10 most important RAF aircraft of the Cold War

[dctyke]

Wasn’t the Javelin the first to do proper Cold War QRA?

[Miles Magister]

I see a lot of discussion about who was the last RAF pilot to shoot down another aircraft, but was there not a Jaguar shot down by an F4 during a TACEVAL in RAFG during the late 70s or early eighties?

[wiggy]

Originally Posted by Miles Magister

I see a lot of discussion about who was the last RAF pilot to shoot down another aircraft, but was there not a Jaguar shot down by an F4 during a TACEVAL in RAFG during the late 70s or early eighties?

Yep, May 82…wasn’t me, I wasn’t there, but I knew somebody who was……………..

[Paying Guest]

Yep, wasn't me either, but I was on the TACEVAL team at the time.......

[Shackeng]

Originally Posted by just another jocky

What aircraft would that be then, Shackeng?

You’ll never guess. 😎

[SLXOwft]

At any particular point in time the last ten aircraft delivering personnel to 26 Signals Unit RAF Gatow...

Joking partly aside, my not entirely serious list is: Nimrod R1, Nimrod MRx, Shackleton MRx, Canberra PRx, Canberra Bx i.e B2(Project Robin & 51 sqn) & B6(ELINT Mods), Comet 2R, Victor B(SR)2, Vulcan B2 (MRR), Shackleton AEW2, E-3D.

You get the message, all other operational aircraft required to know about where or what they were going to hit if... ,how to reduce the chance of being detected and hit by the other side, what the other side were up to, what was coming towards them, and what had gone (radioactively) bang.

Edit : I overlooked the corridor running Pembrokes and Andovers..

[Herod]

Avro York. Without its contribution to the Airlift there is every possibility that Berlin would have been absorbed into the Soviet sphere. That could have changed the whole cold war, from 1948 onwards.

[Uncle Fred]

Great discussion here. I realize that such lists are prone to serious omissions, especially if the author limited it to a mere ten, thus the suggestions made above help round things out. I see it as an homage to some pretty impressive aircraft.

[Asturias56]

"Avro York. Without its contribution to the Airlift" - TBH I syspect if it hadn't have been there Berlin would still have been supplied by a never ending stream of US freight aircraft

[Shackeng]

And of course not forgetting the Blackburn Beverley, designed for moving heavy loads short distances in the event of a European ground war, (plus para dropping). While waiting for the call to duty it was also used for long haul freighting for which it was completely unsuitable, as I knew only too well.

[Herod]

"Avro York. Without its contribution to the Airlift" - TBH I syspect if it hadn't have been there Berlin would still have been supplied by a never ending stream of US freight aircraft

There was an enormous stream of US aircraft, of course. But they couldn't have kept it up alone. The figures show that the USAF delivered some 1.8 million tons, while the RAF delivered 550,000. Not a bad contribution.

[air pig]

Originally Posted by Saintsman

Was there an unimportant aircraft?

Even a Chipmunk was important to those starting off as pilots.

The Chipmunk provided valuable intelligence for BRIXMIS in Berlin, one of which is at BBMF at Coningsby.

[ORAC]

Berlin was runway limited - which is why you can add the Sunderland to the mix….

You Tube

[Herod]

Good piece of film. Gives a good account of the British effort. Of course, the Americans did the lion's share, but then , they had the aircraft.

[NutLoose]

Originally Posted by Four Turbo

For those of us on Canberras at the time MRCA stood for 'Must Refurbish Canberras Again'. Carried guns, bombs, nukes, cameras, Elint from 0 to 50.000 feet. All in an aircraft designed at the end of WW2 and active from the beginning to the end of the Cold War. Used by USAF as well as RAF. Top of the list then?

And still flying today with NASA, all be it highly modiffied.

[Asturias56]

I'm sure the UK treasury will be writing memos as we speak saying it was grossly overdesigned.

[Herod]

Not overdesigned. Just designed by skilled people who knew what they were doing.

[ShyTorque]

I’ve often wondered……who footed the bill for the Berlin Airlift?

[ORAC]

From Wiki:

The cost of the Airlift was shared between the US, UK, and Germany. Estimated costs range from approximately US$224 million[96] to over US$500 million (equivalent to approximately $2.44 billion to $5.44 billion now).[97][93][98]

[MAINJAFAD]

Originally Posted by Shackeng

And of course not forgetting the Blackburn Beverley, designed for moving heavy loads short distances in the event of a European ground war, (plus para dropping). While waiting for the call to duty it was also used for long haul freighting for which it was completely unsuitable, as I knew only too well.

The Beverley Hillbilly does make a Hushkit top ten list...The worst 10 British Aircraft one.