Hi all,
Thought I would post some pictures from a recent explore over in Dubai, not seen it round here before on the forum but the aircraft follows quite an interesting story behind it and definitely worthy of a mentioning.
The Aircraft:
According to the Aero Transport Data Bank the aircraft was built in 1975 in part of the Soviet Union that is now Uzbekistan. In the early Eighties it flew in the Soviet Airforce (under the registration CCCP-86715). After the collapse of the Soviet Union it flew for the Russian air force (with registration RA-86715) and then in the early Nineties it was sold to the Sharjah-based airline Air Cess.
Backstory:
Air Cess was a company formed by Sergei Bout, the brother of notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was the inspiration for an arms dealer character played by Nicolas Cage in the 2005 film Lord of War.
Originally set up in Belgium, Air Cess moved to Sharjah in 1997. The cargo plane was then transferred to a company called Air Pass. This company was disbanded when South Africa’s Civil Aviation Authority charged Air Cess with 146 breaches of civil aviation law.
The airline, just as Bout himself was apt to do, simply reorganised and changed name once again. This time, in 1998, to Centrafrican Airlines. At present, the plane is listed as “derelict” but Centrafrican Airlines is its last registered owner. The company finally ended operations in 2001 while the UAE laudably banned Bout from entering the country in the early 2000s.
In November 2005, the UN Security Council Committee (under resolution 1521) concerning Liberia and the regime of Charles Taylor, decided to add individuals and entities to the Assets Freeze List. On the list was Centrafrican Airlines.
The report stated: “Centrafrican’s role in the Liberian arms trade was uncovered when UN investigators found film footage of Liberian rebels handling nine Strela surface-to-air missiles. These missiles appear to match an illegal shipment of weapons organised by [arms dealer and Bout associate] Sanjivan Ruprah and delivered to Liberia in May 2000 by an Ilyushin IL-76 belonging to Centrafrican Airlines. Centrafrican was also involved in other arms shipments, including the attempted sale of two refurbished Mi-24 attack helicopters to Liberia.”
According to the book 'Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible', the book by Doug Farah on Bout’s life: “In one celebrated case, his operation boldly spirited away a decrepit Ilyushin plane that had been consigned for use as a Soviet war monument. Former Russian aviation official Valery Spurnov recounted a tale of Bout offering one of his pilots $20,000 to fly a shuddering wreck out to a desert landing in the Emirates, where it was promptly turned into a highway-side billboard.”
The airfield at Umm Al Quwain closed down around five years ago. In 2012 Viktor Bout was sentenced to 25 years in prison, Charles Taylor was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
-https://www.arabianbusiness.com/revealed--story-behind-abandoned-soviet-plane-left-in-desert-in-umm-al-quwain-586648.html
The Explore:
Well this explore was one of those spur of the moment things, having been relatively close to me at the time, a 30 minute walk provided me with a chance to get some exercise whilst doing something I love. Now Afterall this aircraft is located on a derelict airfield, I quite literally walked onto the airfield, no gates, not fencing and as a I thought, no security… Ill get to that in a sec though. Having entered the airfield, I really didn’t notice any activity. I’m still not clear on what the actual use of the airfield is, now its been closed for a good few years, I believe it might hold use as a refuelling station for a local parachuting club. It was only once I got close to the aircraft that I saw the Land Rover parked pretty close to the wing. Having made a mental note of this I decided to get this explore over and done with, to be safe. It likely wasn’t security but whoever owned it probably wasn’t too keen on me climbing all over their property!
The pictures I attached to this thread where ones I managed to get. I really wanted to climb on top of this huge slumbering chunk of metal and was in the process of doing so when a couple of well dressed Arabs made their presence known to me by pulling up in their Dubai Municipality Police cars. Fuck. To cut a long story short, the trip ended with a stern warning and me making a hasty retreat. I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get the shots I wanted, but in the end, it wasn’t worth going back too anytime soon, especially if the security guards saw me, when I couldn’t see them. All in all, a nice little jem which is definitely worth visiting if your ever in the area.
-Harry
Thought I would post some pictures from a recent explore over in Dubai, not seen it round here before on the forum but the aircraft follows quite an interesting story behind it and definitely worthy of a mentioning.
The Aircraft:
According to the Aero Transport Data Bank the aircraft was built in 1975 in part of the Soviet Union that is now Uzbekistan. In the early Eighties it flew in the Soviet Airforce (under the registration CCCP-86715). After the collapse of the Soviet Union it flew for the Russian air force (with registration RA-86715) and then in the early Nineties it was sold to the Sharjah-based airline Air Cess.
Backstory:
Air Cess was a company formed by Sergei Bout, the brother of notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was the inspiration for an arms dealer character played by Nicolas Cage in the 2005 film Lord of War.
Originally set up in Belgium, Air Cess moved to Sharjah in 1997. The cargo plane was then transferred to a company called Air Pass. This company was disbanded when South Africa’s Civil Aviation Authority charged Air Cess with 146 breaches of civil aviation law.
The airline, just as Bout himself was apt to do, simply reorganised and changed name once again. This time, in 1998, to Centrafrican Airlines. At present, the plane is listed as “derelict” but Centrafrican Airlines is its last registered owner. The company finally ended operations in 2001 while the UAE laudably banned Bout from entering the country in the early 2000s.
In November 2005, the UN Security Council Committee (under resolution 1521) concerning Liberia and the regime of Charles Taylor, decided to add individuals and entities to the Assets Freeze List. On the list was Centrafrican Airlines.
The report stated: “Centrafrican’s role in the Liberian arms trade was uncovered when UN investigators found film footage of Liberian rebels handling nine Strela surface-to-air missiles. These missiles appear to match an illegal shipment of weapons organised by [arms dealer and Bout associate] Sanjivan Ruprah and delivered to Liberia in May 2000 by an Ilyushin IL-76 belonging to Centrafrican Airlines. Centrafrican was also involved in other arms shipments, including the attempted sale of two refurbished Mi-24 attack helicopters to Liberia.”
According to the book 'Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible', the book by Doug Farah on Bout’s life: “In one celebrated case, his operation boldly spirited away a decrepit Ilyushin plane that had been consigned for use as a Soviet war monument. Former Russian aviation official Valery Spurnov recounted a tale of Bout offering one of his pilots $20,000 to fly a shuddering wreck out to a desert landing in the Emirates, where it was promptly turned into a highway-side billboard.”
The airfield at Umm Al Quwain closed down around five years ago. In 2012 Viktor Bout was sentenced to 25 years in prison, Charles Taylor was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
-https://www.arabianbusiness.com/revealed--story-behind-abandoned-soviet-plane-left-in-desert-in-umm-al-quwain-586648.html
The Explore:
Well this explore was one of those spur of the moment things, having been relatively close to me at the time, a 30 minute walk provided me with a chance to get some exercise whilst doing something I love. Now Afterall this aircraft is located on a derelict airfield, I quite literally walked onto the airfield, no gates, not fencing and as a I thought, no security… Ill get to that in a sec though. Having entered the airfield, I really didn’t notice any activity. I’m still not clear on what the actual use of the airfield is, now its been closed for a good few years, I believe it might hold use as a refuelling station for a local parachuting club. It was only once I got close to the aircraft that I saw the Land Rover parked pretty close to the wing. Having made a mental note of this I decided to get this explore over and done with, to be safe. It likely wasn’t security but whoever owned it probably wasn’t too keen on me climbing all over their property!
The pictures I attached to this thread where ones I managed to get. I really wanted to climb on top of this huge slumbering chunk of metal and was in the process of doing so when a couple of well dressed Arabs made their presence known to me by pulling up in their Dubai Municipality Police cars. Fuck. To cut a long story short, the trip ended with a stern warning and me making a hasty retreat. I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get the shots I wanted, but in the end, it wasn’t worth going back too anytime soon, especially if the security guards saw me, when I couldn’t see them. All in all, a nice little jem which is definitely worth visiting if your ever in the area.
-Harry
