After 57 years, a total of 198,000 flying hours and many thousands of missions, May 24 marked the farewell of the Alouette III helicopters of the Austrian Armed Forces was celebrated in style. The last six aircraft still in service at the Fiala-Fernbrugg airbase in Aigen im Ennstal were finally retired from service during a large “Open Day”. Operational flight operations had already ended on December 31, 2023.
Around 200 guests of honor – including Minister of Defence Klaudia Tanner and Governor Christoph Drexler – as well as thousands of visitors and other interested parties attended the celebrations. Militär Aktuell even met some well-known Dutch spotters on site and, apart from a brief downpour, the weather was also “appropriate” for the occasion.
Opponents of the army were wrong
Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner thanked all military personnel (including Chief of Staff Rudolf Striedinger, representatives of the aircraft department in the Procurement Directorate and site commander Lieutenant Colonel Udo Koller) and prominent local politicians for their commitment and performance, which had led to this record. But he also thanked those – including Mario Kunasek – for the succession initiated years ago, the Alouette III fleet is being replaced by new AW169 helicopters (-> Status quo for Austria’s AW169) from the Italian manufacturer Leonardo replaced.
Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner: “Today is a day on which we say goodbye, and saying goodbye always hurts a little – especially after more than half a century. There are so many pilots and technicians who were involved with this special aircraft. It is something that hurts. That’s why it’s important that we do this with dignity today. But also with joy, knowing that with the AW169 Lion we are getting new aircraft that are modern and will fulfill all purposes.” She also reminded the audience that in the past there were always those who thought that helicopters were not needed, that there was no need for expensive air forces or even a federal army at all. From today’s perspective, they were “thankfully very wrong” and “did not prevail”. The Minister concluded her speech with the words “Glück ab, gut Land und ein Hoch auf unsere Luftstreitkräfte!”
For Styrian Governor Christoph Drexler, the Fly Out Day was “a turning point as far as helicopters in Austria are concerned”. “It’s a bit of an ambivalent experience today. Wistfulness on the one hand, because after 57 years you have already become a little accustomed to the Alouette. A characteristic aircraft, with a special elegance in its shape and great all-round visibility, which I was able to experience twice. A machine that has achieved a great deal. It has provided many decades of safety here in the Enns Valley and Styria and beyond. That’s the downer.”
However, Drexler also mentioned the departure inherent in the farewell, because now “new and state-of-the-art aircraft are coming, and with them a newly built aviation hangar, which also offers the region a personnel perspective for the future. The new helicopter will create around 200 additional jobs for this hangar and a total of 40 million euros will be invested in the infrastructure and thus in our Styria.”
Long history of the Alouette III
A total of 26 units of the light French liaison and transport helicopter (first flight in 1959, series production from 1961 to 1985, 1,453 units for 190 military and civilian users in 92 countries) with three-blade main and tail rotors and an uncovered turbine engine with 570 WPS were put into service with the Austrian Armed Forces from 1967 to 1976 (designations 3E-KA to 3E-KZ); the first landing took place in Linz-Hörsching on January 28, 1967. 3E-KA to -KL still bore the designations SA-3160 and were later upgraded to SA-316B standard. Initially, the “Feldlerchen” remained stationed in Hörsching, and since 1976 in Aigen im Ennstal, with the imposing massif of the Grimming in the western background. Two further aircraft were purchased in March 1986 (3A-LA and -LB). Since the introduction of the Alouette III, eight of these helicopters have been involved in accidents, three of which resulted in fatalities. The last total loss occurred in 2018 near the Wolayer Hütte in Carinthia, but there was no personal injury. All in all, a very low loss rate over the decades of operation.
Super strong (not only) in the mountains
The model with a maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of 2.2 tons was developed specifically for flights and work at high and alpine altitudes and quickly gained a reputation for rescue missions with a cable winch and external load hook. Landings with seven people at an altitude of 4,810 meters at the summit of Mont Blanc in June 1960 and in November 1960 in the Himalayas at 6,004 meters with two people and a payload of 250 kilograms went down in the world (record) history of rotorcraft. In Austria, the cabling for the “Bambi Bucket” fire extinguishing container is particularly noteworthy. Another national specialty was the integration into the “Christoph” emergency helicopter system in cooperation with ÖAMTC, the state and the Ministry of the Interior from October 1986 to 2001; all aircraft were prepared for this, including with stretchers, and from 1995 the installation and testing of GPS and map display equipment. In this context, the Alouette III flew a total of 8,300 real emergency missions. Also worth mentioning is the “Migration” assistance mission with FLIR Gimbal AN/AAQ-22 Safir for border surveillance in Burgenland from 1997, stationed in Trausdorf and Punitz. From the end of 1996, IR and TV systems with recorders, radar altimeters and Nitesun searchlights were installed, as well as radio equipment for cooperation with the police.
The characteristic “singing” one last time
The flight program was kicked off by the Eurofighter fleet from Zeltweg, followed by demonstrations of all the Army’s S-70 Black Hawk, AB 212 and OH-58 rotorcraft. As a farewell, the Alouettes flew in from the east one last time, with three aircraft sporting special liveries. The latest (and last) of these was applied especially for this day, a sand-coloured paint job on the tail boom with – very beautiful, but not really recognizable from a distance – images of Leonardo da Vinci, his ornithopter and the outline of the Grimming, the striking neighbouring mountain mentioned above. The impressive figure of 198,000 flying hours is certainly large to read.
What will happen to the still airworthy aircraft and the stock of parts is still unclear. Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner and the “helicopter pope” in the Aircraft Division, Colonel Reinhard Zmug, told Militär Aktuell that the aircraft should be “sensibly reused”. A sale to military operators abroad is “at least conceivable, but the legal regulations for this would have to be carefully examined with regard to UN sanctions and embargoes”. However, there is already a not-too-short list of interested parties from all areas and for all possible parts of the Alouette inventory.
Successor already showing strong signs of life
The army’s successor to the Alouette is the Leonardo AW169, known as the Lion. So far, six B versions of a total of 36 helicopters of this type ordered from Italy have arrived in Austria. One of the machines, which is currently stationed in Aigen, was involved in the flight program in front of an imposing rocky backdrop, while one was on display in the shipyard in a first major inspection, opened all around and dismantled. The others are in the future training squadron in Langenlebarn. According to army aviation officers from Italy who were also present, the M version will soon be certified and, according to Minister Tanner in an interview with Militär Aktuell, six Austrian Lion pilots successfully completed their training just a few days ago.
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