire leading from mid-fuselage to halfway up the tail? Never seen that before.

 

[markis10]

Why does there appear to be a wire leading from mid-fuselage to halfway up the tail? Never seen that before.

Its more than likely a VLF antenna for comms with the subs, the E-4B can communicate over a wide range of frequencies covering from 14 kHz to 8.4 GHz. I wont go into the details of the science behind it but the lower the frequency of a radio the longer the antenna has to be to achieve a full wavelength. You can often see similar "longwire" antennas on older aircraft when primary comms was via HF in remote/oceanic regions.

If you want to see what a VLF ground station antenna looks like, maybe another well known Mod can take you for a trip to Woodside sometime to visit the old Omega station.

 

[samh004]

Its more than likely a VLF antenna for comms with the subs, the E-4B can communicate over a wide range of frequencies covering from 14 kHz to 8.4 GHz. I wont go into the details of the science behind it but the lower the frequency of a radio the longer the antenna has to be to achieve a full wavelength. You can often see similar "longwire" antennas on older aircraft when primary comms was via HF in remote/oceanic regions.

If you want to see what a VLF ground station antenna looks like, maybe another well known Mod can take you for a trip to Woodside sometime to visit the old Omega station.

Saw some photos online, pretty cool structure!

 

[straitman]

If you want to see what a VLF ground station antenna looks like, maybe another well known Mod can take you for a trip to Woodside sometime to visit the old Omega station.

I believe it is still there but they were talking about pulling it down.

See Omega Navigation System.