Nigerian Black Witch Mary Rose

[comrade harps]

The Canadian Black Witch was one of the country's most secret aircraft. Although built between 1964 and 1981, information on the Black Witch (BW) was not made public until 2005, when aviation historian Arthur Clough publshed the type's official history, Black Witch: Canada's spooky trainers revealed. The following words are extracted from an article Clough wrote in 2006 for the Avition History magazine, titled Black Witch: Canada's secret wartime wizards.


The Black Witch was always an odd aircraft. 256 were built in 47 custom configerations, using both new green airframes and second hand retired trainers. Some were drones, although most were two seaters; four three seaters were also built. They were used as passive ELINT ferrets, as emmitting EW aggressors, for navaid calibration and radio relay and as nocturnal infra-red surveillance aircraft. They operated alone or as the cheap and expendalbe sensor platforms of UAV/mothership combinations.

It was one of Canada's best kept secrets.

As the Americans went higher and faster with the U-2 and SR-71 and purpose designed drones, the Canadians went in the opposite direction. Capitalising on experience with using CL-30 Silver Star as an EW aggressor for trials, training and exercises, it was realised that there was a role for a small, slow and cheap trainer to be used in a similar role for real.



Due to it being a top secret national asset, at first the aircraft were of 100% Canadian origin. This excluded the possibility of using the Canadian built, but American designed Silver Star, so the new Canadair CL-41 Tutor was selected as the airframe.

Black Witch designs could be broadly divided into three categories, based on their external appearance. The "smooths" were externally similar to the standard production Tutors and were often disguied as such. The "warts" were aerodymanicly compromised with a variety of fairings, bumps, lumps and radomes. "Porcupines" were festooned with whip and blade aerials.



Each airframe was identified with a female name, such as Monica Louise (BW 001), Sabina Angelique (BW 105) and Mary-Lou (BW 203). Each name was displayed with accompaning nose art applied in the paint shop, but often later removed for security reasons....

The Black Witch program always operated on a shoe-string budget, each example practically hand-built to a specific requirement...

With the project entrusted to the state-owned CARDE [Canadian Aviation Reserach Development Establishment], parts were able to be acquired irresepective of company loyalities, the Black Witch over time becoming an amalgam of custom built and off the shelf products from numerous avionics and airframe manufactuers.

Once the USAF and U.S. intelligence agencies became involved from 1968, U.S. parts were also incorporated. Insiders recall with irony how by 1970 it became easier to access American components and assemblies, including drop tanks from Northrop F-5s and surplus wingtip tanks from Lockheed F-104s, than to acquire Canadian equivalents.

This was because the Americans were, in effect, underwriting the Black Witch...



Only sixteen Black Witch airframes were exported. In the 1970s, as part of the UN's Africranization program, Kenya and Nigeria recieved eight each. Several were used, sometimes with Canadian personell aboard, during the air campaigns against the Southern African Union (SAU) between 1976 and 1980...



In service with the Nigerian Air Force, "wart" Mary Rose (BW 143) became the only Black Witch to fall into enemy hands when its Nigerian and Canadian aircrew ejected above Namibia on the 23, May 1979 following an engine flame out. The plane incurred suprisingly little damage as it skidded into the Namib desert. It took three days for UN aicraft to locate and bomb it, by which time much of its sensitive equipment had clearly be retrieved by SAU troops...

The last Candian Black Witch in service, Tracey Sélina (BW 254), was retired in 1984...


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The kit: Hobbycraft 1:72nd Canadair Cl-41 Tutor. Donations from 11 other planes! Colour: Humbrol black green

[cthulhu77]

Sharp is the word !  Very neat whatiff, dig the backstory too !

[sotoolslinger]

Very cool I  sneaky craft.

[The Rat]

Waving the maple leaf over here! 

[John Howling Mouse]

I would never have imagined that a Tutor could look menacing but there it is.

Cool !!! 

Will you be doing any of the other variants?  Porcupine version sounds most intriguing.

[comrade harps]

Will you be doing any of the other variants?  Porcupine version sounds most intriguing.

I think I'll leave doing more menacing Tutors to others, but the porcupine idea (possibly as one of the 4 seaters?) is inspired by the RC-12D Huron http://www.spyflight.co.uk/rc12d.htm.

I would never have imagined that a Tutor could look menacing but there it is.

The tip tanks give it an unlikely slim and lanky look.

There have been other war-like Tutors here before, like http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,3723.0/highlight,tutor.html and I seem to recall something that was a Tutor crossed with an A-37, which looked pretty menacing.

This Hobbycraft kit itself was a delight to build and suprisingly easy to adapt, so I recommend it to anyone wanting to fiddle with a trainer. All it lacks is much in the way of pylons and stores, so even ifyou want to give it the Tebuan http://www.geocities.com/faisal4589/tebuan.html or A-37 treatment, you'll have to source the underwing stores pylons and any weapons from elsewhere.

I also thought of a possible SEAD version, with light ARMs like Sidearm and Shrike, but thought that, although prototyped, that they decided that it would be better for the type to remain non-lethal, thereby appearing as a lower threat to the other side and attracting less attention. Some of those supplied to Nigeria and Kenya could be lethal SEAD/DEAD, though, as this could be their only airframes dedicated to that role.

Glad you like it (I thought that you might).