CF keeps the Chinook...

MacCaulay

Banned
...in 2009, the Canadian Forces began operating the CH-47D and F models of the Chinook transport helicopter, including several in Afghanistan. This dramatically increased their ability to independently carry out operations on their own and was greeted with alot of relief by the force on the ground when the craft finally arrived.

But what a lot of people don't realize is that the Canadian Forces already operated the Chinook: from the mid-1970s to 1991, the CF operated a small Chinook fleet that it sold to the Netherlands.

The deployment to Afghanistan (some could say the deployments to Bosnia and other places) left the Canadian military in an odd position: it had a use for a transport system that it had but didn't have.


So...what if the Canadian Forces didn't sell their Chinook fleet in 1991, and instead decided to keep it at least at it's current strength?
 
We did the same. We even rejected a deal to hand over our 11 CH47Cs to BV and get back 6 Ds and BV would keep the other 5, update and sell them as their payment. We ended up buying Chooks back in a couple of small batches over a long span of years, not the best way to buy something.

As for Canada, this looks to be a pretty small niche Mac. A few sorties for a few men in a handful of small fights. Or do you know something I don't.
 
I seem to recall Britain refurbishing and upgrading Chinooks and it cost more than new ones. Years ago. If Canada still had the old Chinooks, they would be the old/new Sea Kings by now.
 

MacCaulay

Banned
Could they be used in Winnipeg's 1997 Flood?:confused:

That's a very good possibility.

As for Canada, this looks to be a pretty small niche Mac. A few sorties for a few men in a handful of small fights. Or do you know something I don't.

Well, the thing is that the CF sold them literally right before it had this huge flood of peacekeeping and disaster relief missions that it could've used rotary-wing lift.

Rwanda, Kosovo, Haiti, Pakistan, Indonesia, whether it's peacekeeping, floods, earthquakes, or whatever, there were just tons of things they could've used them for and they sold them right before they needed them.

I seem to recall Britain refurbishing and upgrading Chinooks and it cost more than new ones. Years ago. If Canada still had the old Chinooks, they would be the old/new Sea Kings by now.

How old were the Sea Kings, though? They have to be older than the Chinooks would be.

A quick check says they entered service in 1963. So that's 11 more years on those airframes than would be on the Chinooks, which is worth a lot.
 
We sold ours just before we realised that a Blackhawk can't lift another Blackhawk or most other ADF aircraft in an emergency.

But of course this just opens the gate of what if such and such kept this and that for another year or two. First cab off the rank of that slippery slope is the HMS Ark Royal in 1979.
 
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