I found all the comments by 25Sq pilots strange and in opposition to the RAE pilots comments, and strangely the whirlwind was used for night intruder ops later in the war, but then I suppose to transfer from a two crew a/c to a much advanced single seater was ‘a bit different’, good job they had herc beau’s and not merlin’s ….

Beau IIf, NASTY BEAST, as 255 Squadron found out.

What about the Skyraider for the last FAA operational type? Seem to remember seeing photos of them during the Suez campaign.

Best wishes
Steve P

AEW Bird!!!

Of course I should have realised the dates on your sig are way too late for the 188

I wish they were not, Farnborough was much more interesting in those days.

there was a modification program on all the hawks stared in the early /mid 80’s to enable them to carry sidewinders.
the first ones modded were the brawdy/chivenor hawks.later on the valley hawks were done the next time the wings came off for servicing.
during a war the valley hawks were meant to form RAS’s (regional air squadrons) for point defence of airfields.

— Very off Topic here —

Yes, there was a modification programme, however, not the complete fleet was done, (I think the number was in the region of 70 to 90, the aircraft being from Brawdy, Chivenor and the Sparrows). The modified aircraft had fuselage wiring changes done as well and missile control panels fitted to both cockpits. The modified aircraft were re-designated T1A, The modifications for the smoke generation in the Sparrow’s hawks did not result in a different designation as far as I know. Valley only got the T1A’s with the draw down of Brawdy and the start of the Mirror Image training system in the early 1990’s. I was at Valley at the time and there were no grey hawks with plyons fitted based there when I arrived there in mid 1991, There were in late 1993, as I flew in a T1A of 234(R) Sqn, just before they were renumbered to 208(R) Sqn.
The Hawks with Sidewinders were used of local airfield defence, the last time I saw them do it was an exercise at Wattisham in early 1991, you would see a Hawk or two orbiting the airfield, all of a sudden they would shoot off in one direction. The next thing that you would hear was the Air raid warning go off.

— On Topic —

Bristol Brigand – Classed as bomber, but fitted with four 20mm cannon and a whole host of other ground attack nastiness. In service to 1957.

the way i look at it…..in a real, real, major, big time emergancey the BBMFs hurris and spits could be uesd as operational aircraft…like i suppose the other warbirds still flying in the UK.. i know during WW2 a large number of cival registered aircraft where press ganged into military service.
what i ment though when i asked the question is when was the last FRONT LINE combat capable single or twined engined piston engined fighter or fighter bomber aircraft to serve with the RAF and FAA….i know the sea fury was used in the korean war….i think they even shot down a couple of mig-15s…WOW…… 🙂

RAF – Fighter designated Aircraft – DH Hornet – Last front line unit – 45 Squadron RAF stopped operating the type in May 1955.

it is nice to have another article, but to be mis – informed in an article, isn’t correct, people use the facts in future articles , ( as seen ) , I think that the extra mile should have been run.

I totally agree Jerry, however having done a couple of published Aircraft/Unit history projects myself (Limited production items for Unit Anniversaries and Air Shows), I’ve come across the all problems that you hit when doing this type of project. First you have a publishing deadline to meet, the hours are just not there to go the extra mile. Secondly the official records often have mistakes in them too. (Anybody who has been though the Squadron F540s at Kew will tell you how variable the quality of information in them is, and of course they then have to be cross-referred to Station or Wing ORB, Combat reports, Loss record cards and Log books (if you can get access to any, Kew pulped most of ones they held years ago), plus anything that Hendon has or is held by AHB, Squadron Association or any ex member of the unit concerned that you happen to make contact with). Its a lot easier to go with what has been published before (and unfortunately leads to a lot of people like us getting p 😡 😡 😡 ed off). One other problem is you have to deal with is to have somebody to proof the thing that knows the subject as well as yourself and has the time to go though it in very fine detail (especially in this day of word document cut and paste).

You will not have run into the biggest problem, I ever had with a project however. I wanted to go to Kew on two occasions last year to cross-refer / check information on my project before putting it in for printing (they were the only days that month that I could get off work on a weekday or a Saturday to do it). On both occasions, I could not get into London due to servicemen being banned from going within the M25 unless for service reasons. The days I planned, 8th and 22nd July 2005.

One final point, on a similar vain, has anybody seen the latest RAF Yearbook, page 47 bottom corner. Three aircraft plan views on the tail of Jaguar XZ112 ‘GW’. SPITFIRE! SPITFIRE!! It’s a B 😡 😡 😡 DY HURRICANE!!!

Pearl Harbour anyone???

“And now the synchro pair will demonstrate how to destroy two *insert missile/aircraft name here* without using any armaments!!!”

I think you will find the Red Arrows Hawks can still be fitted with current in service weapons. The Unit’s Hawks were modified to carry AIM-9L Sidewinders in the late 1980’s for use as a point defence interceptors (as were a number of Hawks on the TWU’s). The unit also has enough pilots posted on its strength to make a viable operational unit. (They also have a very important ‘semi combat’ role and that is to help BAe SELL HAWKS!!!, which I would say they have done pretty well at) As for the BBMF, 20mm Hispano cannon and .303 Browning’s are definitely NOT in service weapons and have not been for a considerable number of years. Thus (much as I love to see the aircraft fly and will stop and look for the aircraft every time I hear a Merlin) I would say that the BBMF cannot realistically be called an operational fighter unit!