On Thursday, it is believed that the three Boeing AH-64E Apaches and a four Boeing CH-47F Chinooks all flew down from Townsville to Mackay Airport and then the Gladstone Port.
As previously mentioned, the Apaches were identified as 20-03317, 20-03326, and 20-03332, while the Chinooks were identified as 17-08232, 17-08226, 17-08225 and 16-08480.
Also on Thursday, the four Sikorsky UH-60M Blackhawk helicopters also flew down from Townsville to Mackay Airport and then the Gladstone Port, flying as "Crazy Hawk 11".
As previously mentioned, these Blackhawks were identified as 14-20649, 11-20340, 14-20653, and 13-20571.
Finally, on Friday 11 August, the three Sikorsky HH-60M medevac Blackhawk helicopters also flew down from Townsville to Mackay Airport and then the Gladstone Port. Also as previously mentioned, these were identified as 20-21134, 20-21135 and 21-21195).
As we posted at the beginning of the Exercise, these 13 helicopters are of the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State, USA.
The UH-60M Blackhawks are of the 2nd Battalion 158th Aviation Regiment 'Warhawks', while the HH-60M Blackhawks and CH-47 'Foxtrot' Chinook helicopters are of the 1st Battalion 52nd Aviation Regiment. The AH-64E Apaches are of the 1st Battalion 229th Aviation Regiment. Altogether, they formed Task Force 'Griffin'.
UPDATE! All the helicopters sat in storage until Monday 28 August when they were loaded on board the the United States Navy (USN) large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ship (LMSR) USNS Bob Hope (T-AKR 300).
Earlier, it is believed that a large amount of vehicles and tanks were off-loaded from the USNS Bob Hope. They appear to have then been loaded later that night on board the Panamanian-flagged vehicles carrier 'Polaris Highway'.
Nice!
Photos and video taken by Crisp Dylan and Jamie C ©
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