shortest service life

[mr fish]

we can all think of long serving types, b52-c130-c47-etc, but what type holds the distincion of the shortest service career?
i should think 1 full squadron is the minimum amount to qualify!!

[henry crun]

The Swift 1 & 2 must be close to the top.

First delivery to 56 squadron 20/2/54, and taken out of service 13 months later; over the last 6 months there were 12 aircraft on strength.

[Warmtoast]

First delivery to 56 squadron 20/2/54, and taken out of service 13 months later; over the last 6 months there were 12 aircraft on strength

I knew they enetered service in early 1954 and AFAIR were grounded in August 1954.

I took the following photo of one of 56 Sqn's Swift F Mk 1's when it was flown in for static display at the 1954 Royal Observer Corps ‘Recognition Day’ held at Biggin Hill.
It was the custom for a variety of RAF, RN and USAF aircraft to be flown in so the Royal Observer Corps and the Army Anti-Aircraft Command (then an integral part of the UK’s air defences), could examine up close on the ground the friendly aircraft they were expected to recognise in the air.
As can be seen it was the object of attention for Biggin based airmen normally used to Meteor F Mk 8’s. In the background can be seen the tail-fin of a USAF B45 from Sculthorpe, and just visible the fins of two USAF F86 Sabres from Manston.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/56SqnSwiftMk1.jpg

As Henry Crun says Swift F Mk.1's didn't last long, although to be fair they redeemed themselves with some of the later marks.

[henry crun]

I should have been more precise.

They were officially withdrawn from squadron service on 15/3/54, but Boscombe Down continued to fly trials with a few of them, including the F3 & F4, after that date.

[Feather #3]

Is the Short Seamew a candidate or did it never actually serve the Fleet?

G'day ;)

[tinpis]

And the Swift looked RIGHT didnt it? :uhoh:

[i.dingbat]

The Saro Lerwick would have to be a contender, serving operationally from 1940 (not sure which month) to May 1941.

[chiglet]

He162 Salamander?
watp,iktch

[Icare9]

Great question!!
Wikipedia has an interesting entry for List of aircraft of the RAF which contains an alphabetical listing of most of the RAF aircraft. No doubt someone will have a trawl through for a definitive answer.
A few come to mind: Bell Airacobra; Manchester, Buckingham, Welkin, but I feel that probably it will be a type introduced at the end of WW1 where rapid decommissioning of aircraft and squadrons occurred. Maybe a Martinsyde?
Found a Parnall Heck of which only one appears to have served in RAF, does this count??
Come on, love to know the answer!!

[FormerFlake]

You can still see a Swift here:

upper hill,uk - Google Maps (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=upper+hill,uk&sll=52.177299,-2.773114&sspn=0.001005,0.002063&ie=UTF8&ll=52.177188,-2.773061&spn=0.001005,0.002063&t=h&z=19)

She was in a buit of a state last time I saw her at Christmas.

[Warmtoast]

Henry Crun - Re Swift F Mk.1's

They were officially withdrawn from squadron service on 15/3/54

I think you'll find they were flying from their introduction into service in February 1954 until grounded in August 1954.

[henry crun]

Warmtoast: Apologies, that date of 15/3/54 was a typo. it should have read 15/3/55.

You are right, they were temporarily grounded in Aug 1954 after an major accident, but that was lifted the following month.
They were grounded again in Oct 1954 after yet another significant incident with the powered controls. This grounding was lifted later that month.

[NutherA2]

Mr Fish’s post asked about length of service of aircraft types, not specific models. The original A models of the B52, C130....... were progressively replaced throughout their operational life. On this basis the Swift was in service for some 7 years (1954 – 1961?) :confused:

[teeteringhead]

I was steering clear of making a rotary entry as service lives generally stretch to decades, but if the Swift maaged high single figures as the previous post suggests, may I enter the Belvedere as the rotary short-life champion.

September 61 to March 69 (7½ years) squadron service with a bit of trials unit beforehand.

Not understanding bending loads on twin-rotor machines, the powers-that-be put a (completely unnecessary?) total life of 1500 hours (IIRC) on the airframe ... resulting in the scrapping of otherwise perfectly servicable aircraft :{

[tornadoken]

(Q did not specify UK, or manned vehicle). USAF Northrop SM-62A Snark SSM, operational Feb-June,1961. Failed launches caused waters off Florida to be Snark-infested seas.

[Wader2]

Nimrod AEW3 would be a contender. No way was it really a derivative from Comet or Nimrod MR.

[old,not bold]

I don't think this lasted all that long in RAF service............

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff141/picshooter/Ident1.jpghttp://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff141/picshooter/Ident2.jpg

But I don't know how long. Whatever it was, it should have been shorter.

[evansb]

The Percival Prentice T.1 was in RAF service from 1947 to 1953. Considering the aircraft's marginal performance, it was indeed in service way too long.

[virgo]

I should think the Blackburn Botha and the Westland Whirlwind would be close to qualifying ?

[Icare9]

can't find any RAF aircraft with shorter service life than the Welkin... May to November 1944 so 6 months.... anyone do shorter than that?
Whirlwind June 1940 to Oct 43; Botha: Dec 30 to Sept 44

[Papa Whisky Alpha]

How about the Avro Manchester? I am not certain how long it lasted but it did see active service

[ZH875]

How about the Avro Manchester? I am not certain how long it lasted but it did see active service


The Manchester served from Nov '40 to Jun '42..

[Guest 112233]

The Fairy Battle and the Boulton & Paul Defiant aircraft.Were they obsolete by the time they entered service ?

How about the Curtiss P3? ? Aircobra - or the Washington (B29) ?

(Do we mean active service or service including training/ Target towing Etc ? )

PS Did the RAF use F86 Sabres ?

CAT III

[Synthetic]

OK - not nearly as short a life as some of the previous types, but is anyone else surprise by the shortevity (:rolleyes:) of the F117?

[evansb]

Yes, the RAF used Canadair-built Sabres, about 400 in number, between May 1953 and June 1956.

Regarding the F117 Nighthawk, the aircraft entered service in 1982. Approximately 60 were built, seeing active service in Iran, Yugoslavia and Iraq. Replaced by the F22 Raptor, the last F117s were retired (put in storage) in April 2008. Over 25 years of service.

[Exnomad]

An aside on the Prentice. I was at RAF Derby in 1952 (Burnaston now the Toyota site) flying Chipmunks, there was n RAFVR unit on the airfield, using Prentices. They were so slow that we had to wait till one taking off had cleared the airfield boundary before stating to roll, otherwise we would catch them before they left the circuit.

[skippedonce]

Two F.E.8s were issued to No. 29 Squadron RFC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._29_Squadron_RAF), a D.H.2 unit, in June 1916, but it was not until August that No. 40 Squadron (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._40_Squadron_RAF) became fully operational on the type. The only other unit to fly the type, No. 41 Squadron (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._41_Squadron_RAF), arrived in France in October.

No. 41 actually kept their pushers until July 1917 – becoming the last pusher fighter squadron in France.
Two F.E.8s were sent to Home Defence units in 1917, but the type was not adopted as a home defence fighter.

So, operational sqn service Aug 16-Jul 17.

[WHBM]

As we seem to have pretty much run through the military types, I ws wondering what was the shortest service life of an civilian airliner which actually entered service (so not counting aborted prototypes).

The VFW614 must be a close contender. Did any get used for more than a few months ?

[FJJP]

...Or the shortest Sqn existance. On 02 Jan 67, 361 Sqn was formed and disbanded on 14 Jul 67 - during that period the crews were trained; at the end all 360/361 Sqns crews were combined in the one 360 Sqn. It was a victim of the wholesale withdrawal of the Forces from the Far East.

Their aircraft [Canberra T17] was equipped for Far East ops - it had an air ventilated suit system [which still worked in the 80s!], amongst other things. Those aircraft were re-allocated to a bigger 360 Sqn.

[sandiego89]

How about the type 11 Ohka kamikaze rocket craft? Type 11, the operational version, first flew in trials in late 1944, but was first used March 21 1945, and the last use seemed to be in June 1945, giving about 4 months of "squadron" service.

Agree from an earlier post that the He-162 is a good candidate also.

US entry may be the Ryan Fireball. Squadron service from March 1945 to "mid-1947".

[sandiego89]

One more: sources vary, but the "Natter" German rocket interceptor may have been in service with a trials unit at Kircheim/Stuttgart with 10 launchers erected in mid april 1945, with pilots on standby before the site was overrun by American Forces- so how about service of about 2 weeks! Outside the "rules" of this thread with active squadron service, but an interesting footnote.

[Porrohman]

How about the RB-45 Tornado as one of the shortest RAF service lives?
http://www.pinetreeline.org/metz/other/U-2/mixson1-1.jpg
Some USAF RB-45C's were painted in RAF colours and used to perform overflight reconnaisance of the Soviet Union. Wikipedia's article on the B-45 states;

The only other nation to use the RB-45C was Britain which were operated by an ad hoc unit of crews largely drawn from Nos. 35 and 115 squadrons. The aircraft were bailed to Britain from the 19th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron and wore RAF markings and performed significant operations over the Soviet Union during a period when such overflight operations were restricted by the President of the United States.

More info here; http://www.pinetreeline.org/metz/other/U-2/mixson-1.html

[Kerosene Kraut]

Slingsby Firefly?

[Warmtoast]

A close candidate for the shortest service career in RAF service must be the Martin Mariner.

524 Squadron was formed on 20th October 1943 to obtain operational experience of the type. The type was not adopted for service and the squadron disbanded 48-days later on 7th December 1943.

Wikepedia says the RAF acquired 32 Mariner, but as they were not used operationally they were returned to the US Navy with twelve being transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force.

[Icare9]

Certainly seems to have had a shorter service life than the Welkin!!

[PontiusPilote]

The Percival Prentice T.1 was in RAF service from 1947 to 1953. Considering the aircraft's marginal performance, it was indeed in service way too long.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, few of the RAF's aircraft can be regarded as truly lamentable, but the Prentice was widely regarded as quite exquisitely execrable. It was hideous to look at, underpowered and even after being made even more hideous (If that was possible...!) with various excrescences, it still had a reputation for wanting to spin. Certainly, the RAF couldn't get rid of them quick enough, and when they were disposed-of, nobody else wanted them either. Can't say I blame them.
The early Proctors were of course a much better machine, but by the 1950's no one in the RAF, or outside it for that matter, wanted to know about wooden aircraft. Rather ironic really, as they were the 'composite' machines of their day. :) PP.

[henry crun]

It is so long ago that I flew them my memory may be faulty, IIRC it was a reluctance to recover from a spin if it was prolonged, rather than a reputation for wanting to.

[Blacksheep]

perfectly servicable aircraft three words that would rarely be mentioned in the same sentence as the Belvedere.
disbanded on 14 Jul 67 - a victim of the wholesale withdrawal of the Forces from the Far East.I distinctly remember serving in the Far East Air Force from 1969 to 1971 and being one of those involved in closing down RAF Changi as we progressively withdrew from the Far East. I think it was a simple matter of additional Canberras no longer being needed in FEAF after Confrontation ended in '67.

[Cornish Jack]

Prentice finish date 1953???
Not so, chaps, they were still plodding around East Anglia in '54, certainly, possibly '55 also, even more limited in performance with a full 1154/55 installation and the associated comms gear. Swanton Morley based for Air Signaller training. Re. performance, it was widely believed that at least one brave soul had looped the beast with the full radio fit!! Many are the seven-and-sixpence-worths of trailing aerial lead beads deposited around the 'bump' at Swanton!!:=:O

[papajuliet]

My very first flight was [as a CCF cadet] in a Prentice at Ternhill in 1954 so I, at least, do have fond memories of it whilst recognising it's shortcomings.

[Lower Hangar]

I have to ask whether the Prentice remained in service ( of some sort ) as late as the summer of 1956 - I had my first air experience flight in the back of a Prentice at RAF Feltwell ( Piston Provosts based there for ab initio training) - I was an ATC cadet on my first summer camp - I was born in 1943 and I'm pretty certain I was 13 at the time - you couldn't join the ATC below 13 - pretty sure of that - so it was still being used in 1956 although probably flown by RAFVR pilots - all I can remember is all these big black boxes in the back with all the coloured rotary dials - I think our Flight Sergeant got a Provost flight - wow