CF-5

[toms3]

Ok...I know, i know...its a old plane. However, if I have my history right, one of their roles was as a ground support aircraft. Why did we dump them. Don‘t they still fly for other countries around the world? Arn‘t they younger than the Tutor the the Snowbirds use. Does Zoomie have that answer?

 

[Zoomie]

Well the easiest way to answer that question is to just blame our illustrious government and the dwindling budget.
You are correct in stating that the CF-5 was a ground support aircraft. In the Airforce structure they were found under the control of 10 TAG (Tactical Air Group) recently renamed 1 Wing (Where all the Griffons belong to now).
The CF-5‘s were upgraded electronically just before being mothballed. The CF spent hundreads of millions of dollars upgrading the aircraft, only to have them put out to pasture a short time later.
You can attribute the loss of the CF-5 to the same reasons that we retired the venerable Chinook: money, lack of money and Politics.

 

[toms3]

When you say Mothballed. Do you mean they are stored somewhere waiting for a rainy day or sold off. I always thought they were a decent aircraft.

 

[Zoomie]

Whatever ones we haven‘t sold off are being stored at Mountainview Det, just south of CFB Trenton. They sit there until some 3rd world government decides to purchase them. We have two of them still flying out of Winnepeg, they are maintained by Bristol Airspace but flown by CF Pilots.
The Pakistani‘s bought a few of them off us a while back. Their flight training consisted of primary training in a Cessna 172, then right on to the CF-5‘s. Needless to say, a lot of them crashed...

 

[Harry]

The majority of CF-5‘s went to the Dutch Airforce as did the 7 Chinooks.

Political, you bet. Guess where they where being serviced and by which non-Grit supporting company? Little hint, not in Quebec.