D-EPCI was built in 1959, the Swiss Military registration was A-859, serialnr 497-46. The process is running to operate again with the original Swiss reg on the fuselage and the German reg under the elevators. The plane has just over 3700 flying hours, and a similar number of landings.

http://www.osfm.nl/

Short history

The Pilatus P-3 was designed for primary and advanced training (including night flying, aerobatics and instrument flying). The military version was designated P-3-03. It was of all-metal construction with a retractable tricycle undercarriage and tandem seating. There was provision for underwing racks for light practice bombs or rockets and a machine gun in a pod below the port wing. The P3-05 was developed only as trainer, no provision for underwing racks are available.

The first prototype was built in 1953 and flew on 3 September, the same year. The Swiss Air Force received 72 examples of this aircraft while the Brazilian Navy acquired six. The Swiss Air Force used the P-3 as a training aircraft until 1983, although it continued to be used as a liaison aircraft for another decade. In 1993–1995, 65 ex-Swiss Air Force aircraft were sold on the private market.

In the 70’s the P-3 was further developed into the PC-7, using a turboprop and a modified wing. The Royal Dutch Airforce is still using the PC-7 as basic trainer. More recent developments are the PC-9 and PC-21used by several Air Forces. More detailed information and YouTube Films are available on following links.

Relevant links

http://pilatusp-3.com/welcome-to-pilatus-p-3/

https://www.pilatus-aircraft.com/en

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOWLIfm2Xjc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf2Cz8RzPZs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUqUvTtZY6Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uECE8LBEG5g

http://www.osfm.nl/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilatus_P-3

https://www.pilatus-aircraft.com/en/news-events/story/p-3-flyers

https://www.p3flyer.ch/