Yes, it’s a P-3. The Orion got Bullpup capability in 1965. P-3Bs first and then retrofitted to most of the P-3As.

Possibly… just possibly… the coolest plane ever built.

Yes, Oman. The SOAF/RAFO Jags had an air defence mission. AIM-9Ps under wing.

Il-38s operated out of South yemen and Ethiopia in the 1980s.

They are practice bomb dispensers – pretty common fit on the Bucc.

I wouldn’t read too much into it – Soviet vessels were pretty common to the north of Scotland, especially during the big NATO exercises like Northern Wedding. The Buccs were probably just having a look while doing something else, or the bomb carriers had been left on from a previous sortie.

There were a few ranges around Scotland. Tain was the best known but I don’t think there was any live stuff dropped there (possibly not even full-scale inert – does anyone know for sure?). Live drops were mostly done at Garvie Island near Cape Wrath.

I concur pretty much with YS’s post. It’s also worth pointing out that the government is now locked in to funding ongoing Gripen development as a ‘quid pro quo’ for Saab funding a considerable portion of the UCAV development programme.

The prevailing view in Saab appears to be that any Gripen sale – whether of existing JAS 39A/Bs or new JAS 39C/Ds – strengthens the programme as a whole, as any sale adds momentum to the overall cause. I don’t think there is that much conflict anyway – customers that CAN afford C/Ds will buy them anyway (just as recent F-16 customers have gone for high-spec new-bbuild rather than warmed-over surplus jets). The availability of the A/B for export increases the number of potential customers by bringing in air forces that would not have looked at the C/D on cost grounds.

Fantastic photos – was that First Choice 757 (G-OOBJ, IMG-7080A) going out on Saturday morning? If it was then I was on it – it was supposed to be the Nouvelair A321 but FC did the run to Djerba instead. Came back on Nouvelair – not something to be recommended other than getting a cool ‘TS’ reg in the book.

Messerschmitt Bf 109
Yugoslav 109s definitely fought Luftwaffe 109s in April 41. At the end of the war Yugoslav-flown 109s and defecting Croatians may also have flown against Luftwaffe 109s. Bulgaria and Romania might also have used their 109s against the Germans after they switched sides, but unlikely. Swiss 109s certainly shot down some German aircraft, but I don’t think they encountered Luftwaffe 109s.

The Finns certainly used Ju 88s in Lapland war, and the Germans still had Ju 88s in Norway at the same time….