Discussion
pablo said:
They're celebrating 70 years of USAF in 2017 so I'm really hoping they roll out some of the good stuff next year...
70th Anniversary.........thats scary.......as I went over for the big USAF 50th Anniversary Airshow at Nellis AFB 
And yes, the Thunderbird display is a good excuse to spend an hour walking around the static
k sake, you beat me to the punch. I was just about to set up a RIAT 2017 participation thread hahaukaskew said:
What other USAF stuff could they realistically get over for a display or static? I presume as it's the theme they'll want to combine something American for the now traditional fly past.
In theory they could muster quite a display, depends on global politics and if Trump has started willy waving by then... He could be the best thing to happen for UK air shows since The Cold War.....At a guess the grey pointy things like F15, 16, 22 and 35 should be easy enough, an A10 and a T53 (Talon?) would be nice to see. F117A would be awesome and I'll have an F111 too please...
Bigger stuff like C5, C17, E3, KC135 et al would also be easy
A6 would be nice too
B52 and B2 may well already be here if Trumps foreign policy is anything like we fear, that leaves a B1 for the full set.
U2 or SR72 would be my dream come true but as far as the U2 goes, winning the lottery has better odds.. So the port entail from the current fleet is good, Current stuff is fairly generic but still interesting to most.
No idea if they have stuff like F86, Harriers or F5s still flying, they are P51/P38s already in Europe etc etc. Isn't there a B29 flying?
In theory I guess it depends whats already in Europe, what has the range or the mid air refuelling capabilities.
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 11th December 20:32
pablo said:
At a guess the grey pointy things like F15, 16, 22 and 35 should be easy enough, an A10 and a T53 (Talon?) would be nice to see. F117A would be awesome and I'll have an F111 too please...
You're a decade too late to see a F117, as they were retired in 2008, and 2 decades too late for a F111 as they were retired 20 years ago!!pablo said:
U2 or SR72 would be my dream come true but as far as the U2 goes, winning the lottery has better odds.. So the port entail from the current fleet is good, Current stuff is fairly generic but still interesting to most.
U2/TR-1......if you are really lucky they might do, as they still do dets at Fairford for them once in a while.I guess you mean a SR-71 though......and again you're 20 years too late for that.
In fact the USAF 50th Anniversary Airshow at Nellis AFB in Nevada that I went to in 1997 had one of the very last public displays of the SR-71
aeropilot said:
pablo said:
At a guess the grey pointy things like F15, 16, 22 and 35 should be easy enough, an A10 and a T53 (Talon?) would be nice to see. F117A would be awesome and I'll have an F111 too please...
You're a decade too late to see a F117, as they were retired in 2008, and 2 decades too late for a F111 as they were retired 20 years ago!!pablo said:
U2 or SR72 would be my dream come true but as far as the U2 goes, winning the lottery has better odds.. So the port entail from the current fleet is good, Current stuff is fairly generic but still interesting to most.
U2/TR-1......if you are really lucky they might do, as they still do dets at Fairford for them once in a while.I guess you mean a SR-71 though......and again you're 20 years too late for that.
In fact the USAF 50th Anniversary Airshow at Nellis AFB in Nevada that I went to in 1997 had one of the very last public displays of the SR-71
aeropilot said:
pablo said:
At a guess the grey pointy things like F15, 16, 22 and 35 should be easy enough, an A10 and a T53 (Talon?) would be nice to see. F117A would be awesome and I'll have an F111 too please...
You're a decade too late to see a F117, as they were retired in 2008, and 2 decades too late for a F111 as they were retired 20 years ago!!pablo said:
U2 or SR72 would be my dream come true but as far as the U2 goes, winning the lottery has better odds.. So the port entail from the current fleet is good, Current stuff is fairly generic but still interesting to most.
U2/TR-1......if you are really lucky they might do, as they still do dets at Fairford for them once in a while.I guess you mean a SR-71 though......and again you're 20 years too late for that.
In fact the USAF 50th Anniversary Airshow at Nellis AFB in Nevada that I went to in 1997 had one of the very last public displays of the SR-71
We used to watch the F111s leave Filton in the late 80s and early 90s after rolls Royce had completed the engines.
They're leave early evening and they became quite a spectacle.
aeropilot said:
You're a decade too late to see a F117, as they were retired in 2008, and 2 decades too late for a F111 as they were retired 20 years ago!!
I *think* he was joking about the last two! Although retired, F117s were still flying at least up until last summer as part of their 'readiness' status, although an airshow display might be a bit beyond them ukaskew said:
aeropilot said:
You're a decade too late to see a F117, as they were retired in 2008, and 2 decades too late for a F111 as they were retired 20 years ago!!
I *think* he was joking about the last two! Although retired, F117s were still flying at least up until last summer as part of their 'readiness' status, although an airshow display might be a bit beyond them pablo said:
I know I included some examples of retired aircraft but are there really no flight worthy variants left our are they all stripped and sat in the Nevada deserts!
We used to watch the F111s leave Filton in the late 80s and early 90s after rolls Royce had completed the engines.
Not only not flight worthy examples of the F-111, the retired fleet is no longer in the Arizona (not Nevada) desert as they've all been scrapped during the past 20 years! There's a few in museums, but that's it.We used to watch the F111s leave Filton in the late 80s and early 90s after rolls Royce had completed the engines.
Are you sure it was F-111's you saw at Fliton...as the F-111 didn't have Rolls Royce engines...????
aeropilot said:
Not only not flight worthy examples of the F-111, the retired fleet is no longer in the Arizona (not Nevada) desert as they've all been scrapped during the past 20 years! There's a few in museums, but that's it.
Are you sure it was F-111's you saw at Fliton...as the F-111 didn't have Rolls Royce engines...????
Well I thought they were in Filton for engine work at rolls Royce across the road but it appears, according to Google, they were in Filton for wing maintenance and they utilised a cold soak facility built specifically for the F111 which kind of makes sense given Filton was at the time building wings for most of the Airbus fleet.Are you sure it was F-111's you saw at Fliton...as the F-111 didn't have Rolls Royce engines...????
I'm only half surprised that there address no official flying examples of the f111 or f117 left, it's a shame but cost argument probably isn't that strong.
Eric Mc said:
Absolutely.
The F-111 is "All American" and as far as I am aware, UK industry had little or no involvement in the aircraft.
A few people who worked at Vickers in the early 60s might start mumbling about Barnes Wallis and VG wing design at this point.The F-111 is "All American" and as far as I am aware, UK industry had little or no involvement in the aircraft.
Anyway, what are the chances of getting the Iranians to send over a few F14s?
pablo said:
I'm only half surprised that there address no official flying examples of the f111 or f117 left, it's a shame but cost argument probably isn't that strong.
The Aussie's only retired their fleet of 'Pigs' in 2010, but none were retained in an airworthy state. They were VERY expensive things to fly and maintain, so keeping one or two airworthy would be a huge technical as well as financial undertaking.
Have to say, one the aircraft on my 'most missed seeing' list.
The yanks didn't know how to display fly them though compared to the Aussie's - the RAAF F-111 infamous 'dump n burn' displays were just brilliant
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