There have been some very good points raised here now being drowned out in a silly argument.

Wasn’t that pretty much the same month as the Sea Vixen or am I getting very old?

The Sea Vixen arrived in March 1972.
I would have loved to have seen the Javelin arrival, thanks for posting up the pics Rob.

I think there was scepticism at first when Saddam Hussein was eliminated, and similarly there is now in the case of OBL.

I don’t remember any scepticism over Hussein he was captured, put on trial, and a recorded execution took place, all processes which we witnessed through our media.
To my mind something like this should have occured this time, to have shown transparency and to avoid silly rumours and gossip.
I really am not one for conspiracy theories at all, but my initial hunch on this was that Bin Laden was captured or killed sometime ago, even if his body was only disposed of over the weekend.
It is interesting that Obama was also struggling for support recently.

As for being found in Pakistan, I don’t see how this is surprising news at all.

As mentioned previously Bin Laden was only a populor figurehead, let us not forget that the West set up and trained these people in the first place to help topple the Russian invasion.
Although it is fantastic news that he has been eliminated it won’t alter the end game for these people which use all sorts of tactics which we find difficult to comprehend

wouldn’t some conclusive proof be nice? 😉

And a long time coming!

This might shed some light on the Fulbeck collection, quoted from Wiki,

“With no flying unit in residence, the station came under No. 255 Maintenance Unit handling RAF surplus stores, much of the material being disposed of in auctions held during 1948. The airfield was then on a care and maintenance status for five years as a sub-station of No. 93 Maintenance Unit, and at one point the hangars housed the Air Historical Branch’s static aircraft collection.”

Also worth reading is this as an example, it is the individual history of the RAF Museums’ He111, http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/collections/aircraft/aircraft-history/78-AF-1033%20%20Heinkel%20111.pdf , it shows just how much the surviving captured aircraft were shoved from pillar to post (Boxted, and ‘several other USAAF bases’, North Weald, Heston, Farnborough – above display, Sealand, Stanmore Park, Wroughton, Fulbeck/AHB collection, Biggin Hill, Henlow, St Athan & RAFM Hendon!) and how close they came to being scrapped aswel.

…and for the record, from page 53 of the superb source quoted by Dave (War Prizes, by Phil Butler, published by Midland in 1994) the external exhibition of Luftwaffe types included:
….

Just to add to that excellent list, Forever Farnborough by Peter Cooper records the hangar display aircraft as,

Bf109G-14 413601 Black 7
Fw190A 171747
Ju88G-6 623193 ‘Air Min 31’
Fa330
He162 ‘Air Min 64’
He162 ‘Air Min 66’

Also clearly seen are,
Me163 Komet
Me155/BV155 V2

Only survivor in picture from display

DFS glider LF+VO

IIRC a conversation with somebody who now helps the preservation community, he helped to scrap them.

I would love to hear more about that Flat 12.

A lot of the current displayed Luftwaffe aircraft did travel around the various RAF MUs, some being displayed at St Athan & Colerne before joining the main RAFM collections.

It makes sense that some airframes went to the proving & trials grounds of Orfordness, must have been a good way for the allies to second guess how Soviet airframe technology might develop in the Cold-war era.

Fantastic flying, especially when they ‘buzz’ that yacht!
But why do they need to have the music playing over every part? You can just make out the glorious snarl and whine from the low and fast Corsair pass!

Navigations seems OK now, but is it just me or is the search facility not working?

Not just you