Best value aircraft that's been in the RAF

[howiehowie93]

I'm afraid the only time I had to fly a Phantom was crashing the simulator at Coningsby in Ocotber 1978.

I did the same to the AEW Nimrod simulator at Waddo in the mid 80's trying to land it on the Ark Royal. I only went up there from 5 hangar on night shift to do some ground running practice.

Oh the joys of being a Sootie !!

Rearguards
H

[Josh349]

My favourites

A list of my favourites (In random order)

De Havilland Mosquito

Top speed: 378mph
Entered service: 1941
Retired: 1950
Number built: 7,781
Range: 1,905miles
Ceiling: 28,000ft
Rating: 6


De Havilland Tiger moth

Top speed: 108mph
Entered service: 1932
Retired: 1959
Number built: 8,868
Range: 285miles
Ceiling: 13,000ft
Rating: 5







English Electric Canberra

Top speed: 603mph
Entered service: 1951
Retired: 2006
Number built: 949
Range: 1174 miles
Ceiling: 70,310ft
Rating: 8


Blackburn Buccaneer


Top speed: 667mph
Entered service: 1962
Retired: 1994
Number built: n/a
Range: 2,300 miles
Ceiling: 40,000ft
Rating: 7


Hawker Hunter

Top speed: 727mph
Entered service: 1954
Retired: 1993
Number built: 1,972
Range: 1,900 miles
Ceiling: 50,000ft
Rating: 6


Boeing Chinook

Top speed: 183mph
Entered service: 1980
Retired: ACTIVE
Number built: 58 (Uk version)
Range: n/a
Ceiling: 18,500ft
Rating: 7

C130 Hercules

Top speed: 366mph
Entered service: 1957
Retired: ACTIVE
Number built: n/a
Range: 2,360 miles
Ceiling: 33,000
Rating: 7







Avro Vulcan

Top speed: 607mph
Entered service: 1956
Retired: 1984
Number built: 136
Range: 2,607 miles
Ceiling: 55,000ft
Rating: 5


Bristol F.2 Fighter

Top speed: 123mph
Entered service: 1916
Retired: 1932
Number built: 5,329
Range: 369 miles
Ceiling: 18,000ft
Rating: 7


F4 Phantom

Top speed: 1,472mph
Entered service: 1969
Retired: 1985
Number built: n/a
Range: 1,615 miles
Ceiling: 60,000ft
Rating: 6

Nimrod

Top speed: 575mph
Entered service: 1969
Retired: 2011
Number built: 51
Range: 5,755 miles
Ceiling: 44,000ft
Rating: 9


Spitfire

Top speed: 378mph
Entered service: 1938
Retired: 1954
Number built: 20,351
Range: 1,140 miles
Ceiling: 35,000ft
Rating: 10







Hawker Hurricane

Top speed: 340mph
Entered service: 1937
Retired: 1945
Number built: 14,533
Range: 600 miles
Ceiling: 36,000ft
Rating: 9


Avro Lancaster

Top speed: 280mph
Entered service: 1942
Retired: n/a
Number built: 7,377
Range: 3,400 miles
Ceiling: 23,500ft
Rating: 8


Harrier Jump jet

Top speed: 735mph
Entered service:1969
Retired: 2010
Number built: 1050 (estimate)
Range: 2,000 miles
Ceiling: 51,000ft
Rating: 9


Eurofighter Typhoon

Top speed: 1,550mph
Entered service: 2003
Retired: ACTIVE
Number built: 471
Range: 2,350 miles
Ceiling: 64,990ft
Rating: 7










English Electric Lightning

Top speed: 1,300mph
Entered service: 1959
Retired: 1988
Number built: 337
Range: 1,270
Ceiling: 70,000ft
Rating: 7







Sopwith Camel

Top speed: 115mph
Entered service: 1917
Retired: n/a
Number built: 5,490
Range: 300 miles
Ceiling: 21,000ft
Rating: 9


AgustaWestland Apache

Top speed: 227mph
Entered service: 2004
Retired: ACTIVE
Number built: 67
Range: 1,121 miles
Ceiling: 21,000ft
Rating: 7


BAC TSR 2

Top speed: 1300mph
Entered service: n/a
Retired: n/a
Number built: 10
Range: 2,880 miles
Ceiling: 50,000ft
Rating: 8

S.E.5

Top speed: 138mph
Entered service: 1917
Retired: n/a
Number built: 5,205
Range: 300 miles
Ceiling: 17,000ft
Rating: 7


Hawker Typhoon

Top speed: 412mph
Entered service: 1941
Retired: 1945
Number built: 3,317
Range: 510 miles
Ceiling: 35,200ft
Rating: 6








Hawk

Top speed: 638mph
Entered service: 1976
Retired: ACTIVE
Number built: 900+
Range: 1565 miles
Ceiling: 44,500ft
Rating: 6


Tornado

Top speed: 921mph/mach2.2
Entered service: 1979
Retired: ACTIVE
Number built: 992
Range: 2,417 miles
Ceiling: 50,000ft
Rating: 7


Vickers VC10

Top speed: 580mph
Entered service: 1964
Retired: ACTIVE
Number built: 54
Range: 5,850miles
Ceiling: 43,000ft
Rating: 7


Jaguar

Top speed: 1,056mph
Entered service: 1973
Retired: 2007
Number built: 543
Range: 2,190 miles
Ceiling: 45,900ft
Rating: 6


Westland Wessex

Top speed: 133mph
Entered service: 1961
Retired: 2003
Number built: 356
Range: 480 miles
Ceiling: 10,000ft
Rating: 6


Dominie

Top speed: 522mph
Entered service: 1965
Retired: 2011
Number built: 1,000+
Range: 1,796 miles
Ceiling: 41,000ft
Rating: 6


Bristol Beaufighter

Top speed: 320mph
Entered service: 1940
Retired: 1950
Number built: 5,928
Range: 1,750miles
Ceiling: 19,000ft
Rating: 7


Jet Provost

Top speed: 440mph
Entered service: 1955
Retired: 1993
Number built: 741
Range: 900 miles
Ceiling: 36,750ft
Rating: 5


Avro Shackleton

Top speed: 300mph
Entered service: 1951
Retired: 1990
Number built: 185
Range: 2,250miles
Ceiling: 20,200ft
Rating: 5





Handley Page Victor

Top speed: 627mph
Entered service: 1958
Retired: 1993
Number built: 86
Range: 6,000 miles
Ceiling: 56,000ft
Rating: 6

[Pontius Navigator]

Josh, impressive bit of cut 'n paste but mostly rubbish.

Hunter range 1900 miles Canberra 1174! The Canberra could do transatlantic or Cyprus in one hop. The Hunter would be breathing fumes long before that.

The Buccaneer 2300 and the Tonka 2417 - you must be joking. The Bucc had the legs on the Tonka any day.

Vulcan 2607 TSR2 2880 - really?

Lancaster 3400 miles - phew - about 17 hours - a bit long methinks

Don't believe everything you read in wikipedia et al. And in an aviation forum we use Nautical Miles.

[jamesdevice]

best value aircraft the RAF ever had? Simple - the Phantom FG1 (F4-K)
Why? Because the RAF got them for free after the RN had paid for them

[Lightning Mate]

English Electric Lightning

Top speed: 1,300mph
Range: 1,270
Ceiling: 70,000ft

Jaguar

Top speed: 1,056mph
Range: 2,190 miles
Ceiling: 45,900ft

Josh, impressive bit of cut 'n paste but mostly rubbish.

After years of flying both, I find those figures interesting to say the least!!!

Beware the Internet...............

[Halton Brat]

Surely the Wiggins Aerodyne should figure here (both land-based & Naval versions)?

[airborne_artist]

Boeing Chinook

Top speed: 183mph
Entered service: 1980
Retired: ACTIVE
Number built: 58 (Uk version)
Range: n/a
Ceiling: 18,500ft
Rating: 7

AgustaWestland Apache

Top speed: 227mph
Entered service: 2004
Retired: ACTIVE
Number built: 67
Range: 1,121 miles
Ceiling: 21,000ft
Rating: 7

Isn't Apache is slower than the Wokka S+L?

[Willard Whyte]

Who's 'ratings' are those anyhoo?

And are those 'facts' and figures a cut'n'paste from a set of Top Trumps?

[jamesdevice]

Apache 227 mph?? Is that stripped out with Trevor Egginton flying it?

[Josh349]

I looked at all sorts of sites to get those stats and the ratings are given by me, i'm a bit of a rookie at aircraft so don't know much about them :P

Everything i did, i just copied and pasted from Microsoft word

[jamesdevice]

just because one aircraft may have hit those figures under one-off ideal test conditions doesn't mean those figures can be applied generally to an aircraft type Look at the Lightening. Is it really going to hit 70,000 feet in operational service fit? And if so, which version? And the range you give for it? Again - which version? Look at the Canberra. You're quoting 70,000 feet for that. Maybe for a PR9 on a good day, but for the rest of the fleet? I don't think so. Take the Buccaneer. That was a LOW LEVEL attack aircraft. It may have been technically capable of getting to 40,000 feet, but it wouldn't be much use up there and I'll bet its performance at height would have been awful Simple motto. Don't believe all you read on the web, understand that what may be true is virtually never universally applicable, and when you do post, EXPLAIN what it is you are posting

[Halton Brat]

Josh

Josh, my dear boy, you must surely understand by now that this forum is frequented by the Old & Bold, some of whom took the chocks out for Messrs Wright Brothers.

Whilst I admire your panache & bravado at sticking your head out of the trench in such an enthusiastic manner, this type of rash splurging will cause a ripple-launch of Meat-Seeking Missiles in your direction. However, be not discouraged or dismayed; the entertainment value is jolly good

HB

[PPRuNeUser0139]

HB
Beautifully put.. and much more effective than invective!
sv

[airborne_artist]

some of whom took the chocks out for Messrs Wright Brothers

Not quite. My dad did take his 1923 Rolls-Royce with him in HMS Ark Royal in 1955

[Halton Brat]

Airborne Artist

How I envy your paternal provenance; on my Birth Certificate, under 'Name of Father', it says 'Some Soldiers'...............

HB

[jamesdevice]

good job "Top Gear" wasn't on the telly then,,,, it it had been that roller would have got shot over the bow

[airborne_artist]

Massive thread drift, but how's this for a lasting memorial to a man whose bravery was not (as far as I know) ever seriously tested, but who served his country for thirty-five years:

Lord Bank - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[hanoijane]

Not quite. My dad did take his 1923 Rolls-Royce with him in HMS Ark Royal in 1955

Pffft, that's nothing. Back in the early 70's my father had his Traction Avant towed around Phnom Penh by an elephant. Just because he could.

[Willard Whyte]

^ Dunno why but that's got me in stitches.

[jindabyne]

As was said - Hawk (but Hunter and Buccaneer close firsts )