Seems like a good time to ask a question prompted by reading recent FlyPast and noting their coverage of the centennial….
Anyone know how many types the RAF has operated (I guess we’ll need a definition of a “type”…so let’s say whenever a different name was applied, even to basically a similar aircraft and “operated” to mean types used operationally, not just in tests).
It must be hundreds given the small quantities of many operational types and the proclivity to give different names to variants.
And of those, how many of the types are represented by an actual (non-replica) survivor? A small fraction I suspect.
By: Arabella-Cox - 23rd July 2018 at 12:19
If you include impressed and captured aircraft, Schneider trophy aircraft, ATC gliders, blimps and drones it’s 551 types wiki lists as operated by the RAF.
I won’t paste the list I created from Wikipedia here!
By: Sabrejet - 23rd July 2018 at 11:47
It’s an interesting question: would you include types evaluated by A&AEE at Martlesham Heath and Boscombe Down for instance? Types like the A/B-26 Invader and F7F Tigercat for instance? Another type which springs to mind is the Vickers Bullet, which though built in small numbers, did see squadron service.
I’d imagine that if you include these, and captured machines etc, the figure would be higher than 307. it would be interesting to know how that compares with other Air Forces.
By: Arabella-Cox - 23rd July 2018 at 10:04
Wikipedia list 307 distinct types ordered by the RAF, which doesn’t include those civilian aircraft impressed into service during WWII. Their list includes, for example, a single DHC Otter, used for the Trans Antarctic Expedition.
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July 23, 2018 at 4:23 am