Does the RAF still have an all-weather capability?

[Onceapilot]

Bob Viking

Hi Bob. Yes, I understand the advantages of SO. However, there are also some disadvantages and my contention is that it is also unwise to have all your eggs in one basket. Present doctrine might well not see the need for LL IMC penetration to launch SO or, operations in less than a generated " safe from engagement" environment but, that does not mean that there could not be future circumstances where LL IMC is the best way to do a particular task also combining SO and even, being tasked to operate in circumstances where LL IMC elements of operation might improve the survivability of that mission . I am surprised that there seems to be no information about any strap-on LL IMC system to enable Typhoon, so it seems that the RAF will soon lose the IMC LL capability. I do not want to try to talk tactics (I am out of date anyway) but, I do think it is a mistake to lose the LL IMC capability and the flexibility that it can bring in some circumstances. Cheers

OAP

[frodo_monkey]

Originally Posted by NutLoose

This is the Tiffie flypast and also an indication of the weather throughout the day

https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/new...yphoon-1572264

No one calls it a ‘Tiffie’.

[beardy]

Originally Posted by frodo_monkey

No one calls it a ‘Tiffie’.

I was somewhat surprised when I read the unpublished memories of a WW2 Typhoon pilot (the father of a good friend) he repeatedly referred to his aircraft as a Tiffie. He loved it and the role.

[langleybaston]

Originally Posted by Pontius Navigator

Do I detect fish rising?

As in Michael?

Yes. Cheap jibes at stereotypes can be acceptable if done lightheartedly.

An apology helps, of course.

[ValMORNA]

Tiffie

The Hawker Typhoon in WWII was often called the 'Tiffie', by Servicemen/women and civilians alike.

[Stitchbitch]

Originally Posted by frodo_monkey

No one calls it a ‘Tiffie’.

Unfortunately they - even those who should know better - do. They even use the spotters favourite expression ‘gone tech’ as well. Heard quite a few time on a Typhoon Squadron and down South..

[Teamchief]

Thread drift .......but, thanks to the BBMF Lancaster low and loud and heading north over Stamford at 19:50 ish tonight. You made an old Chief very happy. Dams raid commemorations i expect?

[NutLoose]

Originally Posted by Stitchbitch

Unfortunately they - even those who should know better - do. They even use the spotters favourite expression ‘gone tech’ as well. Heard quite a few time on a Typhoon Squadron and down South..

Gone Tech was often used during my service career and throughout my civilian aircraft engineering career, certainly not a spotter term, several ex Tiffie mates also refer to it as the Tiffie, which as said was the common name used during the war, in a similar vein everyone used to call the R.A.F RAF as in a single word even though the likes of Bader frowned upon it.

several threads on here refer to it as such, one includes a debate.

Tiffie splashes Raptor?

AFTER TIFFIE

[goudie]

I cannot understand the objection to calling the Typhoon a Tiffie. We’ve had quite a few nicknames for our aircraft. .

Meteor = Meatbox
Canberra = Cranberry
Belfast = Belslow
Hercules = Fat Albert
Vulcan = Tin Triangle

I’m sure there are a few others.

[eckhard]

In my 46-year career I have often heard engineers and pilots referring to an aircraft as, “gone tech”. I don’t know if any of them were spotters but I started as one!

“Tiffie” sounds a bit like a chocolate bar, but I don’t object to it.

[just another jocky]

Originally Posted by Timelord

JAJ - OK, how about “ Hasn’t delivered weapons in anger at L L since then”

TL

Hah, I'm not sure that's true either, however, the OP was about making it through the weather which the shortly-retiring Tornado can certainly do.

[Pontius Navigator]

GT is now probably more acceptable than TU in this PC world

As for Tiffie, perhaps too Camp with the predominance of NATO standard replacing tea.

[Davef68]

Originally Posted by goudie

I’m sure there are a few others.

The Tornado is an interesting example - in it's early days, if using a nickname, I never heard service personnel call it anything other than the 'Fin'. Spotter/Enthusiasts started calling it the Tonka, and this seems to have been adopted by some within the service in it's latter years.

[Onceapilot]

Norfolk Land Shark.
OAP

[Lima Juliet]

The trouble with Typhoon at low level is that it drinks fuel at an alarming rate - so much so I thought we had a fuel leak when I flew one in the early days! It really isn’t the platform of choice for that.

However, Typhoon is not the only game in town for the RAF. Very soon there will be some F35Bs in the UK belonging to the oldest independent air force. Also, Future Combat Air System (FCAS) is looking more and more likely to be manned replacing the Tonkas in the 2020s. It might be F35A or C or it could be the jet that the French/Germans are planning to make to replace their Rafales and Tonkas? I suspect that Farnborough will see some announcements this year about this.

So chill yout beans, all, and I too want to publically acknowledge the skill of the Typhoon pilot that made it to Derwent in some pretty cr@p weather.

LJ

[beardy]

Very soon there will be some F35Bs in the UK belonging to the oldest independent air force

They are coming from Finland?

[langleybaston]

My dear father, ex RAF LAC Fighter Command Balloons, never ever referred to the service as "raf".
He said it was not part of riffraff and came down hard on me and others when his beloved service was misnamed.
To this day I cringe when I hear the dread word.

[Buster15]

My apologies for being DIM but for the non aircrew what does IMC mean (I understand LL).
Thank you.

[BEagle]

Instrument Meteorological Conditions.

[Buster15]

Thank you my friend.