Crackling Jet

like this?

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/n...for-royal-navy

and this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1DV7J0xyuc

Just an idle thought, did the crews on the shiny fleet call it the Vickers Funbus? Or just . . . . :)

Then of course, Albert, NigNog, Shacklebomber

How about Waddo's finest, do any of them have nicknames?

The one thing I have taken away from books such as Empire of the Clouds or Project Cancelled is that generally the post-war British aviation industry only concerned itself with supplying the RAF, FAA, BOAC and BEA, as the rate of procurement more than kept them happy. Furthermore the Government would always come to them first, so they didn't have to work too hard at it. With a few notable exceptions no major effort was put into designing aircraft that the home market didn't want, or even selling those that they did to other markets. A lot of exports were to traditional customers, those who normally bought British. Aircraft such as the Hunter and the Meteor were the exception rather than the rule.

By the time they had to work at it, in the 1960s, the Americans and the French were way ahead. There were three primary Mach 2 fighters in NATO in the 1960s, the F-104, the Mirage III and the Lightning. Two of those were also exported in big numbers. Guess which one wasn't.

A simplification for sure, but so too is the idea that our aircraft were far ahead of anybody else's -and as an enthusiast and historian I am a huge fan of early jets. How many pilots from No.77 Squadron RAAF would have gladly traded their Meteors for F-86s?

Be careful there, your ignorance is showing. Your mate is clearly very well informed. I'm amazed I can't confirm his claims. Or are they your claims? None of us use the terms you mention.

Bell-end derived assertion.

Looks like someone touched one of your raw nerves. Which of the categories do you fit into? Spotter, frantic or are you a Flight Sim X hero? Either that or do you really know what the RAF guys call their airplanes?

Forget flugzeugen, get into leading edge stuff like coming up with a successor to a certain brand of coal briquette powered barbeque. Show the yanks that Britain may yet be great again..... Queue snippet 'Land of Hope and Glory'.

I don't see too many actual military flyers disagreeing with me, so how's about you remove the sand from your v@gina and cheer up?:)

Alway called 'em tiffie, tonka, etc. when in the mob.

The fact it winds up pompous tw@s is always reason to keep doing so.

I just call then 3rd and 4th gen :sad:

Martin the Martian

Your comparison of Lightning V Mirage is a good one. Adding the F104 to the list totally skews it IMHO. Now the facts of how some F104 sales were organised have come out its quite clear it wasn't always selected as it was seen as the best or cheapest option for the task.

@ Cracklingjet (post 16)

Have a read of this report for an idea of what the UK aerospace sector is worth:

http://researchbriefings.files.parli...28/SN00928.pdf

As someone working in the UK aerospace sector, I can assure you we are extremely busy - so busy we've run out of desks to accommodate the staff needed to work the projects we have.

"Drinking from a hosepipe" is a phrase that has been coined on site.

Sure we don't make whole aircraft anymore, but then who does? The US, China? Not quite, all rely on systems bought in from overseas. Boeing, Airbus and Comac are all integrators of bought in parts, none of them build every last item for an aircraft. It's globalisation, and it seems to be working pretty well for the UK.

Sure we outsource work to other countries - we have to if we're to stay competitive. UK workers (including me) want too much money!

But the Swedes are still doing it?

Gripen NG

Always called the Tornado Tonka.
Called the Typhoon "Eurofighter"

TSR2 was not ready when first introduced, but I believe it was more or less sorted when it was cancelled.
Perhaps we should dig out the two in museums

Reminds me when I was a callow youth and my skipper a DOM of at least 28, and we were given a trip to LA and finished up at a Burlsque in China Town. Free to get in but drinks outrageous.

Always remember Tornado Tonga, her with the contra rotating tassels and the backwards press ups on a rotating circular divan.

Sorry, 50 years ago but just like yesterday.

Exnomad, I think that saying TSR2 was 'more or less sorted' after only 6 months test flying by 2 ac is a tad optimistic

Do the Europeans actuallu use 'EuFi' as an abbreviation for Eurofighter, or is that simply myth?

So apart from silly one upmanship about using a term. Are we saying that sure, we ca have the bits and bobs manufactured wherever and put them together ourselves. But that isn't really what I was asking. My point was can we still fully design an aircraft suited entirely to our own needs and bring the project to fruition? It doesn't much matter who made what, the point is the French and Swedes both did it. Russia does it. Can we and more to the point should we? We are an island and the thought of running out of bits or having a foreign country veto our use of it in our national interests is what interests me.

I think the answer would have to be no, because we can't afford it and nobody (RN/Army/RAF) actually wants or needs it.

One of the points of NATO is that we are not going to fall out with the countries that are supplying our spare parts.