The most significant aircraft
 

Apologies if this has been done before, but what do you think are the most significant RAF aircraft since 1945?

For me;

AT - C-130. No brainer
SH - CH-47. Likewise
Trainer - Chipmunk. Taught everyone for 40+ years
FJ - Tornado GR1/4. On ops without a break for over 20 years

Pip,pip!

AT - C130 - yeah, I would find that hard to argue with.
Rotary - No brainer as you say - it's the Wessex!!! SH in the Far east, Middle east, mainland and NI. SAR in the UK and Cyprus. The Royal Flight aircraft and the Queen mother's chariot of choice! The CH47 is a triumph of engineering over design. Why have we still not replaced the wessex as a do-everything Cab? Simple - we can't!
FJ - Got to be the lightning - world/class leading, even if only for a while.

Is the Vulcan a FJ? if so, then it is the winner, with the lightning 2nd.

Good thread:ok:

Piggies, it has, apologies accepted.

AT - VC10
Bomber - Canberra
Trainer - Chippie
Fighter - Hunter
Helo ?????
Maritime - Nimrod

AT - Britannia
Bomber - Buccaneer
Fighter - Lightning
AEW - Shackleton
Basic Trainer - Chippy
FJ Trainer - Gnat
Helo - SAR - Sea King
Helo - Combat - Chinook
MRA - Nimrod

Lancaster...

...joined in 1989, flew her for 50hrs during my 22 in the Regulars and it was after 1945 :ok:

Here I am...

http://www.tim-beach.com/bigginbb/lanc2.gif

I reckon it has to be the Slingsby T.21 Sedbergh glider.

Has to have introduced the most amount of people to flying for the lowest possible cost.

I'm stunned that a person calling himself "Sharpend" can't name a "Helo"... :ugh:

The two entities of the RAF that can truly state that they are at the "sharp end" and in the most danger are the Raf Regiment and Support Helicopters. Certainly, on today's battlefield the jet jockeys are, comparatively, far from danger.

'Comrade' Stalin had cause to note the existence of the V Fleet...Vulcan, Victor and the Valiant!

Could have been the TSR-1....

The HS-125 Dominie T.1 must have trained a fair few navs over the years:D

C-47 Dakota.....or its civilian version the DC-3.

They are still flying and earning a living! Octogenarians some of them!

SH= Bristol Belvedere for demonstrating to the British Army the usefulness of proper SH (and how not to design it).

LOL! But what about the T38 Grasshopper? Or doesn't that count as flying? I've seen one do a circuit after a winch lanch, though the hook position right under the nose is far from ideal.

I'd vote for the Harrier because of it's technical innovation and the new avenues that opened.

JP3/5 did rather well.

Anything from English Electric make the grade?

SGC

PAH, I can name hundreds of helos; just not sure which is the best as I have never flown one. I learnt long ago not to pontificate on things I don't know much about :=

Could we have managed without the Hercules for the last fifty odd years?

Bearing in mind the question - most SIGNIFICANT -then I'm with Tash on this one. Albert has got me and bazillions of others into, and much more importantly, out of, a whole load of places.:ok:

DH Mosquito, a truly remarkable multi role combat aircraft. Did everything including carrying passengers.

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