The Northrop F-5 Enthusiast Page - Home
Força
Aerea Brasileira / Brazilian
Air Force
BASES
Santa Cruz AB - Rio de Janeiro
Canoas AB - Porto Alegre
UNITS - BADGES
1°
Grupo de Aviaçao de Caça
All
aircrafts were initially assigned to a pool of the 1°
Grupo
de Aviaçao de Caça (1st Fighter Group) at S Cruz
AB (RJ)
equipped with Embraer
EMB-326;the 2°
Esquadrao named
"Pif-Paf"
(2nd
Squadron) started
first conversion, followed
by the 1°
Esquadrao named "Jambock". Pilot
conversion
was taken
care
by 6 Brazilian istructors and 1 USAF
instructor on the Northrop F-5B, which had
initially a low
in-service
rate due to lack of spare parts.
1°/1°GAvCa
2°/1°GAvCa
Aircrafts remained pooled and wear the 1°/1°GAvCa
badge on the left side and the 2°/1°GAvCa
badge on the right side of
the tail.
During 1977 the 1°GAvCa
trained in a six months log course 6 Chilean pilots on the Northrop F-5
up to operational graduation.
F-5E 4847 with low visibility 2°/1°GAvCa
badge and torn sticker
"100 years first flight Santos
Dumont" taking off from Anapolis AB on 12-08-04 during Cruzex
III Photo: Eric Riester/AviaPress.ch
With
delivery of former USAF F-5F's to the the 1°/14°GAv
there
was limited requirement for the first
generation two-seaters. The remaining 2 airworthy F-5B's (one
was
serial 4805) were struck of charge at
the end of 1995 and transferred to the Parque de Material Aeronautico
(PAMA) de
Sao Paulo for storage and resale.
See
our page for
additional information about the Squadrons operation in our In-flight
refuelling,Training,
Excercises and
Special colours
page.
The modernised Embraer F-5EM
reached the 1° GAvCa
on 20-10-06,
when serial 4826 was accepted in
a ceremony at Santa Cruz AB, joining the 1°/14° GAv in the
operation of this fourth generation fighter.
F-5EM 4848 without 1°
GAvCa
markings,June
2007
Photo:
FAB
The 2°/1°GAvCa
is at present converting to the upgraded Embraer F-5EM,
no Squadron badges have been seen painted on its aircrafts till
present, while the 1°/1°GAvCa
is still flying the earlier F-5Es.
See
page Upgrades
for upgrading details.
Some Embraer AT-27 Tucanos are used by the Esquadrao for liason duties.
14° Grupo
de Aviaçao
1°
Esquadrao/14° Grupo de Aviaçao "Pampa"
Coloured badge applied on SEA camouflaged aircrafts;
black painted on air intake, left hand side, of gray
low visibility Tigers; green camouflage on F-5EM.
Having Completed training of pilots and ground technicians for S. Cruz
AB based Esquadraos manpower was now available for the third Esquadrao.
THis was to be the 1°/14° Grupo de Aviaçao de
Caça based at Canoas AB (Porto Alegre), whose Lockheed TF-33A,
armed version of the trainer, had been retired in 1975. Some pilots and
ground crew started conversion on their future equipment in May 1975,
but the go ahead for the actual conversion was only given in 1976. On
26-11-76 12 F-5Es arrived at Canoas AB after an 1 hour 10 minutes
non-stop flight from Santa Cruz AB. One F-5B (serial 4805) was also
taken on charge.
End of 1988 saw the arrival of former USAF Northrop F-5E at
Canoas AB, ferried from Nellis AFB by 1°/14° GAv pilots. These
aircrafts had several differences in instrumentation to those of the
first batch and no in-flight refuelling provision. It was therefore
decided to fully requip the unit only with the "new" aircrafts and
change its role from multi- to an air-defence role. They entered
service with the Esquadrao only after having gone through a
revitalization process at Parque de Material Aeronautico de Sao Paulo
(PAMA-Sao Paulo), thereafter the "old" ones were returned to Santa Cruz
AB.
See
our page for
additional information about the Squadron operation in our In-flight
refuelling, Training,
Excercises
and Special
colours
page.
On 15-07-94 the Squadron reached the mark of 100'000 flying hours since
its establishment,
having used
Curtis P-40, Gloster Meteor Mk.8 and Meteor Mk.7, Lockheed TF-33,
Northrop F-5E and F-5F, Embraer
AT-27 Tucano .
"Cruzeiro do Sul" emblem painted
on top of the tail since 1981. The
central, smaller star has been repainted in yellow since
15-07-94,
simbolizing 100'000
hours flown by the Squadron since it formation.
The
Esquadrao acted as a conversion training and Operation Conversion
Unit at the end of 1966, when the last
two active Northrop F-5B were struck of charge.
F-5E 4827 of the
1°/14°
GAv
with
SEA camouflage,
last two of serial
on tail, blue tail
band with 5 red
stars.
May 1986
Photo: Archive
The Northrop F-5
Enthusiast
F-5E 4868 still in USAF aggressor colours and with CO code. Natal
24-10-95 Photo:
Peter R. Foster
F-5F 4806
taking
off on
25-06-06
from Florianopolis.
On tail commemo-
tion sticker for
100
years since
the first flight in
Brazil by Santos
Dumont.
Photo:
Juliano
Damasio
AIRFLN
The 1°/14°
GAv was chosen to introduce the by Embraer upgraded F-5EM and received
officially its first aircraft, serial 4855, on 21-09-06 at
Canoas AB starting a new
and decisive stage of its, and of the
Brazilian AF, operational life.
It is now working up to perfection
its duties of interception, combat air patrol and air
escort on the new aircraft. Foreseen Squadron is 16 aircrafts.
Tail fin emblem on Embraer F-5EM.
The
1°/14° was chosen to send 4 F-5EM to Nellis AFB to represent
the Brazilian AF at Red Flag 08-03, supported by Boeing KC.707 2404,
between 21-07-08 and 02-08-08. The transfer was accomplished from
Canoas to Boa
Vista via Anapolis (Brazil) to Barranquilla (Colombia) and to Merida
(Mexico) as a last
stage point, starting on
12-07-08 and arriving on 16-07-08.
See
our Upgrades
page
for
additional information.
Some
Embraer AT-27 Tucanos are used for liason duties.
Parque de Material Aeronautico de Sao Paulo / PAMA - SP
Based at Campo Grande AB this is a maintai-
nance unit. It takes care of all major over-
hauls of Brazilian F-5s and prepares the
airframes for upgrade to F-5EM/F by
Embraer.
Photo: unknown
1°
Esquadrao/4° Grupo de Aviaçao "Pacau"
Due to increasing tension and armament by Colombia and Venezuela it is foreseen to convert this Esquadrao based at Natal AB, at
present
part of the Centro
de Treinamento e Recompletamento de Tripulações (CATRE) with EMB-326/AT-26,
as an operational unit with 12 to 16
Embraer F-5EM/FM.
Reconnaissance
Esquadrao
Consideration
was given to establish a reconnaissance Esquadrao by the adaption of 6 F-5E to RF-5E
standards
with the noses originally bought in 1976, used for a short
time and
later kept in storage in order to maintain the
fighter force, but this plan
had no follow-up.
F-5E 4830 This is one of
the few known photos of
Brazilian F-5Es with a
reconnaissance nose.
Photo: Clube do F-5
http://forum.clickgratis.com.br/clubedof5
Procurement
- click here
In-flight refuelling, Training, Excercises and Special colours - click here
Upgrades
- click here
All
aircrafts were initially assigned to a pool of the 1°
Grupo