canberraman

A thing of beauty Tony! Don't see many Sunderlands built for display, particularly in post war livery, and yours looks fantastic. Mark

A great selection of pin sharp shots Gary, many thanks for sharing. Mark

A fabulous rendition of a very basic kit. Hard to believe its the old Frog offering - well done! Mark

Challenging? Maybe. Most beautiful? Certainly! Mark

Another great selection of Rhinos Sven, and beautifully scanned. Mark

I have recently obtained this slide of former 13 Sqn Canberra PR.7 WJ821 taken in October 1985 at Bassingbourn (Allenbrooke Barracks) where it was on display. This aircraft returned to RAF Wyton from Luqa on 15 Sep 1978 upon 13 Sqn’s relocation there. Unfortunately, on 25 July 1980, WJ821 took its last flight and was declared Cat 5 immediately afterwards. According to one of the crew, ‘Just after take-off from Wyton, still over the runway with undercarriage travelling up, about 20 knots below safety speed, there was an almighty bang and the starboard engine locked solid. The turbine had totally disintegrated. Debris was found at several places at Wyton including hitting a Devon that was taxying at the time. We were inspected by a nearby USAF Phantom from Alconbury who noted every hole, rupture, fuel leak and more. It was a toss-up whether to head for the Wash and jump or go for a landing. We did not know if we would get undercarriage or flaps or brakes but risked it and went for Bedford with its very big runway and a barrier. We did get hydraulics and landed OK. The jet was very badly mangled - clearly Cat 5’. This incident contributed to this Canberra being allotted Instructional Airframe No 8668M on 13 January 1981. After being road freighted back to Wyton from RAE Bedford, a decision was taken on its fate. It was decided that the aircraft would be donated to the Army at nearby Bassingbourn to mark the earlier period of the station’s history when as RAF Bassingbourn, it homed the Canberras of 231 OCU. It was also said by a crew member ‘The Army complained that when we handed Bassingbourn over to them we had left no souvenir, and 821 was offered. Alas the right wing and engine bay were shredded. So, good chiefys being what they are, a spare wing was found unofficially, and off 821 went down the road for our Army pals. We never did tell them that the right wing was from some totally different Canberra. At least it was not from a PR.9 - even soldiers might have noticed that something was different! WJ821 remained on display from 1981 until 2013 when sadly it was scrapped on site. Mark

What a beauty! I can only begin to imagine the hard work and effort that went into to turning the Mach 2 sow's ear into the silk purse you have created. Beautiful clean finish and the decals look great too. Thanks for sharing and for the inspiration. Mark

A great set of shots Shaun in beautiful light. Nice to see the Mildenhall Ospreys venturing a bit further afield than is usual. Mark

What a cracking camo scheme - lovely! Mark

I believe all other 12 Sqn jets will get similar markings. The reason being that the newly reformed 12 Sqn is a joint Qatar/RAF Typhoon training unit, does not have a war role, and hence no need for anonymity when in combat zones like much of the rest of the Typhoon fleet. Mark

That's lovely and looks streets ahead of the old Matchbox offering. Mark

The RAF have too many tankers? Not sure where you get that idea from. The Air Tanker/RAF partnership provides for 9 x Voyagers to be available to service all the RAF Tanker and strategic requirements. Don't forget that one Voyager is permanently detached to the Falklands Islands, 1 on QRA alert, 1 on ops in Al Udeid etc. ZZ336, the subject of the repaint, is not permanently assigned to VIP carriage. When not doing that specific role she earns her keep as a tanker just like the rest of the fleet. Not too long ago the RAF AAR/AT fleet comprised 20 or so VC10s and 9 Tristars Mark

Tony, I think it was WP903 you refer to which was the aircraft HRH Prince Charles was taught to fly in. Although I stand to be corrected, I've not seen a photo of this aircraft with any underwing serials, just the undersized fuselage serials. Mark

A thing of beauty! Those old prop liners take some beating for style and elegance. Fantastic craftsmanship and all the extra effort has really paid off. Mark

Thanks everyone for the likes and comments - much appreciated! Mark