The Caribous of Cape May were revisited by Drone on 14th March 2021
Previously we did a feature on the eight ex-IAF Caribous at Cape May, NJ that we visited in 2014. We revisited them, Seven years later – and with some help of aerial friends and FAA-approved flight rules, got some informative shots of these IAF relics. There are some shots of the dismantled wings stored on the airfield.
A total of 26 airframes were procured over the years, all of which flew with No.33 Squadron in the North East. Almost ten years after their final phasing out, in 1996, eight remaining Caribou airframes were put up by auction by the Ministry of Defence – and these airframes were bought by a US based company Penn Turbo Inc, based at New Jersey.
The eight remaining airframes (BM771, BM776, BM778, BM780, BM782, M935, M2166 and M2168) were dismantled and the fuselages were cut up just ahead of the tail section. The fuselages and wings were transported by sea to Cape May Airport in New Jersey where they can still be seen today.
One update since our last visits – there are now only seven fuselages instead of eight. one of them may have been scrapped already.
One takeaway we learnt – the fuselages are being used as containers for more parts – possibly including engine cowlings, inner wing boxes and others.
