Best in-Service UK military aircraft?
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Ha Ha Ha Harrier
... 20 posts so far and not a single GR7/9, "AYE" !!!
Granted, every one of the 7 remaining pilots may be engaged in aviation or "CAS"-preparatory secondary duties ... I think it's somewhat plain to see which branches of the RAF's aviators have time to post on PPRuNe on a Friday morning ... C17, VC10, Tristar, C130, E3 ... and only 2 FJ nominations. My excuse - I'm home with a sick kid!
Old#7
Why would we want to put it (an F3) in harm's way? With all the latest kit it's probably worth near £30m - we don't want people shooting at it !!!
Granted, every one of the 7 remaining pilots may be engaged in aviation or "CAS"-preparatory secondary duties ... I think it's somewhat plain to see which branches of the RAF's aviators have time to post on PPRuNe on a Friday morning ... C17, VC10, Tristar, C130, E3 ... and only 2 FJ nominations. My excuse - I'm home with a sick kid!
Old#7
Why would we want to put it (an F3) in harm's way? With all the latest kit it's probably worth near £30m - we don't want people shooting at it !!!
Last edited by threepointonefour; 10th Feb 2006 at 11:03.
Canberra PR9
Threepointonefour. Now either you can't count, or worse still you are have taken it upon yourself not to acknowledge that the Canberra is a fast (450kts) jet!
H Peacock
PS. Does this mean that the PR9 now has 2 votes???
H Peacock
PS. Does this mean that the PR9 now has 2 votes???
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Originally Posted by H Peacock
Threepointonefour. Now either you can't count, or worse still you are have taken it upon yourself not to acknowledge that the Canberra is a fast (450kts) jet!
H Peacock
PS. Does this mean that the PR9 now has 2 votes???
H Peacock
PS. Does this mean that the PR9 now has 2 votes???
I shall amend the claim to 3 ...!
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I'm not quite sure how you can have a "best" aircraft?
Surely, all of the RAF's types are the "best" available, as one would presume that it is why they were purchased for their various roles, in the first place?
I would have thought that it goes without saying, that a Typhoon is a lousy AAR tanker, the VC10 is rubbish at ACM, and the Tucano is a hopless transport aircraft...
Surely, all of the RAF's types are the "best" available, as one would presume that it is why they were purchased for their various roles, in the first place?
I would have thought that it goes without saying, that a Typhoon is a lousy AAR tanker, the VC10 is rubbish at ACM, and the Tucano is a hopless transport aircraft...
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Originally Posted by Tim McLelland
I'm not quite sure how you can have a "best" aircraft?
Surely, all of the RAF's types are the "best" available, as one would presume that it is why they were purchased for their various roles, in the first place?
I would have thought that it goes without saying, that a Typhoon is a lousy AAR tanker, the VC10 is rubbish at ACM, and the Tucano is a hopless transport aircraft...
Surely, all of the RAF's types are the "best" available, as one would presume that it is why they were purchased for their various roles, in the first place?
I would have thought that it goes without saying, that a Typhoon is a lousy AAR tanker, the VC10 is rubbish at ACM, and the Tucano is a hopless transport aircraft...
Originally Posted by Tim McLelland
the VC10 is rubbish at ACM
Oh I'm not sure. Doing ACM in MPA in a light VC10K we confused the F3 and Alice. Alice kept calling us as fast medium and the F3 couldn't see us......well we were about 18K higher doing 0.86. Twas fun sat up there at FLnose bleed watching the F3 try to catch us!!
OK so there wasn't much in the way of 'M' in the ACM bit!!
But for me, the vote from the Buckinghamshire jury goes to the........
Lancaster.
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Lancaster - agreed. Easily.
Re VC10 at "FL nose bleed" ... I don't recall seeing a VC10 alongside at 50k when I was up there at M1.2.
... did someone say that Typhoons were flown by lousy tankers??
Re VC10 at "FL nose bleed" ... I don't recall seeing a VC10 alongside at 50k when I was up there at M1.2.
... did someone say that Typhoons were flown by lousy tankers??
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Easy - Grob Vigilant Tmk1
Why?
- Awesome 130 knots VNE
- Lovely bright orange hi-vis patches on both wings (yuk!)
- No aero's
- No Direction Indicator!!!
- Only operate weekends
But on the plus side, although a tricky bugger it is a pleasure to fly, and watching little 16 year old bloggsy getting the hang of it can be quite rewarding.
Why?
- Awesome 130 knots VNE
- Lovely bright orange hi-vis patches on both wings (yuk!)
- No aero's
- No Direction Indicator!!!
- Only operate weekends
But on the plus side, although a tricky bugger it is a pleasure to fly, and watching little 16 year old bloggsy getting the hang of it can be quite rewarding.
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Perhaps a better definition of the term "best" is needed?
If we're talking about value for money, they you have to assume that the Canberra wins hands-down, as the RAF must have got more mileage out of them than just about any other type, and the only mystery seems to be why they're now so keen to dispose of them. One wonders whether the rumours of officials wandering round the stored WB-57's at Davis-Mothan really were true...
Likewise, the VC10 certainly clocked-up lots of mileage, so it must weigh-in as a respectable runner-up?
Sadly, many other types have shortfalls to their credit; the Jaguar was under-powered for much of its career, the Harrier is effectively a new aircraft and can't be grouped-in with the original GR1/3, the Tornado F2/3 was, by any standards, a mistake, the Nimrod and Hercules have performed well (but are outclassed in the age stakes by the VC10 - just!), and the rest? Well I guess it just depends how long they stick-around, but the Hawk and Tornado GR1/4 seem to be earning their keep pretty effectively.
If we're talking about value for money, they you have to assume that the Canberra wins hands-down, as the RAF must have got more mileage out of them than just about any other type, and the only mystery seems to be why they're now so keen to dispose of them. One wonders whether the rumours of officials wandering round the stored WB-57's at Davis-Mothan really were true...
Likewise, the VC10 certainly clocked-up lots of mileage, so it must weigh-in as a respectable runner-up?
Sadly, many other types have shortfalls to their credit; the Jaguar was under-powered for much of its career, the Harrier is effectively a new aircraft and can't be grouped-in with the original GR1/3, the Tornado F2/3 was, by any standards, a mistake, the Nimrod and Hercules have performed well (but are outclassed in the age stakes by the VC10 - just!), and the rest? Well I guess it just depends how long they stick-around, but the Hawk and Tornado GR1/4 seem to be earning their keep pretty effectively.
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Originally Posted by Pontius Navigator
Funny no one is voting for that other air force? You know who I mean