AWACS at finningley

Here is XZ283 departing RAF Abingdon to Finningley, which turned out to be the very last AEW flight. The other images show the six airframes at RAF Abingdon prior to scraping. I will post some more pictures tommorow night when I have a bit more time.

I cannot understand why one was not saved.
Cosford should have had one – would have been the biggest R+D exhibit they had!
I remember seeing one in the static at Abingdon just before they were cancelled, and also (possibly the following year) a few of them being parked on the far side, including IIRC the grey and white one.
Wish I had taken some photo’s now. It was blinkin’ ugly, but had a certain charm(!)

What a thing to do to a Comet. 🙂
The only time I ever saw one flying was at one of the last Hatfield displays. Not the prettiest aircraft ever built.
As for buying a b****y 707 instead – Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

I have some pictures of the last take off made by the AEW3 from RAF Abingdon. I will try and find them, and I also have a few of the other airframes before they were scrapped.

Nimrod AEW, at Finningley, not a clear shot, taken from the car on exit from one of their airshows.

thank u mark 🙂

I,ve got a photo of the Finningley AWACS. I’ll see if I can find it and scan it

As I work in Donny, Finningley tends to be a subject of conversation, either for the health impact or the cheap flights

Although it didn’t really register, I’m sure somebody was talking about an AWACS at Finningley within the last few days – presumably something to do with systems testing – possibly it’s a mutually convenient arrangement between the RAF and Peel

Hello all,

As far as I am aware the only trials that were performed were done by the Joint Trials Unit (JTU) at RAF Waddington. Although one of the Nimrod AEW.3s (XV263) was flown to RAF Finningley, after the project was cancelled, for use as a ground based electronics training airframe.

It was the last surviving complete airframe, until BAE Systems dismantled it for use in the MRA.4 upgrade trials, I think the fuselage is still used at Warton.

Tim

Awacks at Legends, yeah of course I belive it will be in formation with 2x Tornado F3’s.

Being sensible (for once 🙂 ) I think the Nimrod AEW3 did some test work at Finningley, before the project was cancalled and the E-3D was purchased to replace the Shack AEW2.

ok cheers 🙂

I think Nermal was really saying your request may be better placed on the ‘modern military forum’ 🙂

it is the early warning radar plane that is based at waddington,i was wondering if anybody got any from the RAF days or from the airport testing flights that they have been doing. 😀

Is it historic? How many props does it have, and will it be at Legends? – Nermal