Royal Air Force F-16's

Depends on whether you want the information from people who know, or people whose interests take in modern military as well as historic. The war of independance did not take place between India and Pakistan so I’d imagine you would only get flamed for calling the F16 an F-16 or vice versa (lawn dart?).
Independance Day not accurate? Never!!! Theres me thinking the aliens might have supplied a real mother ship or two…;)

Flood

Hehe

Its not just India-pakistan i have seen played out on that board although i have to say i find that really frightening so i’m scared to post on there.

Jay

I find it hard to tell one F-16 from another. They all seem to be the same shape, painted grey, and at UK airshows, every third display seemed to be another NATO country’s jet jock showing off an identical display to the previous F-16 session. They could save cash by just sharing one F-16 with the pilot’s country of choice zapped over the teeny weeny roundel they all wear. Sadly, much as I dislike the type, even I have to admit the F-16’s service is ‘historic’ as they’ve been around a long time. (Like cockroaches. Sorry. Couldn’t help it.)

Hear! Hear! And that’s from one of the ModMil guys…

The Modern forum is full of politics. International, rather than personal as seems to be the norm here. I’d be scared to ask about a story about ten year old F16 squadrons on the modern forum, i’d probably re-ignite the War Of Independance or something.

There’s no need to be shy on the murkier ModMil forum. There is definately a lot of politics around there, but there still are plenty of people who are glad to help if there’s anything you might need.

As for “F-16s operated by the RAF in SE Asia”: there are regular multinational exercises in the Malaysia/Thailand/Singapore region, with both RAF and F-16 units participating. Considering the way such drills are organised, it should be pretty common that F-16s fly “with the RAF” if that is how the teams have been organised.

And don’t forget that more than one F-16 had been zapped by eager RAF groundcrews. I don’t have pictures, but i do remember a squadron exchange between RAFG’s 15 sqn at Laarbruch and a gaggle of Danish Lawndarts. On day 2, all F-16s were flying with a very prominent ‘XV’ on their tail.

I seem to recall around the time of the first Gulf War, plans were in place that if RAF losses were high then ‘leased’ American F16’s were available :confused:

Can’t really see how that would have worked. RAF AD jocks spend four years being converted from raw civilians to F3 jock. Okay, so only about 6-9 months of that is actual F3 conversion, but it’s still a large chunk of time – does anyone seriously think that F3 jocks would be able to convert onto F16’s at the drop of a hat? It’s not exactly as easy as stepping out of a Mondeo and into a Vectra…! And as for the ground servicing infrastructure…

I would imagine that if RAF losses had been higher, we would either a) have pulled more F3’s out of the UKAD bases, b) pulled more GR1’s out of Germany, c) emptied all the spare ones out of St Athan etc, or d) sent out more Jaguars and/or Buccaneers and their crews instead.

This is going to bug me till I find that report again now – I know what I read as I was really surprised that the RAF would lease F-16’s.

The squadron was not ‘based’ in Asia, it was there for some short term detachment of some sort, it was a temporary lease, maybe two or three months, being discussed. It may have been in Malaysia. or maybe Indonesia, not necessarily Singapore.

This had nothign to do with the RAF wanting to purchase the fighter, the report said they’d leased them to fly for a short term.

I think we’d certainly be interested to see the origin of this! I still really doubt the veracity of this as the logistics of setting up a squadron, even with the airframes on a lease basis, and then basing them in a far distant territory are such that it does stretch credibility. It sounds more like a case of a journalist hearing some isolated facts, adding two and two together and making seventeen!

The RAF has never seriously considered the F16, though I think the US DOD has offered to supply surplus USAF airframes to the RAF in the past.

Given the press ability to be unable to tell Arthur from Martha, could it be a misreport from the RAAF operating FA-18s and deplying to SE Asia?

In press terms that’s clearly the RAF leasing F-16s in the far East. 😀

This is going to bug me till I find that report again now – I know what I read as I was really surprised that the RAF would lease F-16’s.

The squadron was not ‘based’ in Asia, it was there for some short term detachment of some sort, it was a temporary lease, maybe two or three months, being discussed. It may have been in Malaysia. or maybe Indonesia, not necessarily Singapore.

This had nothign to do with the RAF wanting to purchase the fighter, the report said they’d leased them to fly for a short term.

Thanks Kodak.

The miltary withdrew all support for the film due (allegedly) to the films insistance that area 51 was included

Oh yes. That’s got film company PR written all over it. 😀 Like the military would care about the pointy head fans. :rolleyes:

Much more likely the military looked at the production team and said the US equivalent of “Play with you? Not bl@@dy likely mate!”

The Modern forum is full of politics. International, rather than personal as seems to be the norm here. I’d be scared to ask about a story about ten year old F16 squadrons on the modern forum, i’d probably re-ignite the War Of Independance or something.

I dont know about this squadron but I would imagine the film independance day not to be that hot on accuracy.

Depends on whether you want the information from people who know, or people whose interests take in modern military as well as historic. The war of independance did not take place between India and Pakistan so I’d imagine you would only get flamed for calling the F16 an F-16 or vice versa (lawn dart?).
Independance Day not accurate? Never!!! Theres me thinking the aliens might have supplied a real mother ship or two…;)

Flood

The F16 was never considered by the RAF, the F15 was though, very briefly . It’s never been operated by the RAF and the Independence day film used clever digital imagery to show the multi-nation force to fight the aliens. The miltary withdrew all support for the film due (allegedly) to the films insistance that area 51 was included, hence the directors having to “make it up”. The RAF have flown F16 many times on exchanges. The RAF havnt been stationed in SE Asia for several decades but again Tornados and more recently the new Typhoons have ben out there either supporting “colonial”(!) interests or on hot/high trials.

The Modern forum is full of politics. International, rather than personal as seems to be the norm here. I’d be scared to ask about a story about ten year old F16 squadrons on the modern forum, i’d probably re-ignite the War Of Independance or something.

I dont know about this squadron but I would imagine the film independance day not to be that hot on accuracy.

When the EFA (now typhoon) project was floundering wasnt the F16 considered as an alternative?

Jay

Hi Dave T,
The problem is one of familiarity. While their nearest and dearest can tell models of Harriers and F-16’s apart, folks like Dave and myself perhaps tend to go by the name. you know ‘Harrier’ rather than differentiating first generation and ‘Harrier II’. 😉

Dave’s fact is that ‘the Harrier is in current service’. He’s right, it is, as he din’t specify which model.

I find it hard to tell one F-16 from another. They all seem to be the same shape, painted grey, and at UK airshows, every third display seemed to be another NATO country’s jet jock showing off an identical display to the previous F-16 session. They could save cash by just sharing one F-16 with the pilot’s country of choice zapped over the teeny weeny roundel they all wear. Sadly, much as I dislike the type, even I have to admit the F-16’s service is ‘historic’ as they’ve been around a long time. (Like cockroaches. Sorry. Couldn’t help it.)

FWIW, I think it’s all welcome as long as the overall tendancy is historic here. It’s a poor history which fails to recognise current affairs. To mess up a good quote “Those who only look at the past are doomed to repeat it becase they missed the present. (And they’ll go on about Spitfires ad Nausiam).” 😉

the Harrier’s the one that go up n’ down int it? 😀

Cheers!

Hey, the Harrier is still in frontline service and it gets talked about all the time on this forum, as do many other jet types still in service

You may wish to check your facts before making such statements.

The Harriers discussed in the ~Historic~ forum are all the 1st generation type that finally flew (RAF) in 1995 and the last (Royal Navy) of the breed, including some Falklands veterans are just being disposed of now.

The modern Harrier II (nee AV-8B/GR.5/7) is actually discussed in great depth over on the ~Modern~ forum, alongside the F-16’s for example 😡

After reading this article, anything could have been possible I suppose

http://www.aeronautics.ru/nws002/theobserver04.htm

I seem to recall around the time of the first Gulf War, plans were in place that if RAF losses were high then ‘leased’ American F16’s were available :confused:

I remember about 20 or so years ago, when Farnborough got decent coverage on TV, the commentator making a statement along the lines of ‘The RAF are considering the F-16 as a stop-gap until the Tornado F2 fully enters service’, but I never heard anything else after that, so I just assumed he had run out of things to say about the F-16, and was making it up as he went along !

Just for some whiling away the time while Pipex finally sort out my email access I thought it would be fun to have a look at this in perspective. The F-16 first flew in 1974. That is 31 years. In 1974 I was reading “Airfix Magazine” and 31 year old aeroplanes included the Lancaster! Sea Furies were effectively modern!

Historic starts yesterday, it all depends how you judge it!

In that case a shed load of Cessna 150s and PA28s etc are considered historic!

Yep – with a W-something serial – and the pilots spoke in frightfully clipped, WWII-style accents – ‘I say old chap’……………..

Ken

Never understood that particular complaint about the film (and lord knows there are plenty to be made). Plenty of RAF types I’ve met/overheard have very similar accents. It’s called being posh 🙂

I seem to remember that there was a real Tornado shown on one of the planning room style video screens. I think I assumed the Vipers were meant to be Dutch or something and that our posh pilots were operating from the same strip.

Wasn’t there an F-16 equipped RAF sqn based in Saudi/Mid East in the film ‘Independence Day’? I seem to remember black & white check sqn marking on the fuselage.

Geoff.

Yep – with a W-something serial – and the pilots spoke in frightfully clipped, WWII-style accents – ‘I say old chap’……………..

Ken

Hey, the Harrier is still in frontline service and it gets talked about all the time on this forum, as do many other jet types still in service

Just for some whiling away the time while Pipex finally sort out my email access I thought it would be fun to have a look at this in perspective. The F-16 first flew in 1974. That is 31 years. In 1974 I was reading “Airfix Magazine” and 31 year old aeroplanes included the Lancaster! Sea Furies were effectively modern!

Historic starts yesterday, it all depends how you judge it!

I am 31 just like the F-16 and personally i really hope its modern as i don’t feel historic myself 😀 , Seriously though i think the F-16 has been a fantastically successful design and does deserve its place in history, But as i still frontline serving Aircraft it does not feel historic.
I never heard of the RAF showing any intrest in F-16s other than having a few exchange pilots with Airforces that fly them.