N146CS visits Shannon

Shannon had one it's most interesting aircraft of the year visit this morning. The aircraft in question is N146CS, a Lockheed P-3B Orion registered to the US Customs Service. Originally Bu No 154605, the aircraft (msn 5286) was delivered to the Royal Australian Air Force as A9-605 in September 1969. In December 1982 the aircraft was traded back to Lockheed as N40035 before being acquired by the UC Customs Service as N96LW. The USCS subsequently reregistered the aircraft to it's present marks of N146CS.

This morning's arrival in Shannon was the termination of a trip which began at Rio Grande Valley International airport at Harlingen in Texas. The aircraft stopped off at Norfolk Virginia where it departed for Shannon at 21.30 utc last night. Pictured above, N146CS is seen on finals for R24 at Shannon at 06.45 utc this morning.

The forward fuselage of N146Cs carries 'US Customs and Border Protection' titles while the tail carries the seal of the Department of Homeland Security. Although it is impossible to see on the picture the aircraft actually does carry a registration, which cannot be more than 100mm high located almost in line with the elevator leading edge.