Originally Posted by
Lima Juliet
T
When the E3D Sentry goes out of service (which may be quite quickly if the rumours of the Defence Command Paper are true - due out this Monday) then that will be the last pure Air Eng role on an RAF aircraft. The last few Air Engs will either need to retrain for other WSO/WSOp roles or be used in flying related roles (like Air Safety). A few Air Engineers have already retrained in Air Loadmaster, Mission Systems Operator and Sensor Operator roles - thus proving the worth of the Weapon Systems Officer and Weapon Systems Operator vision where mission aircrew can retrain for a variety of roles and use their previously learned expertise too.
Surely the BBMF Lancaster still flies with a flight engineer? I know many Sentry FEs that filled the post on BBMF.