Author Topic: Força Aérea Portuguesa  (Read 31278 times)

Offline Shakesthecoffecan

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 9,566
  • Those were the days, Alberta 2007.
Re: Força Aérea Portuguesa
« Reply #10 on: September 08, 2008, 07:29:44 pm »
It's it amazing the detail which exists all over the world that passes under our radar?

Here are the Rotores de Portugal, the Helicopter Acrobatic team of the F.A.P.. I never seen some of these manuvers before.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj6MUl3o2JE[/youtube]
"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

Offline Shakesthecoffecan

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 9,566
  • Those were the days, Alberta 2007.
Re: Força Aérea Portuguesa
« Reply #11 on: September 09, 2008, 02:07:08 pm »
The FAP has played an important part in the stabilzation and reconstruction of Afghanistan.



As of June, 2008, 165 Portuguese miliatary personel and a 7 person Tactical Air Control unit of the F.A.P. are on the ground in Kabul, rotating every six months. The F.A.P. maintained one C-130H in country from July 204 to July 2005, and a 37 person unit was responcible for the operation of the Kabul airport August to December 2005.

"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

Offline Shakesthecoffecan

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 9,566
  • Those were the days, Alberta 2007.
Re: Força Aérea Portuguesa
« Reply #12 on: September 09, 2008, 02:11:45 pm »
The F.A.P. has also been a virtual lightening rod for UFO sightings:

http://www.ufoevidence.org/news/article112.htm
 
Portuguese air force on alert over UFO sighting
Agence France Presse (AFP) - 6/3/2004


The Portuguese airforce has been on alert since late Tuesday, when several authorities and witnesses reported seeing a luminous unidentified flying object.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LISBON (AFP) - The Portuguese airforce has been on alert since late Tuesday, when several authorities and witnesses reported seeing a luminous unidentified flying object.

"Military radar surveillance has been increased and F16 planes are ready for take-off" tabloid daily Correio da Manha reported Thursday.

It said the Portuguese civil protection service had received scores of calls from people who reported briefly seeing a silent, luminous object in the sky on Tuesday night, giving off white smoke.

Air force spokesman Colonel Carlos Barbosa confirmed to Lusa news agency that military radars had detected "a target... that was not identified as a plane" for two or three minutes.

The national air traffic control authority, Navegacao Aerea de Portugal (NAV), also confirmed a UFO had been spotted in the north and south of the country just before midnight on Tuesday.

"The control tower in Oporto (north) detected a flying object which had been observed 25 minutes earlier in Montijo and Beja (south)" NAV spokesman Paulo Lagarto said.

The authorities were unable to say what the mysterious object was.

But Jose Fernando Monteiro, a geology researcher at Lisbon's science university, said he had consulted US air defence officials and the UFO could not have been a meteorite.

If it had been a meteorite it would have travelled much faster and made a lot of noise, Monteiro told Correio da Manha and Lusa.

The European Space Agency said the UFO was not a falling satellite either and the Portuguese weather service said there was no meteorological explanation for the phenomenon.

The only person to come up with a possible explanation was astronomist Jose Matos, who said the UFO might have been an Iridium telecommunications satellite.

"These satellites orbit at a height of about 780 kilometres (490 miles). They each have three antennae, which are polished like mirrors and reflect the light of the sun" he told the media.

And this from the 1950's:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFOs_seen_by_Portugal_Air_Force

At 19:21, four bombers aircraft took off the Ota Air Base, in Portugal. They were under Captain José Lemos Ferreira control. The others pilots were sergeants Alberto Gomes Covas, Salvador Alberto Oliveira e Manuel Neves Marcelino.

It was a routine mission to practise a nocturnal flight at 25.000 feet high between the Ota Air Base, the Spanish city of Granada, the Portuguese city of Portalegre and finally the Portuguese city of Coruche. The night was clear and the moon was almost full. The first part of the operation was successful, and so they turned towards the city of Portalegre.

At this point, Captain Ferreira noticed a light above the horizon. After observing it for 3 or 4 minutes, he warned the others about what he had just seen.

The object looked like a very shining star, but much bigger than normal. Its center changed colors constantly, going from green to blue, and also some yellow and red tones.

Suddenly the object increased its size, becoming 5 or 6 times bigger than before. Right after doing so, the object decreased its size until becoming an almost invisible shining point. The UFO kept on increasing and decreasing its size, and was holding position at 40° left. After 7 or 8 minutes, the object started getting smaller, going down at the horizon, now at 90° left.

Little before reaching Portalegre, at 22:30, Captain Ferreira abandoned his mission, and turned 50° left. At this moment the object was red and much deeper than 25000 feet. After several minutes on this route, the pilots noticed a small yellow circle getting out of the craft. Just some seconds later, 3 more circles appeared.

The main object seemed to be 15 times bigger than the smaller ones, and it was probably the mother ship, as the others were flying around it.

When the UFOs were next to Coruche, the big one suddenly descended and then climbed very quickly, intending to cross the pilots way, in a way that they could see the big UFO passing through them, as the smaller ones disappeared.

The bombers landed without any problems, after a forty-minute flight. They all agreed that there wasn't any easy explanation to the objects. Captain Ferreira declared: "We got no conclusions, except after this, do not give us the old routine of Venus, weather balloons, aircraft and the like which has been given as a general panacea for almost every case of UFOs".[1]

Captain Ferreira was interviewed at the Ota Air Base by the magazine Flying Saucer Review in Lisbon.



 
 
"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

Offline opinionista

  • BetterMost 1000+ Posts Club
  • ******
  • Posts: 2,939
Re: Força Aérea Portuguesa
« Reply #13 on: September 09, 2008, 03:07:16 pm »
I find interesting that the Portuguese call their air force, Força Aerea, the same way we, in Puerto Rico, translate the term "air force" into Spanish. (We say Fuerza Aérea). Spaniards, however, don't call it Fuerza Aérea but Ejército del Aire, which in English is The Air Army.
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. -Mark Twain.

Offline Shakesthecoffecan

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 9,566
  • Those were the days, Alberta 2007.
Re: Força Aérea Portuguesa
« Reply #14 on: September 09, 2008, 03:14:24 pm »
That is interesting Natali, the way the Spanish is, seems to be more accurate. To call the branch a "Force" makes it sound like it is a component of something else.

I just read up on the Luisitanians, which I previously would have thought was the passangers on that illfated ship.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lusitanians
"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

Offline opinionista

  • BetterMost 1000+ Posts Club
  • ******
  • Posts: 2,939
Re: Força Aérea Portuguesa
« Reply #15 on: September 09, 2008, 03:37:58 pm »
Quote
I just read up on the Luisitanians, which I previously would have thought was the passangers on that illfated ship.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lusitanians

Yes the south of Portugal was part of Lusitania under the Roman empire, and its capital city used to be Augusta Emérita, now the City of Mérida of Extremadura, Spain. Mérida is just like Rome without the coliseum or the Via Appia. You'll find roman ruins in every corner. They have a roman theater that it's still in use. I'll post pics in Facebook. I've been trying to attach them here but it keeps giving me an error. I don't know why. I went there a few years ago. Totally loved it.

Ps. The Portuguese are also known as the Lusos, because of Lusitania. And also, now that you're interested in Portugal perhaps you should consider reading Jose Saramago's novels. I especially recommend The Gospel According to Jesus Christ. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gospel_According_to_Jesus_Christ
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. -Mark Twain.

Offline Shakesthecoffecan

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 9,566
  • Those were the days, Alberta 2007.
Re: Força Aérea Portuguesa
« Reply #16 on: September 10, 2008, 02:42:33 pm »
The location of F.A.P. installations throughout Portugal:



"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

Offline Shakesthecoffecan

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 9,566
  • Those were the days, Alberta 2007.
Re: Força Aérea Portuguesa
« Reply #17 on: September 10, 2008, 02:46:07 pm »
And a message earlier this year from the commander of the F.A.P., via a Google translation of this website:

http://www.emfa.pt/www/index.php

 The presence of the Air Force in the Azores on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary sixth, wanted to pay tribute to a region inextricably linked to air operations, while reflecting on the inevitable public utility of our institution, translated into numerous actions of defence, patrolling and human security which, for decades, there are carrying out so well and that mirror the spirit of our mission and serve well.

Constituíndo birthdays height conducive to the balance sheets, should feel proud of ourselves the operating results achieved and with a clear conscience with regard to the effort we have made in operational compatibility of the product with the restrictions of economic and financial situation that the country experiencing.

Thanks to this collective effort, the high professionalism and often the imagination of men and women who serve the Air Force, we have held, without shocks, the restructuring of the organization and the device of forces, looking for achieving a balance between the needs of country and citizens with the availability of resources.

 The objectives of management and established mechanisms for streamlining introduced, were always accompanied by high levels of quality in performance by enabling the effective completion of the mission, a clear demonstration of technical ability, spirit of sacrifice, discipline, body, spirit and sense of belonging as well as reflect the soundness of our institutional culture, as once again became clear in the brilhantismo that they took the sixth celebration of our fiftieth anniversary.

The problems that now face us, in the allocation of necessary financial and material resources in the public recognition of the specificity of the military condition, the guarantee of social support and health care in the military family, is also a collective challenge, because only together we able to overcome them, with ethics and morals that distinguishes us that we possess.

The all officers, sergeants, squares and civilians who have the honour at the same time, to command and serve, I reiterate my gratitude for the effort over another year of prestimosos services to the public cause, a decisive contribution that our Force Air comes to providing collective security, the defence of the country and welfare of our citizens.


The Chief of General Staff of the Air Force,

Evangelist Luis Esteves de Araujo

General
 
"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

Offline Shakesthecoffecan

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 9,566
  • Those were the days, Alberta 2007.
Re: Força Aérea Portuguesa
« Reply #18 on: September 11, 2008, 10:41:42 am »
General Luis Esteves de Araujo is the Chief of Staff of the F.A.P. He was born in Porto on 25 February 1949.



Lieutenant-General Victor Manuel Lourenço Morato serves as F.A.P. Personnel Commander. He was born 20 March 1951 and enlisted in the F.A.P. 1971. He oversees an all volunteer force of 7,400 people.

"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

Offline Shakesthecoffecan

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 9,566
  • Those were the days, Alberta 2007.
Re: Força Aérea Portuguesa
« Reply #19 on: September 12, 2008, 02:32:13 pm »
Begining today, thru 1 October, the areonautical community in Portugal will be having an exposition in Alverca celebrating 90 years of Portuguese aviation. I think.

http://www.emfa.pt/www/conteudos/destaques/cartaz_dgmfa.pdf

No doubt, many cadets from the Air Force Academy will be visiting:



Wonder which Saint-Exupery quotation that is?
"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."