Last month visitors of the Amazing Royal International Air Tattoo 2017 (RIAT) in the UK witnessed a spectacular aerobatic display from the Italian C-27J Spartan, featuring many maneuvers not usually seen performed by an airlift aircraft. It even flew upside down, wich is a spectacular and incredible maneuver to perform with a military transport aircraft, like the C-27J.
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From JERRY TAHA PRODUCTIONS comes this amazing video. The video shows the C-27 performing this incredible upside down maneuver.
Not surprisingly, given the fact of its being a product of Italian firm Alenia Aermacchi, the Italian Air Force was the first country to begin operating the twin-turboprop C-27J medium transport, doing so in 2006. It has since largely replaced the Aeritalia C-222, previously G222 (C-27A Spartan in U.S. service) on which the Spartan was based, and taken part in multi-national operations, not least in Afghanistan.
The C-27J Spartan is equipped with the engines and various other systems also used on the larger Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules. In addition to the standard transport configuration, specialized variants of the C-27J have been developed for maritime patrol, search and rescue, C3 ISR (command, control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance), fire support and electronic warfare and ground-attack missions.
In 2007, the C-27J was selected as the Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) for the United States military; these were produced in an international teaming arrangement under which L-3 Communications served as the prime contractor. In 2012, the U.S. Air Force elected to retire the C-27J after only a short service life due to budget cuts; they were later reassigned to the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S.Special Operations Command. The C-27J has also been ordered by the military air units of Australia, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Mexico, Morocco, Romania, Peru, and Slovakia.
Video and story courtesy of Jerry Taha, a dedicated avgeek, writer, and videographer.
