The most significant aircraft

[Piggies]

Apologies if this has been done before, but what do you think are the most significant RAF aircraft since 1945?

For me;

AT - C-130. No brainer
SH - CH-47. Likewise
Trainer - Chipmunk. Taught everyone for 40+ years
FJ - Tornado GR1/4. On ops without a break for over 20 years

Pip,pip!

[Baldeep Inminj]

AT - C130 - yeah, I would find that hard to argue with.
Rotary - No brainer as you say - it's the Wessex!!! SH in the Far east, Middle east, mainland and NI. SAR in the UK and Cyprus. The Royal Flight aircraft and the Queen mother's chariot of choice! The CH47 is a triumph of engineering over design. Why have we still not replaced the wessex as a do-everything Cab? Simple - we can't!
FJ - Got to be the lightning - world/class leading, even if only for a while.

Is the Vulcan a FJ? if so, then it is the winner, with the lightning 2nd.

Good thread:ok:

[Pontius Navigator]

Piggies, it has, apologies accepted.

[sharpend]

AT - VC10
Bomber - Canberra
Trainer - Chippie
Fighter - Hunter
Helo ?????
Maritime - Nimrod

[althenick]

AT - Britannia
Bomber - Buccaneer
Fighter - Lightning
AEW - Shackleton
Basic Trainer - Chippy
FJ Trainer - Gnat
Helo - SAR - Sea King
Helo - Combat - Chinook
MRA - Nimrod

[Lima Juliet]

Lancaster...

...joined in 1989, flew her for 50hrs during my 22 in the Regulars and it was after 1945 :ok:

Here I am...

http://www.tim-beach.com/bigginbb/lanc2.gif

[stumpey]

I reckon it has to be the Slingsby T.21 Sedbergh glider.

Has to have introduced the most amount of people to flying for the lowest possible cost.

[Airborne Aircrew]

I'm stunned that a person calling himself "Sharpend" can't name a "Helo"... :ugh:

The two entities of the RAF that can truly state that they are at the "sharp end" and in the most danger are the Raf Regiment and Support Helicopters. Certainly, on today's battlefield the jet jockeys are, comparatively, far from danger.

[Avitor]

'Comrade' Stalin had cause to note the existence of the V Fleet...Vulcan, Victor and the Valiant!

[Buster Hyman]

Could have been the TSR-1....

[Art Smass]

The HS-125 Dominie T.1 must have trained a fair few navs over the years:D

[SASless]

C-47 Dakota.....or its civilian version the DC-3.

They are still flying and earning a living! Octogenarians some of them!

[Harley Quinn]

SH= Bristol Belvedere for demonstrating to the British Army the usefulness of proper SH (and how not to design it).

[cats_five]

I reckon it has to be the Slingsby T.21 Sedbergh glider.

Has to have introduced the most amount of people to flying for the lowest possible cost.

LOL! But what about the T38 Grasshopper? Or doesn't that count as flying? I've seen one do a circuit after a winch lanch, though the hook position right under the nose is far from ideal.

I'd vote for the Harrier because of it's technical innovation and the new avenues that opened.

[Cows getting bigger]

JP3/5 did rather well.

[Sir George Cayley]

Anything from English Electric make the grade?

SGC

[sharpend]

PAH, I can name hundreds of helos; just not sure which is the best as I have never flown one. I learnt long ago not to pontificate on things I don't know much about :=

[Tashengurt]

Could we have managed without the Hercules for the last fifty odd years?

[Green Flash]

Bearing in mind the question - most SIGNIFICANT -then I'm with Tash on this one. Albert has got me and bazillions of others into, and much more importantly, out of, a whole load of places.:ok:

[air pig]

DH Mosquito, a truly remarkable multi role combat aircraft. Did everything including carrying passengers.

[PingDit]

Has to be the Nimrod;
Depth charges, torpedoes, air to air and air to surface missiles, pies.....

Ping

[orca]

At the risk of upsetting just about everyone I think the most significant aircraft the RAF has ever operated is the Tornado in all it's guises.

I genuinely think it was a big and significant mistake.

F-4 and Buccaneer replaced by F-15A and E - we'd have been the canine's proverbials.

(Just prior to donning tin hat, gum shield and safety goggles I would like to state that I am quite aware that one has been 'the' war horse for many a year and the other proved that whilst turd polishing isn't possible you can at least get rid of most of the smell. But think what could have been....)

[frodo_monkey]

Served on both, strongly agree as I'm sure do most of my colleagues! I'd whittle your buy down to just Strike Eagles though - can do enough AD for our needs :)

[Ken Scott]

Could we have managed without the Hercules for the last fifty odd years?

No.

And for your supplementary question: how are we going to cope without it after 2020?

[dalek]

1. (By a distance) C130K 1966 - 2013?

Critical component in East Pakistan evacuation, Belize, Falklands, Ethiopian Relief, Gulf 1&2, FRY, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan. These, plus God knows, how many unknown SF Operations.

2. (Joint) Canberra and Harrier.

Any Post War aircraft the US Government would purchase against the wishes of their own powerful Aviation Lobby has to be good. They have subsequently proved themselves in countless conflicts around the world.

3. Hawk. The only post war aircraft to come in ahead of schedule and under budget. Sold in large numbers to many AF's including our American cousins.
1974- 2040? It will be the longest serving aircraft the Royal Air Force will ever know.
I wager the aircraft will outlast the RAF.

[Halton Brat]

This thread is clearly a thinly-veiled ploy to induce me to mention the Wiggins Aerodyne.

I refuse to rise to the bait.

HB

[Wholigan]

You may wish to look at this for ideas!

http://www.pprune.org/military-aircrew/438713-best-value-aircraft-thats-been-raf.html

[Shack37]

At the risk of upsetting just about everyone I think the most significant aircraft the RAF has ever operated is the Tornado in all it's guises.

I genuinely think it was a big and significant mistake.

F-4 and Buccaneer replaced by F-15A and E - we'd have been the canine's proverbials.


Not sure what was the "big and significant" mistake you refer to in this post. The Tornado? The replacement quoted?

[orca]

Sorry, powers of expression let me down.

I personally think that whilst MRCA offered a lot it wasn't delivered and in the Tornado the RAF got a barely first class striker and a woeful air defender.

Not until 2004 ish did the F-3 mature and the GR1/4 has been competent from start to finish, but never anything more than that. Alternative weapon systems were giving their operators swing and multi role capability at the same time.

I would venture that in buying two such average steeds the RAF consigned the heroes who operated them to a fairly low worldwide status for decades.

A real shame - because I genuinely believe that we can fight anyone man for man. But the airborne warfare game is technology driven to a greater degree than the maritime and land components.

[Shack37]

Orca

Thank you for that. We can only hope it gets better.

[Piggies]

I think that I rest my case.

The Lightning and the Buccaneer might have a bigger fan base. There's no doubt that the Hunter did a lot of stuff.

You might think it was a dog, built by committee for compromised reasons, but for Combat Air, which RAF aircraft has been more significant in the last 60 years than the Tornado?

I think that given the wars into which the UK and the RAF has been forced in the last 20+ years, there are lots of reasons to be grateful to the Tornado GR and its crews.

[Courtney Mil]

You just had to take a couple of years to think about it?

[NutLoose]

Agreed with the Wessex, was to the UK what the Huey was to the US.
Transport, Herc and VC10
Fighter, Hunter, Harrier, Buccaneer, and Lightning
Medium bomber and a myriad other roles and still going today in the world, Canberra.
Trainer, Hawk and Hunter

It makes you wonder where it all went wrong for the UK industry because the majority of those were home built.

[newt]

Fighter......."Harrier, Buccaneer"

I don't think so!:=

[ian16th]

Someone has to say it.

The Predator.

At last no aircrew!






Tin hat, flak jacket and into trench.

[Finnpog]

I would happily say Reaper as opposed to Predator. :ok:

[T-21]

Varsity and J.P

[Pontius Navigator]

Varsity and J.P

Varsity? Monopoly

Ok, navigation, multi-engine pilot, air electronics, bombing, calibration but significant that it trained people to get to Berlin (and back) and was wholly unsuited for training Canberra navs or modern ME pilots and should have been retired in the mid-50s. Admittedly it was a major improvement over the Wimpy.

[Trim Stab]

I'm amazed that this thread has got to 38 without mention of the Wiggins Aerodyne.

[Typhoon93]

Fast jet: Tornado - all variants.
Helicopter: Chinook.
Multi-engine: C-130 and VC10

[OvertHawk]

Trim...

See post 26!:}

[Ivan Rogov]

IMO the most significant aircraft to the UK post 1945

Initially thought Chipmunk due to how many people were trained on it or had AEF, but then I thought about it...

The Harrier FRS1.

It was instrumental in winning the Falklands War, without it we would have lost. Although other aircraft such as the sole surviving Chinook BN did amazing work, they were not essential. All the other aircraft I have seen in the thread so far were just the type in service at the time, ie: Tornado. If we had another type in the same role (Phantom, F-16, Mirage 2000, F-15, etc.) the result would have been the same, but nothing else could have done what the little puffer jet did. :D

[NutLoose]

Don't call it a fighter though, even if that is what it is... Because newt won't like it :p

[Boudreaux Bob]

BN was not essential......really?

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Without the Harrier, the UK would have been obliged to retain a proper carrier or two, and the Falklands would have been won easily, or never started.

Most significant aircraft were the ones that ensured the Cold War stayed Cold - Vulcan and Phantom, latterly Tornado.

Even more significant was the level of effort by the personnel - all Ranks, Trades and Branches, to ensure readiness. All those Tacevals were worth it, as post-Soviet analysis of WarPac readiness/capability is showing. NATO would have won.

[dmussen]

Mosquito and Canberra for essentially all the same reasons.
All the 'Vs" kept things cool when it mattered.
I wish the TSR 2 had reached fruition.
Bucc, Frightning, Hunter, Harrier and the beloved trainers - Chippy, JP 3&5 and the Gnat.
Take your pick.:ok::ok:

[Ivan Rogov]

B Bob, BN was not essential in winning the Falklands War, it made it 'easier'/quicker but assets would have been moved by other SH ... eventually!

F3WMB, I would suggest that without the Harrier we would have had no aircraft to protect the Fleet, as experience proved other AD methods were not capable of protecting the Fleet adequately. AFAIK the Government decided UK conventional Carriers were going regardless and the RN were lucky to slip the Harrier through the system.

Your point re personnel is spot on, but we would have made the most of any platform that had been purchased and there were a number of other possibilities.

I think many posters may be naming their favorite aircraft rather than answering the OPs thread title.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Whilst the through-deck cruisers are often portrayed as being 'sneaked through', I present the following facts

1963 - first trials of P1127 and Kestrel on RN ships - First Lord of the Admiralty was Peter Carington
1972 - HMS Eagle claimed too expensive to operate and scrapped - Sec Def. Peter Carington
1973 - first through-Deck cruiser officially ordered - Sec Def. Peter Carington

1982 - FCO cock-ups lead to Falklands War - Foreign Sec. Peter Carington resigns

He knew very well that the through deck-cruisers were a replacement for proper carriers, and that in a strategic sense scrapping them had been a failure.


p.s. Once had a senior USAF Officer tell me "If you guys had our aircraft, we'd still be a colony"

[Tashengurt]

I know it straddles '45 but isn't the Meteor or even the Vampire in the mix?
They saw in the jet age after all.


Posted from Pprune.org App for Android

[FoxtrotAlpha18]

C-130


Without logistics, you have...well, nothing really!

[MAINJAFAD]

Meteor or even the Vampire

Second Rate before they entered service (compared with the ME 262).

For the amount that it had done in peacetime and combat operations since the late 1960s, can only be the C-130.

[ian16th]

Second Rate before they entered service (compared with the ME 262).Maybe so, but I agree with Tashkengurt, these a/c did introduce the jet age to the RAF.

The OP did ask 'what was the most significant a/c', not 'what was the best'.

The change from piston engines to turbine affected just about every aspect of military a/c.

[ExGrunt]

All,

My 2p worth, from a ground based perspective:

Overall the most significant has to be the Falklands era Harrier of the two types which were instrumental in delivering a strategic victory.

As an aside on 'through deck cruisers', I always saw them as ideally sized escort carriers, which if the cold war had gone pear shaped, would have been vital in getting supplies to these islands and hence the right ships for our then priorities.

As to rotary, I agree the wessex was the workhorse that kept giving. WRT to CH47 there were simply too few to really matter and against that is the black mark of causing the single biggest casualty bill of the 38 years of Op BANNER.

Interestingly, I asked a civvie, with no service experience, what he thought and his reply was the SAR Sea King which has given sterling service for decades and everyone here has overlooked.

EG

[sharpend]

Quote:

I'm stunned that a person calling himself "Sharpend" can't name a "Helo"...

The two entities of the RAF that can truly state that they are at the "sharp end" and in the most danger are the Raf Regiment and Support Helicopters. Certainly, on today's battlefield the jet jockeys are, comparatively, far from danger.'

Well of course I can name a helo, lots of them.... But unlike some, I don't comment on things I know nothing about :D

[newt]

Don't call it a fighter though, even if that is what it is... Because newt won't like it!:p

That's because only a pure fighter can be called a Fighter:=