best machine the RAF never had
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A quick re-attack from post #2.
I can't remember his name but he was a single seat mate (possibly Jaguar) and OC of whatever the UAS flying out of St Athan was in 2001.
He and I, and some students who held him in very high regard, sank a few bottles of red (as one does) and came to the conclusion that the entire defence budget should be spent solely on F-15E and subs with sub launched TLAM.
Now, it has a few holes but by and large, for a small island nation I'm not sure we were far off the mark.
I can't remember his name but he was a single seat mate (possibly Jaguar) and OC of whatever the UAS flying out of St Athan was in 2001.
He and I, and some students who held him in very high regard, sank a few bottles of red (as one does) and came to the conclusion that the entire defence budget should be spent solely on F-15E and subs with sub launched TLAM.
Now, it has a few holes but by and large, for a small island nation I'm not sure we were far off the mark.
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^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^. but I'd also add that for top cover a pure AD variant of the Typhoon ,with all the bits and bobs that the RAF will never see [OK mods?] would be a great mix....
Given the nature of the wars we've been fighting for the majority of the last 15 years the A10 and AC130 are the stand-out omissions; remember the USAF has tried to kill the A10 in favour of more F16s for years and is only now, grudgingly, upgrading it. What is it about the Mach 2 muppetry that dominate the upper echelons in our forces?
On the subject of F16s, is there any truth to the rumour that Portillo offered to buy/lease a wing of F16s to replace the Coltishall wing in the early 90's and that it was hurridly killed by the Airships and BWoS as a threat to Typhoon?
And for purely emotive reasons, wouldn't it be wonderful to think of a Scampton wing equipped with B1s? They could be alongside the USAF at Diego Garcia delivering the good news as we speak....
On the subject of F16s, is there any truth to the rumour that Portillo offered to buy/lease a wing of F16s to replace the Coltishall wing in the early 90's and that it was hurridly killed by the Airships and BWoS as a threat to Typhoon?
And for purely emotive reasons, wouldn't it be wonderful to think of a Scampton wing equipped with B1s? They could be alongside the USAF at Diego Garcia delivering the good news as we speak....
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herod: FD.2: Mirage. It's another we wuz robbed myth. I take it you allude to FD.2's Cazaux trials, 10/56 where that nice Marcel "copied" it. But Mirage III prototype was rolled out 2 days after FD.2 left. If AMD picked any brains they were German...but they didn't. ONÉRA (the French RAE) based a multi-role platform on a delta, and paid AMD to do it.
Late-1942 US offered licence-built Vickers B-29. We chose to attempt Vickers Windsor, and to buy (Abraham) Lincoln. Early-1948: US intending to pull all GIs out of W.Germany before Presidential Election, 11/48: everybody knew Truman would lose and isolationist Republicans would laager into Little America. Uncle Joe knew this too, so tried to take W.Germany painlessly, starting in Berlin, 24/6/48. He feared not Lincoln. He did fear Tu.4 Bull (aka B-29). If a Wing of Vickers 441 had then been sitting on Marham, he might not have caused the Airlift, so causing UK to define a Soviet Threat and start the build up of 1950s' Forces, thus the Cold War.
Late-1942 US offered licence-built Vickers B-29. We chose to attempt Vickers Windsor, and to buy (Abraham) Lincoln. Early-1948: US intending to pull all GIs out of W.Germany before Presidential Election, 11/48: everybody knew Truman would lose and isolationist Republicans would laager into Little America. Uncle Joe knew this too, so tried to take W.Germany painlessly, starting in Berlin, 24/6/48. He feared not Lincoln. He did fear Tu.4 Bull (aka B-29). If a Wing of Vickers 441 had then been sitting on Marham, he might not have caused the Airlift, so causing UK to define a Soviet Threat and start the build up of 1950s' Forces, thus the Cold War.
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Had it not been assassinated at birth, it wouldn't have taken a lot of negotiation and investment to have had this;
Mind you, it would have gone down like a brick budgerigar with our bestest friend in the whole world.
Mind you, it would have gone down like a brick budgerigar with our bestest friend in the whole world.
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Oooooh, going back a bit
ME190
TSR2
F111
A bit closer to today
F15E
A10 - would have been rather useful in the last decade or so
AC130 - as above
P3 and variants
Osprey
A320/1 - far better than a 146
ME190
TSR2
F111
A bit closer to today
F15E
A10 - would have been rather useful in the last decade or so
AC130 - as above
P3 and variants
Osprey
A320/1 - far better than a 146
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When I was at RAF Buchan in 1963, I made a model of the Vickers Vanguard.... MR1. All I did was to add a radome and a MAD gear
Lockheed did [basically] the same with the L188 and got the P3 Orion.
What about the SR 188?
Lockheed did [basically] the same with the L188 and got the P3 Orion.
What about the SR 188?
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This would have put the Lanc to shame!
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The Bristol 188...'cos it sliver
If only the boffins had remembered to include a fuel tank in the design
)
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SASless ,,, is that real or has some one Cgi/ photo shopped it ?
Never saw a B-17 like that before !
Was it a one off prototype ?
Ps my thoughts are,
Fw190,
P51 (yes I know we had it originally as the A-10)
GD F111,
GD F16(personally would have loved it in XL form)
or as now being avocated for the carriers F18 !
A-10 (thunderbolt 2)
F15 E (let's face it even in the mud mover form it would out do most air to air traffic it would ever meet, and still be a better bomber than we have had in years)
Never saw a B-17 like that before !
Was it a one off prototype ?
Ps my thoughts are,
Fw190,
P51 (yes I know we had it originally as the A-10)
GD F111,
GD F16(personally would have loved it in XL form)
or as now being avocated for the carriers F18 !
A-10 (thunderbolt 2)
F15 E (let's face it even in the mud mover form it would out do most air to air traffic it would ever meet, and still be a better bomber than we have had in years)