Has to be the Nimrod;
Depth charges, torpedoes, air to air and air to surface missiles, pies.....

Ping

At the risk of upsetting just about everyone I think the most significant aircraft the RAF has ever operated is the Tornado in all it's guises.

I genuinely think it was a big and significant mistake.

F-4 and Buccaneer replaced by F-15A and E - we'd have been the canine's proverbials.

(Just prior to donning tin hat, gum shield and safety goggles I would like to state that I am quite aware that one has been 'the' war horse for many a year and the other proved that whilst turd polishing isn't possible you can at least get rid of most of the smell. But think what could have been....)

Served on both, strongly agree as I'm sure do most of my colleagues! I'd whittle your buy down to just Strike Eagles though - can do enough AD for our needs :)

No.

And for your supplementary question: how are we going to cope without it after 2020?

1. (By a distance) C130K 1966 - 2013?

Critical component in East Pakistan evacuation, Belize, Falklands, Ethiopian Relief, Gulf 1&2, FRY, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan. These, plus God knows, how many unknown SF Operations.

2. (Joint) Canberra and Harrier.

Any Post War aircraft the US Government would purchase against the wishes of their own powerful Aviation Lobby has to be good. They have subsequently proved themselves in countless conflicts around the world.

3. Hawk. The only post war aircraft to come in ahead of schedule and under budget. Sold in large numbers to many AF's including our American cousins.
1974- 2040? It will be the longest serving aircraft the Royal Air Force will ever know.
I wager the aircraft will outlast the RAF.

This thread is clearly a thinly-veiled ploy to induce me to mention the Wiggins Aerodyne.

I refuse to rise to the bait.

HB

You may wish to look at this for ideas!

http://www.pprune.org/military-aircr...-been-raf.html

Not sure what was the "big and significant" mistake you refer to in this post. The Tornado? The replacement quoted?

Sorry, powers of expression let me down.

I personally think that whilst MRCA offered a lot it wasn't delivered and in the Tornado the RAF got a barely first class striker and a woeful air defender.

Not until 2004 ish did the F-3 mature and the GR1/4 has been competent from start to finish, but never anything more than that. Alternative weapon systems were giving their operators swing and multi role capability at the same time.

I would venture that in buying two such average steeds the RAF consigned the heroes who operated them to a fairly low worldwide status for decades.

A real shame - because I genuinely believe that we can fight anyone man for man. But the airborne warfare game is technology driven to a greater degree than the maritime and land components.

Orca

Thank you for that. We can only hope it gets better.

I think that I rest my case.

The Lightning and the Buccaneer might have a bigger fan base. There's no doubt that the Hunter did a lot of stuff.

You might think it was a dog, built by committee for compromised reasons, but for Combat Air, which RAF aircraft has been more significant in the last 60 years than the Tornado?

I think that given the wars into which the UK and the RAF has been forced in the last 20+ years, there are lots of reasons to be grateful to the Tornado GR and its crews.

You just had to take a couple of years to think about it?

Agreed with the Wessex, was to the UK what the Huey was to the US.
Transport, Herc and VC10
Fighter, Hunter, Harrier, Buccaneer, and Lightning
Medium bomber and a myriad other roles and still going today in the world, Canberra.
Trainer, Hawk and Hunter

It makes you wonder where it all went wrong for the UK industry because the majority of those were home built.

Fighter......."Harrier, Buccaneer"

I don't think so!:=

Someone has to say it.

The Predator.

At last no aircrew!






Tin hat, flak jacket and into trench.

I would happily say Reaper as opposed to Predator. :ok:

Varsity and J.P

Varsity? Monopoly

Ok, navigation, multi-engine pilot, air electronics, bombing, calibration but significant that it trained people to get to Berlin (and back) and was wholly unsuited for training Canberra navs or modern ME pilots and should have been retired in the mid-50s. Admittedly it was a major improvement over the Wimpy.

I'm amazed that this thread has got to 38 without mention of the Wiggins Aerodyne.

Fast jet: Tornado - all variants.
Helicopter: Chinook.
Multi-engine: C-130 and VC10