The longest running owner in the UK must be Qinetiq and its previous incarnations, and Harvard KF183, but I don’t suppose that counts…

That figures with June 2005’s Aeroplane which lists the aircraft as being with the OS&RC at Masterton

XV208 did leave Boscombe yesterday morning having been brought out of storage earlier this year having not flown for several years. I believe it had clearance for the single ferry flight to Marshalls. I was certainly lead to believe the aircraft was on its way to the RNLAF as a normal Herc, and news of it being used to replace XV179 is news to me, but may be true. But we certainly won’t be seeing Snoopy again…

Anyone been to Bardney ? is there anything left there?
Neil.

Most of the main infrastucture is. The hangars are still there, as is the tower, the lower floor of which is used as a clubhouse for the model flying club. The runways are covered by sheds, and much of the peri track is gone…

Yippee! Just over a week to go!!! 🙂

Old Warden – as many as possible
Duxford – May show and Legends, time permitting
Hopefully get to a few of the more northern shows this year…

Charlie

It might just be a single engined (radial) fighter from the US…

A constant confusion is the UK MOD habit of established strength versus actual strength. A case in point is the E-3D Sentry fleet. There are 7 of these aircraft, owned by the RAF Waddington Engineering Wing and flown by No 8 and 23 squadrons yet you will see time and time again references in enthusiast mags to there only being 6. This is because there is an ESTABLISHED strength of 6, this means that the allocation of aircrew, servicing equipment etc is calculated at a certain rate per aircraft times the established strength of 6, yet all 7 are flown and operated.

With the Sentry’s I believe at most points one of the aircraft is in deep servicing at Marshalls or Waddo…

As for the Tiffies, I expect we will only see the two bases – even if it means 3 Sqns at each. I believe the projected service length is around 40 years, so the figure of 232 is entirely reasonable. I expect to see a lot in storage at Shawbury and the like (and the Warton production line to carry on for a long time). I expect once the operation is completely transferred to Coningsby we may see an aircraft or two in the fleet ar Boscombe in a couple of years…