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RAF 100 Years Flypast Over London July 10th


Latinbear

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38 minutes ago, XV107 said:

Because they're nearly 40 years old, are maintenance heavy, are getting towards the end of their fatigue life and are  being superseded by the Typhoon (with the project Centurion upgrades) and the F-35. Had certain decisions about the GR4 upgrade been taken (but they weren't) about 20+ years ago, then we might be able to sustain a TGR force for another few years, although the cost of doing so might become disproportionate fairly quickly if it came at the cost of support for the Typhoon & Lightning.

 

Ah ha. Thanks. My grump about top brass probably belongs in another thread!

 

Only one question for that - wil there be sufficient typhoons to replace the Tornadoes, or will we have a smaller number of typhons + F35s than tornadoes + typhoons at the moment?

 

 

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6 hours ago, Whofan said:

mildly disappointed that so few aircraft took part

I made it 103.  That's got to be the biggest since the Falklands, hardly short-changing by any standard, unless you're determined to hark back to 1953.

6 hours ago, Whofan said:

Where were the Drones that were supposed to be included?

Were they?  I couldn't find anything about them on the RAF website.  Must have been operating beyond visual range ...

 

Anyway, I was very happy with my spot just to the right of the Palace.  Not a great view down the Mall, but they all went nearly overhead and many were visible to the west as they headed for their dispersal routes.  I've never seen a Typhoon in the air, and the first time I do, there are 22 of them - quite something.  And the first time for Lightnings too!  They were remarkably close together; but my prize for the best formation goes to the very tight diamond-9 of Tucanos.

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6 hours ago, prowler0000 said:

Just got back from watching them go over at Trafalgar Square. They came in over St. Martins in the Field & looked spectacular!  

 

BUT....

 

Where were the Drones that were supposed to be included?  

 

The Reapers don't have the necessary certification to be able to fly over London (or pretty much anywhere else, for that matter). Their replacement, in the form of the Protector (or Sky Guardian in the General Atomics brochure), has been subjected to an awful lot of time and effort from the manufacturer and the RAF to put it in a position where, around the time of service entry, it will have much greater certification. Whether the 75th anniversary of the Queen's accession to the throne (the way she's going, they'll have to start planning for that soon as well as for HMQ's funeral...) will be marked by a box formation of Protectors over Buckingham Palace remains to be seen...

1 hour ago, pigsty said:

I've never seen a Typhoon in the air, and the first time I do, there are 22 of them - quite something. 

Was I the only one, upon hearing that there were 22 of them, who thought 'I wonder if they've thought about looping them?'

 

[Younger members of the forum are politely asked to google the Black Arrows to understand that observation...]

 

 

 

 

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7 minutes ago, XV107 said:

 

Whether the 75th anniversary of the Queen's accession to the throne (the way she's going, they'll have to start planning for that soon as well as for HMQ's funeral...) will be marked by a box formation of Protectors over Buckingham Palace remains to be seen...

Doubt it.  You need 4 aircraft for a box.

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What a great sight that was . Still got a spine tingle . Lanc ,Spits and Hurricanes . I'm just a bit mad that a VC10 ,couldn't do another 5 years so it could be there .

1966-2013 . 47 ish years  and the last Vulcan couldn't ,just a couple more years …..

My Grandad ,Army 1904, transfer to RFC 1916-1918 , RAF 1918 -1926 .My Dad RAF 1943 -1958 .,Me 1970 -1984 .

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I watched a preview clip this morning and  thought that it was awfully nice of the Fleet Air Arm to put up a dozen Sea Hawks for the flypast. :wicked:  I think that must have been 1953.

 

There was good coverage of the flypast and I liked the air to air shots.

The Typhoon  '100' was very nice but I agree with @pigsty about the Tucano formation..

 

I would have loved to see an Atlas  diamond nine..guess the rest were too busy.

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18 hours ago, bentwaters81tfw said:

I thought it was jolly decent of the RAF to give me a flypast on my birthday, even though I'm not 100.

So they were a few years late! Don't be ungrateful!

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On ‎7‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 8:16 PM, pigsty said:

I made it 103.  That's got to be the biggest since the Falklands, hardly short-changing by any standard, unless you're determined to hark back to 1953.

Were they?  I couldn't find anything about them on the RAF website.  Must have been operating beyond visual range ...

 

Anyway, I was very happy with my spot just to the right of the Palace.  Not a great view down the Mall, but they all went nearly overhead and many were visible to the west as they headed for their dispersal routes.  I've never seen a Typhoon in the air, and the first time I do, there are 22 of them - quite something.  And the first time for Lightnings too!  They were remarkably close together; but my prize for the best formation goes to the very tight diamond-9 of Tucanos.

 

If I remember correctly the 50th Anniversary of the BoB flypast over London and then the Abingdon At Home day was nigh on 170 aircraft. 

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My dad was on the Coronation Flypast in a Lincoln . That was Massive . He called it Cumulus Aluminium .

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On 7/10/2018 at 2:52 PM, Whofan said:

Ah ha. Thanks. My grump about top brass probably belongs in another thread!

 

Only one question for that - wil there be sufficient typhoons to replace the Tornadoes, or will we have a smaller number of typhons + F35s than tornadoes + typhoons at the moment?

 

 

 

If you look at the current plans and the current force:

 

We have two Tornado squadrons (IX and 31) five Typhoon squadrons (1, 2, 3, 6, XI) and an OCU (29) and one Lightning (can't get used to calling it that...) squadron.

 

This will increase to seven Typhoon squadrons (1, 2, 3, 6, IX, XI, 12) and 29 and four Lightning (did I mention I can't get used to calling it that?) squadrons (617, 809, ??, ??) and an OCU (207).

 

So we will, in fact, see a small increase.

 

It depends, of course, upon when you take the figures for comparison. Compared to what we had when the order for the F-35 was made in 2006, then it looks very small, since we then had:

 

Typhoon - 3 & 11 (plus 29 as OCU)

Tornado F3 - 25, 43 and 111 (plus 56 as OCU)

Tornado GR4 - 2, IX, 12, 13, 14, 31, 617 (plus XV as OCU)

Harrier - 1, 4, 800/801NAS

Jaguar - 6 (41 disbanded on Jags on 1 April, shortly before the announcement of F-35B as the choice for what was the Joint Combat Aircraft)

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Apart from the BoB fleet and Dak . Rivet Joint was the oldest there and certainly the oldest serving , Amazing , still serving and older than over 50% of the BM membership I'm sure .

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  • 4 weeks later...

I loved the letter in the "i" newspaper last week (I think it was last Thursday) asking why there were no Wellingtons in the flypast as it had served from the start of WW2 through to the end. Presumably for the same reason there were no Halifaxes, Whitleys, Hampdens, Venturas, Bostons.............................................................etc.

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