BAE Hawk T.1

That could be argued for any aircraft -I recall Jaguars had a fair amount of money spent on them not long before the chop. In the case of the Hawk there is a requirement for flying training hence why they are being pulled out of storage and refurbished.

The T.1’s won’t be rebuilt as T.2’s . The T.1’s have a while left in service yet!

What, like Harriers?

On 6 March, Hawk T1 XX286 fuselage training aid finally escaped from Trenchard Hall Cranwell to join the rest of the Defence School of Aeronautical Engineering at Cosford. I recall it arriving at Cranwell in the early 2000s, the lecturer who needed it as an aircraft structures training aid saying that he didn’t really need as much of it as that which actually arrived![ATTACH=CONFIG]226292[/ATTACH]

For Blue Robin
We were invited to take 154 to the first wingsnwheels at Dunsfold (2005 ?),in the top photo you can just make out the butt straps/reinforcing plates just below the fin flash reflection on the tailplane,two tapering plates on Frame 32+33 – this reinforcment was carried out on some of the Hawks which still have the original fuselage to prevent the cracks in this area which you alluded to previously .
This pic was taken in the Flight Shed at Dunsfold (AKA Top Gear studio :rolleyes:)

In this pic you can see the wee steps required on this a/c 🙂

Well Richard…
There could be an a/c ‘somewhere in wiltshire’ which…
Does not have a lower retractable footstep.
Does not always ‘auto shut off ‘ when refuelling :).
One of the fuselage sight holes to check Hydraulic filter pop outs (delta p’s) is err slightly in the wrong place 🙂 but this may also apply to any of the (8?) pre production a/c…it certainly applies to the 8th one :).
The bag tank bay roof/diaphragm looks significantly different towards the rear,and i sometimes speculate that this might be associated with the refuel fun.
There is other stuff which I cannot really go into (just engineering fun factors :)) but externally she looks pretty standard.
It was only during her last major servicing that she was finally fitted with a rudder gust lock.

Merry Xmas R

rgds baz

Some very interesting insughts there, chaps. Baz, are you able to expand a little on the peculiarities of XX154? Thanks.

Yes just below the tailplane was not unusual with the original fuselages,many a/c with the original fuselage have external butt straps/reinforcement in that area,but the post mod fuselages are much stronger.

rgds baz

The one I remember was on the empennage so that’s good news!

Depends on the mod state of any particular airframe,many of the RAF Hawks went through the update programme some years ago which means that the only original structure is the fwd fuselage back to frame 11.The new wings/fuselages/tailplanes are much stronger than the original and should be good for some years yet.
We had a visit from 156 (2nd ever Hawk) a few weeks ago and she has the updated wing/tplane – but original fuselage !

…the reds have the pick of the best airfames if they need them anyway !

rgds baz

The low season coverage a few years ago showed some of the airframes fracturing. How long should we keep flying aerobatically on an old airframe?

Yes sad to say ‘legacy platform’ is the trendy way to say that something is old and getting worn out! As for the majors -they have a large number of T.1’s in storage which will get attention soon.

a legacy platform .

Blimey David … that is real management yukspeak 😉

As agent K posted…there is a Major servicing programme planned for next year to extend the T1 life…but may not be carried out at 1 single site 🙂

rgds baz

St Athan would have been handy for a major programme…oh wait !! :rolleyes:

Cash ! We have spent a few quid in the last ten years or so on new kit! The Hawk T.1 is what you call a legacy platform now. So we will get as much flesh out of the old machine as we can but the OSD date won’t shift and treat it as the very last flight – there won’t be many round by then full stop .

Can’t we just order nine new T 2 plus spare aircraft? More power, FADEC and glass cockpit. Keeps those jobs still in the UK. No brainer?

Nine merlins together… Just think of the possibilities and the sound! :diablo:

I don’t think helicopters would be any good as they have a really poor snap roll rate………………………………..

Seriously this is another indicating factor of what an old git I am becoming. When I arrived at Valley in ’79 the XX 160, 170 and 180 range had already mostly arrived but all of the XX 200s arrived after I did and now they are going to be retired before I am.

I would be surprised if they do go when they are expected to. They have been rewinged once and after the early fin flutter problems that is a beefy old bit of kit. The engine and fuselage will have to be be supported for a long time because of all the export ‘T1s’ so BAE can’t pull the pin on the jet just yet.

Add in the public jumping on the outrage bus when a government announces the Reds are to be scrapped and I suspect the future is little less bleak for what I fondly call the greatest military trainer ever built (probably due to the 60 odd hours backseat time!)

Nine merlins together… Just think of the possibilities and the sound! :diablo:

What would the possibility be of them being sold to the US or another Hawk operating country for peanuts ala Harrier?

I think there would be plenty of time to get 10 or more
freshly aquired Spitfires re-furbished in a nice coat of red paint.
Must be a few RAF current pilots ready to join the Red BBMF.

Is there a formal OSD for the T1s? Won’t the Reds continue to use them for the foreseeable future?

According to Hansard the OSD Date is 2020

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110524/text/110524w0002.htm

Hawk Aircraft

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence by what date he expects the T1 Hawk training aircraft to be retired. [55484]

Peter Luff: The Hawk T1 current planned out of service date is 2020. The aircraft is scheduled to cease its fast jet pilot training role at RAF Valley by December 2012, by which time it will have been replaced in this role by the Hawk T2 Advanced Jet Trainer. The Hawk T1 will continue to operate in other roles, including as part of the Royal Air Force aerobatic team.

Leeming isn’t really set up for the type of maintainance that these aircraft require. Warton is busy with Typhoon and Hawk T.2 production.