As an ancestor of the Mozzie, it would be good to see the DH88 Comet fly again. I always admire the old girl when I visit Old Warden, and I enjoyed seeing her fly during her last spell of airworthiness.

Speaking of De Havillands, I've always had a soft spot for the DH2, but a replica is the best we can hope for there.

With over 100 posts on this topic, it's time for the scores on the doors.
In no particular order, and including the comedy entries and types still flying we have,

TSR2 4 votes
Mosquito 14
B36 1
Hornet 1
Concorde 10
SR53 1
Mk 3 Chinook 2
Lightning 12
F-4 3
Jaguar 2
Bucc 3
Shackleton 3
Argosy 1
Hunter 2
Hornet 1
Hastings 1
Victor 8
Halifax 4
Beverley 2
York 1
Wellington 4
SR-71 1
Valiant 5
HP42 1
Canberra 1
MR4A 1
Whirlwind 3
MB-5 1
Typhoon/Tempest 5
Meteor 1
Swift 1
Sea Harrier 2
Stirling 2
An Airship 2
Javelin 2
Sunderland 2
Hart 1
Beaufighter 2
Belvedere 1
Wyvern 1
Walrus 1
Defient 2
Wessex 1
Avro Arrow 1
Sea Venom 1
Sea Fury 1
HP V/1500 1
Heyford 1
F-105 1
Lancaster 1
VC-10 1
DH88 1
DH2 1

Looks like its the Mossie by a nose :D
Now........ do we have a volunteer for rose bearer and a lottery grant application form?

Tombstone? :D

I would LOVE to see the Javelin fly again. There's a nice one at Staverton for inspiration. I did hear that it was a bit of a pig to fly though!!!!!!!

As a taxpayer i would be happy for money spent on an expanded BoB memorial flight to include some examples of britains aviation heritage. Im sure if the MOD wanted to return a lightning to the sky it could persuade BAe to back it... If not only as a lasting memorial to the service men and women then to the british engineering heritage?

Imagine seeing a pair of lightnings in formation with XH558, or performing their stupidly overpowered take offs....

How i wish i could have visited Binbrook in the mid 80's ;)

I was lucky enough to get one visit to Binbrook's crash gate in about 1986 I think. I've never seen so many spotters and photographers in my life!

Living fairly localy i have passed the place a few times recently, cant imagine it being a major front line station now, even the runway has gone. Must have been a great 'spotter' location, as i hear my local base Leconfield was.

All gone now though:{

Anyway, a Victor would be good to see also, though the Vulcan took so much effort and hard work to get back into the air i cant see its slightly lesser known cousin doing the same.

Got to be TSR2 - The BASTARDS!!


Oh that made me feel better . . .

. . or the Argosy :)

I trust one is not, perchance, mocking my operational type :*

Well I have to admit to buying a Euromillions ticket the other day, you know when the jackpot might have been £88M. Why did I buy it? Well my thinking was that with £88M I might stand a chance of getting de Havilland and Rolls-Royce to join me in building a new Mosquito.

And after that? A Beaufighter and a Typhoon/Tempest, and perhaps getting Just Jane a full major and get her back in the air. But for now my vote goes to the Mosquito.

Avro Arrow

Another Vulcan. :)

&

Avro 707A
Avro 707C

i seem to remember a mossie for sale in canade 2 or 3 years ago, under restoration. looked fairly advanced . dont know what mk it was. any further info ??

More like 10 years ago.......:)
This was an ex-Spartan Air Services B.35 VR796 which was part restored and was put up for sale by owner Ed Zalesky, for about a million plus IIRC. It was eventually bought by Bob Jens and has since been gradually worked on at Vancouver International. I think it's probably still a couple of years away from taking to the air again. The structure is complete, and it's a case of systems fit, plumbing, engine overhaul and fit etc remaining to be done.
Unless you are thinking of the false rumour of another Canadian Mossie (IIRC B.35 RS700 belonging to Calgary Aerospace Museum) that was falsely reported as being up for sale a year or two back on various net forums.

Cold War Memorial Flight
 

When the BBMF gets to be unsupportable, wouldn't it be great to have a CWMF? A couple of F-4s in AD/FGA colours respectively, a Frightening, Bucc, and perhaps a Jag to fly in formation with the Vulcan, perhaps getting a refuel from a Victor!

Only a dream...

That would be when the devil calls in a heating engineer because it's getting a bit chilly. Aren't the BBMF kites the only ones with no planned OSD in the RAF Management Plan? The way we are going as a country and an air force, BBMF will be all we have left!!

Then again a Lanc fitted out with LGB or small diameter bomb might be quite useful in Afghanistan. Long endurance and large payload!!!

The Lightning :)

My choice would be the Defiant

As a matter of interest how much work would be required to get Hendons Defiant out and airworthy?

IIRC, there's three Mossie airframes at Salisbury Hall, including the Prototype. One is static, the rest are in various bits and states of completion but there's a small stockpile of parts and frames too. Absolutely no idea what state any of it is in though.


Edit:

Actually, scratch my last there's four at SH. Bit of googling also turned up this useful site. Survivor list

Nice link :ok: Pleased to see that there are at least 2 being restored to flight status around the world. Just a shame none of the U.K. airframes are getting the treatment.

Back in post #51 WEBF mentioned a Canberra. This is good. :cool:

It's easy to forget that it wasn't only the V's that were nuke bombers, the ubiquitous Canberra also stood that role - in Germany. The B(I)8s of the RAFG Strike Sqns stood QRA loaded with a tac nuke each. And all this while the V Force was "working up".

Is there an example of Britain's least known nuclear bomber in the UK? Well, no. Except for the cockpit of XM279 and the burnt out wreck of WT339 (Barkstone Heath).

There was one though, at Cosford, WT346.

But then someone (at Cosford) decided it wasn't a fit exhibit for some lame reason and sold it on the New Zealand, the RNZAF Museum at Christchurch in fact. It was dismantled and moved out there in 1993 - and there it still is!

Fourteen years later it is still in a dismantled state, unregarded and covered in the rubberised goo of transport protective coating. (NZ did have B(I)8s but sold them all on to the Indian Air Force.)

Isn't it about time someone considered bringing this venerable airframe back to the UK to take it's rightful place amongst the few examples we have of the Cold War era?

Brief history here.



:(