What happened to Typhoon F1

[sharmine]

http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafcms/mediafiles/27C6E48B_1143_EC82_2E1EC939E2882423.jpgAnyone know why the Typhoon is already in the Mk F2 version? What happend to F1? I must have slept during that part of the presentation.

S:confused:

[Kitbag]

Typhoon, like most British mil ac is numbered sequentially; Typhoon T1, Typhoon F2. Harrier GR3, Harrier T4, Harrier GR 5 et seq.

[BEagle]

Remind me what a Harrier Mk 6 is/was.......??

[sharmine]

Thanks Kitbag, Obvious, must have had a blond moment. We started with the trainer whereas the Harrier went GR1, T2, GR3,T4, GR5 etc started with the war fighter.

S

[Brain Potter]

The Harrier T Mk 6 was a proposal to bring the T Mk 4 to GR Mk 7 standard with night attack avionics; it was not pursued.

[BEagle]

Thanks!

It would surely have been horribly expensive to update the old T Mk 4 cockpit to GR7 standard? Or would it have been just a T4 with night attack avionic bolt ons? Presumably it would have put the T10 programme in jeopardy?

Sorry - back to TypHoons. Will the multi-role version be the F2 as well?

Good to learn that they'll soon be doing Southern Q. Maybe down to 1435 Flt at RAF Mount Pleasant for cold weather ops in a couple of months' time?

[BEagle]

For those who haven't been there, Jun 25, FIxmas day, is in the Austral winter. Dark, wet, cold, and windy. A good testing environment for the new electric jet therefore. Perhaps more so than Las Vegas in springtime?

Edited to make Sir Toppam Hat look less of an ar$e! :p

[SirToppamHat]

Thank you BEagle - much appreciated!

STH

[L Peacock]

Similarly Tornado GR Mk1(A&B) F Mk2 F Mk3 GR Mk4. etc.

[ORAC]

Similarly Tornado GR Mk1(A&B) F Mk2 F Mk3 GR Mk4. etc.
IRRC that was the Mk 1 and 1A, not Mk 1A and 1B.

[Ray Darbouy]

"Typhoon, like most British mil ac is numbered sequentially; Typhoon T1, Typhoon F2. Harrier GR3, Harrier T4, Harrier GR 5 et seq."


Ah, sigh. :( Darbouy is old enough to remember when we had a proper RAF and none of this pretend Army Bllx. ;)

Then we seemed to have a G, and GR, and an F, and a P, and a T version of almost every sort of frame we used to operate. "Yes, OK Bloggs, a T7 what? Be more specific, lad!" :p

Ah, the days when just one frame type was in, say, the F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, and F6 version :8

No horrid Army greens, no IPT shyte, no dishonest lean drivel, and a good, clean, mutually assured destruction that could have lasted in stasis forever. Zillions of proper, normal, RAF Stations, any one of which would be the, unremarkable, size of the new gosh wow superbases :yuk:

Both sides happy, them with their tank army facing west and us with good flying in the better parts of the Empire, sorry, Commonwealth, ;)

Oh, yes! And I still think Treble 1 was a very class act that just was grand. All them shiny black Hunters all up in the sky at one time doing super things; but I digress :O

[engineer(retard)]

ORAC

That would be Mk1 (mud), 1A (recce) and 1B (maritime attack).

regards

retard

[diginagain]

Both sides happy, them with their tank army facing east....
Oh right. No wonder we sat waiting for so long.

[Ray Darbouy]

Oh, bother! :uhoh: Meant to say them in the east facing us! Edited, thanks :O LOL

Mind you, wasn't there some doubt just which way Poland and East Germany would have faced. :E

[ORAC]

The F4, of course, was the FG1 and FGR2, just to be different. Can't remember the designation for the F4J....

[diginagain]

Mind you, wasn't there some doubt just which way Poland and East Germany would have faced.

From conversations I've had with Bundewehr panzer commanders, they reckoned that they could be in Moscow before their oppos reached Zeebrugge. Lets face it, their route recce had already been done.

[Roland Pulfrew]

Quote:

Can't remember the designation for the F4J....

Strangely the F4J in RAF service was the F3, wasn't it?

[Archimedes]

It was the F-4J(UK), IIRC, rather than the F3.

[BEagle]

Indeed, only sad spotters called it the Phantom F3!

It was certainly the Phantom F4J(UK). All were tanked across the pond by the then new VC10K2 (the K3 wasn't then in service) in 1984-5 on the epic Op Tiger Trails!

I did Tiger Trail 3 in Nov 84. A hellish 11 days in the USandA. Outbound via Wright-Patt to Miramar, then 3 days off in the Holiday Inn, Harbor Drive San Diego whilst the guys in North Island got the ex-boneyard F4Js ready. So we did Seaworld, Laguna Beach, Universal Studios, Hollywood, Pacifice Beach. When we left Miramar on the Monday we lost an engine, so back to Miramar and then on to W-Patt in the route support Herc...:uhoh: . A day off in Dayton to wait for another jet coming over from the UK to pick up the trail. And another day off due to bad Wx...CHING! Then off from Dayton (pods in those days weren't cleared for JP4!) to RV with the F4s and on to Goose; home the next day.

This was part of the conversion course with 101 Sqn TTF - Tanker Training Flight. Or rather 'Tiger Trails and Filton' in those days!

The F4J(UK) was often flown in Bravo fit (no Fletcher tanks, just a centreline) to take advantage of its better performance at height compared to the FGR2. 74(F) adored their jets and were a very proficient squadron. I recall one AAR slot (always 30 min in those days!) - 2 x F4Js in Bravo fit turned up, plugged in, took their gas and went.....all in about 5 minutes! Very impressive tanking indeed!

[TorqueOfTheDevil]

"Typhoon, like most British mil ac is numbered sequentially; Typhoon T1, Typhoon F2. Harrier GR3, Harrier T4, Harrier GR 5 et seq."


Ah, sigh. :( Darbouy is old enough to remember when we had a proper RAF and none of this pretend Army Bllx. ;)


Ray,

Can you really remember the days before RAF aircraft marks were designated like this? Right back in WWII, we had Spitfire F.VIII, LF.IX, PR.XIX, Lancaster B.I, Mosquito NF.II, FB.VI etc - the only thing that seems to have changed is that the numbers have been dumbed down from Roman numerals to Arabic (and we've got rid of the nasty B for Bomber designation - G is evidently much more touchy-feely and PC when hurling bombs and missiles onto foreign countries various...)

TOTD

[ORAC]

and we've got rid of the nasty B for Bomber designation - G is evidently much more touchy-feely and PC when hurling bombs and missiles onto foreign countries various...) When we still had real bombers, like the Vulcan and Victor, they were B1, B2 etc. G for Ground Attack is more a CAS, mud-moving, tactical, wimpy sorta thing... ;)

[Ray Darbouy]

"Ah, sigh. Darbouy is old enough to remember when we had a proper RAF and none of this pretend Army Bllx.

Ray,
Can you really remember the days before RAF aircraft marks were designated like this? Right back in WWII, we had Spitfire F.VIII, LF.IX, PR.XIX, Lancaster B.I, Mosquito NF.II, FB.VI etc"

No Sir, sorry, snotwot I meant, and 'twasn't me that put that meaning on it; but if you can, I doff my titfer to you. :)
One is remembering when the the RAF was an actual Air Force and not reduced to pretending to be Army clones. We really are not the same :*

However, Darbouy is certainly old enough to have been hanging around aircraft long enough to have seen things like Ansons, Pembrokes, Javelins and Hunters in service. :p

One also remembers life as a scaly brat; Darbouys Dear Departed Dad dragging him around various Sqns Venoms, Vampires, Javelins, Sycamores, Austers and the odd Lincoln back from bombing and straffing up in the Radfan, and etc. Anyone else pax'd in a Pembroke, Hastings trooper, or a York? :ok:

[Jackonicko]

"Anyone else pax'd in a Pembroke, Hastings trooper, or a York?"

Two out of three suit you? (You'd have to be REALLY old to have paxed in a York....)

My Dad has all three in his logbook as P1, though he was dropping jeeps onto Imber from the Hastings, and the Pembroke was recce.....

[k3k3]

I was flown from Brüggen to Lee-on Solent in a 60 sqn Pemmy when my mum was ill in 1977.
I used to fly up and down from Lossie to Lee on the RN clipper between 74 & 76, it was usually a Sea Devon, but occasionally a Heron. It routed Lee, Yeovilton, Culdrose, Brawdy, Prestwick, Turnhouse, Leuchars, Lossie. Happy days.

[QLion]

Did some ferry flights between St Athan and Marham with the Victor K2, 5 crew transported there or returned by DH Devon, complete with a snack meal served from a wicker basket complete with tin thermos!

These days its a couple or three hours by MT via the M4 to pick up the Funbus.

[Ivan Rogov]

Got a lift in a RAF Dak a few years ago..... erm, well OK, the only RAF Dak and it was early 90's :O

AFAIK UK Mil designation are function, mark then any mods. The function and mark are normally sequential and not repeated, eg: Tornado GR1, F2, F3, GR4

Well what happened with the Nimrod MR1 and R1? Was this to confuse the Ruskis or the spotters?

Any other types not conform?

Almost back on thread :ok:

[FATTER GATOR]

Does all this mean that we should eventually end up with a Typhoon FGR3?

A multi-role Typhoon, now theres an idea.:ugh: