Shortest Flying Life Of a Military Aircraft?

Lockheed pilot was delivering the USAF’s very first F117 & decided that he had to take it up one more time to check on something & wadded into the runway a few minutes later.
It’s at Plant 42 in Palmdale, they straightened it out, put a few new bits to make it look nice, then put it on a stick in the employees parking lot….

Spot on Daz,

From, B Of B, THE HARDEST DAY 18 August 1940. Alfred Price.

Spitfire X 4110 had a service life of just 25 minutes!.

Delivered to No 602 Squadron at Westhampnett on the morning of the 18 th August, it was flown by Flight Lieutenant Dunlop Urie during the afternoon action over Bognor and severely damaged.

Has some nice pic’s of the Spit, No code’s I can see Daz, But bloody BIG hole’s from Cannon hit’s down the side’s, and it’s rear fuselage skin is crinkled, it’s back broken, and it never flew again.

Nice shot of Dunlop Urie, Grinning in a Chair with his feet bound up, waiting to go to hospital.

Not quite in the league of the Lightning, but there used to be a story of a Jaguar in about 1970-71, delivered to Lossiemouth where on the same day it was hit by a ground tug, twisting the mainspar and fuselage?

I seem to recollect it never flew again and became an RAF recruiting/display airframe.

Fact or urban myth? Someone out there must know the truth!

I was at Lossie in the early 70’s, and I’m not sure they came up there properly until about mid ’73ish – I might be wrong though – the Sim must have taken a year or so to construct alone.

I don’t recall hearing the story, and as I was in the Comcen, a hatchway from Operations, I’m sure I’d have heard (or more likely read) something.

Was on duty the day one chap, practicing aerobatics for a show in front of ER Mag dropped a sparkly new Jag near the bomb dump. That ruffled a few feathers. He was okay though, I believe – just an inch or two shorter.

If we take “in the field” to mean “operational” or “in service with a operational unit” that restricts the field a bit (no pun intended).

How about all those aircraft flown direct from the aircraft factories of American to the scrap yards of America. Or how about those shipped across the pond, only to end up at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

T5 XV329 survived the trip out and became ‘T’ with 74 Squadron after repair it was the trip back that killed her! On her return it was discovered that not only had she again suffered salt corrosion but also there had been a major battery spillage. She was put into store on her return in 1971 at 60 MU Leconfield before being written off in 1974 and moved to the dump. She was then sold for scrap to J.S.Shackelton, Siddal in 1977.

Did that Lightning T5 delivered by boat to Singapore (74 squadron?) have a service life before that? It certainly didn’t once they discovered the back end had been thoroughly soaked in sea water. – Nermal

GASML beat me to it.
I remember a pic in flypast about that 109… i don’t think the paint was fully dry on her

Wasn’t it Roald Dahl who delivered a new Hurricane to Crete, to be told by an ‘erk’ “Oh dear, they’ve given you a new one, it won’t last five minutes”. Heartening or what!

I seem to rmember reading too, that Luftwaffe pilot Heinz Knoke took delivery of his unit’s first Bf109G, only to bin it fifteen minutes later!

I think Dunlop Urie’s Spitfire had a service life of about twenty minutes, but I can’t think of anything to match your Lightning.

Regards,

kev35

25mins, I think. They didn’t even have time to paint the codes on it!

Not quite in the league of the Lightning, but there used to be a story of a Jaguar in about 1970-71, delivered to Lossiemouth where on the same day it was hit by a ground tug, twisting the mainspar and fuselage?

I seem to recollect it never flew again and became an RAF recruiting/display airframe.

Fact or urban myth? Someone out there must know the truth!

That rules out prototypes and experimentals then, of which many crashed on taking off for their first flight!

An aircraft brought for military use ‘in the field’ was what I was thinking.

What is a military aircraft? Are we allowed to include prototypes, or experimental aircraft designed to a military spec? If so, I’d say the Spruce Goose.

Perhaps the instruments ?

TNZ

Curious..what was it in the a/c that contained Mercury ?

Unfortunately I dont know the answer to that hopefully someone with Lightning experiance can fill us in on that one. 🙂

Curious..what was it in the a/c that contained Mercury ?

I think Dunlop Urie’s Spitfire had a service life of about twenty minutes, but I can’t think of anything to match your Lightning.

Regards,

kev35