F3 & GR3 for auction
 

Oh dear - one wonders what fate awaits them. A well-publicised sale like this might mean that interest comes from some rather dubious quarters. Let's hope they don't end their days in a playground or submerged in a lake for scuba divers. Wouldn't it be nice if they actually went to a museum? Imagine! :)

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..did my first crew solo in the F3, ZE256.
The GR3 is XZ132

Rather reinforces my pessimism. If they've already been restored, then surely they'll expect more money for them? In which case it probably puts them out of reach for most museums.

Sounds rather like the whole property speculation scam - buy it cheap, tart it up and sell it on at profit :(

"Property speculation scam.." er, you mean the free market? Did the wrong side win the Cold War for you?

Property speculation scam, free market, it rather depends how much money one has :) No doubt the purchase and potential re-sale of XT597 looks like a great move to the folks at Everett. To the rest of us however...

The T4 Jet Art restored ended up at the Caernarfon Museum

Well one can only hope for a positive outcome:) Guess we will have to wait and see, and hope for the best!

They'd be a brave man to fly in it, I know one individual 'very well' who maintained it..............................:}

BBC News - RAF Harrier and Tornado jets auctioned with no reserve
So I wonder who the women pilot is?

£36,800 is a better price than what they originally wanted for the F3 - iirc that was around £65k?

As for the 'woman pilot', as ever the media may have got it wrong and she could be an ex Navigator?

LJ

They have had them for sale for a long time, but haven't managed to sell them, I suppose it's just a means to turn over their stock, but if that's the price they went for I would be suprised if they make anything out of them, a lot of msn hours would have gone into the Tornado to get it to that Standard, and the Harrier has its engine with it.

Honest question.

Regulatory concerns aside, would it be even vaguely possible to operate an F3 as a toy?

OK, you'd remove all the war gear, fix the wing sweep forward if that makes it any easier to look after.

And then of course the regulatory concerns. Would one require BAE's support? And Rolls-Royce's?

P

NutLoose, I guess you're right - if they haven't sold them for a long time, it probably made sense to tart them up. I'm surprised if the Tornado has been available for a long time as one would think it would have been snapped-up by a museum. It's not as if there are many F3s around. Perhaps it's the usual problem of regarding "contemporary" aircraft as insignificant, even though they obviously become historically significant many years later... and usually when they've all been scrapped! Same old story - if it had been a Spitfire it would have sold immediately, but a lowly Tornado gets overlooked :(

Harrier went for £92,000

They had already been tarted up, the Harrier was an ex Cranwell one I believe so has been hangared all it's life.. It has all the paperwork so. A potential flier?

You can see all there past and future sales here, lots of pictures

http://www.jetartaviation.co.uk/what-we-do/aircraft/

For many the F3 was historically insignificant. Not as phamous or charismatic as the F4 and ever the bridesmaid, through lack of investment, when asked to deploy on ops. No fault of the jet or the crews who did all that was asked of them, including years of Q.

Harrier, on the other hand, has fame and charisma by the bucketload and, arguably, could eke out a living (ish...) like the talismanic Vulcan if a return to flight was feasible. Like the Vulcan, the Harrier transcends aviation and is buried into the national psyche.

Market value I'd say....

Probably more to do with the Harrier having a full traceable history, is in excellent condition and being complete with a Engine, so a potential flier.
The Tornado on the other hand has no Engines nor an APU and probably is a bitza, having said that the rarity is in a museum sense as it's complete outwardly looking and rare as most were reduced to produce.



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Nut loose,
Agreed - market value for an essentially complete potential flyer that could cover a portion of costs with bookings, vice a nicely finished shell....

Can't imagine it being a flyer in the UK, and even in the States, Art Nalls needs a lot of $ and manpower for his Sea Harrier

Neither aircraft is going to fly in the UK, so unless a very rich overseas buyer appears, that's not an issue worth discussing.

Evalu8er, you make an important point - this is the problem that affects so many aircraft. Tornado F3 is perceived as being "unimportant" because it hasn't earned any glamour points with the media and public. But it's a ridiculous way to preserve our history.