F3 terminated

[Dan Gerous]

Rumour over on UKAR suggesting 43 and 111 will disband by the end of the year. No source given with the thread. Any truth in it?

[LuckyBreak]

Not the first time I've heard it.

[AI24]

Apparently confirmed at station meeting yesterday. QRA and MPA only supported as of end of September.

[Monkey Madness]

So QRA (I) taken over by Typhoon, but what of MPA?

[Could be the last?]

So what will happen to all the back seaters??????

[extpwron]

So what will happen to all the back seaters??????

Butlins are recruiting.

BBC NEWS | England | Long queues for Butlins jobs

[Lincolnshire Poacher]

Plenty of potential Rubber Desk Johnnies available then !!

[5 Forward 6 Back]

Originally Posted by AI24

Apparently confirmed at station meeting yesterday. QRA and MPA only supported as of end of September.

Do you mean they'll be doing just QRA and MPA, or that they'll stop doing them as of the end of September?

How many crews left on 111 and 43? Seems like a lot of people to try and find new jobs for in a hurry.

[ukmil]

don't forget the groundcrew also, some 500 odd that will need relocating in October, only to be re-recruited in Oct10 when 6 Sqn arrives

[False Capture]

What will happen to 43 and 111 squadrons once the Tornado F-3 has been retired? Will they re-equip with Typhoons, become reserve squadrons or simply disappear?

[foldingwings]

Is this really an open forum topic?

[Green Flash]

As I'm quite sure there will be some White Swan/Bear drivers who visit this esteemed network - see you in September lads!

[Avtur]

It should be 8 and 23 Sqns (E3-D) that disband as they do equally less in the current scheme of things...Apart from waste the defence budget travelling the world doing pointless exericises.

[StopStart]

don't forget the groundcrew also, some 500 odd that will need relocating in October

We can send Hercs to collect them all on the day.

Seriously though - 500? I think that's more engineers than have ever been qualified on the C130. Ever. Give us just 30% of them and I reckon we could up our serviceability rates by about 1000%.

[Ronald Reagan]

I think people have a right to know how crap things have become! This should but probably won't be the number one story in the UK media!

[muttywhitedog]

"It should be 8 and 23 Sqns (E3-D) that disband as they do equally less in the current scheme of things...Apart from waste the defence budget travelling the world doing pointless exericises."

Seconded.

One E3D aircraft and 70 operators/maintainers to the USA for a Red Flag.

Harriers took 8 aircraft and 120 people for the same exercise.

Mind you, if they got rid of the E3Ds and the F3s, that's a whole lot of flying suits with their huge egos to match to relocate in one fell swoop!

[Linedog]

So, what will become of Leeming?

[Melchett01]

So, what will become of Leeming?

Did hear a rumour, can't remember where (might even have been on here somewhere), that they were thinking of making Leeming into a RW super base.

Hope not. It's too far north, and on the wrong side of the Pennines!

[Stitchbitch]

What will happen to 43 and 111 squadrons once the Tornado F-3 has been retired? Will they re-equip with Typhoons, become reserve squadrons or simply disappear?

I would like to imagine they'd be Typhooned up in the future. Although I've heard on the grapevine that the tremblers were to be re-equipped with the Grob Vigilant ....

[Mighty Quercus]

Leeming now the A6 hub with 100 Sqn still doing their thing keeping the runway open.

Leeming also has the RTP (Reduce to Produce) facility that dismembers F3's and puts parts back onto the shelf.

Have heard that RTP to be ramped up and all available hangarage is being sought on base to process more F3's. So rumour about 43 and 111 probably true!