4 February 2006

Last Canberra Bombers to be decommissioned in July.

| johnboy
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The Times is reporting that the RAF is phasing out the last of its Canberra bombers this July.

The three remaining Canberra PR9s are equipped with the same cameras that are fitted to American U2 spy aircraft, and have been used in most recent conflicts.

Perhaps Mr. Stanhope should put a bid in for them. Can’t have a foreign policy without an air force.

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midnitecalla4:08 pm 06 Feb 06

true they already have one Swaggie but if any body can keep em alive they would be the ones i beleive.

also photo recce airframes can differ so one of each i say and rotate them one on static one in the air.

thanks for the info Bonfire i knew the Blackheart / Knight programmes were wound up.

but didnt know that NASA had gotten control and were still using the licence built versions.

they still using a SR 71 as well i think its the only one still in service. attached a scramjet to the hull for high altitude stratospheric flying.

closest we have come to impulse drive yet.(if mael can quote Starship troopers i can quote Star Trek)

I’m still waiting for the Russians to invent interspatial bombing, and render the entire concept obsolete.

The reason the Russians would be the people to invent it, is because due to the calculative risk that a piece of space junk could fall on Russia instead of the target, they are the madmen of the world that would consider it a necessary sacrifice and a legitimate error and throw another.

And yes, I did get the idea from Starship Troopers.

nasa still use the martin built canberra.

vulcan was an outstanding design, remember it managed to reach the falklands.

many airframe designs are still sound, its the avionics and airframe life that have rendered them obsolete.

its unlikely that long range bombers will be designed again, except in niche and highly expensive numbers.

unmanned delivery systems are already being tested, some have been used in anger.

Temora already have a Canberra so while I’m sure they’d like one for spares I doubt they’d be interested in flying 2 Canberras.

midnitecalla4:00 pm 05 Feb 06

also the canberra was used by the USAF/ SAC as the black knight in the same roles and was the forerunner to the SR71 black bird. from 55 – 65 i think. to have them still in active service is a blast. and tells how far sighted the designers were.

midnitecalla3:30 pm 05 Feb 06

no i havent actually , thanks for the heads up, Thumper. much appriciated. also Albatross at nowra is a great place as well.

up here at Newcastle (williamstown) there is the the national military jet museum and they have a couple of F86 super sabres from the Aust fron lines. still flying still fighting ! lol but the temora blokes take the flag when it comes to flying jets and they really do care about them.

As for the Vulcans,my dad served as navigator on them and when they came on a demo patrol to the ACT in the 60″S dad was taken by the cleanliness and fresh ness of the place so when he demobbed in 69 we emigrated here.

there is three in ops still but only for txiing purposes only at the airshows. But one is being restored to flying condition to raise awareness of theat era, just like the lancaster in RAF royal flight BOB sqn. because of the family connection i really would like to see them fly again. the reason they taxii only is that they are still on the world books as a potential long range bomber still capable of doing what they were designed to do and still at modern speeds.

so the vulcan trust had to get some mighty strings pulled just to even get thiers into the maintenance hangar!

i subscribe to the trust from here and they have a boys town type of raffle . not too exey but just to see one still flying is enough for me.

just think those canberras, would be just worth 10 grand in scrap metals if that but flying worth ten times as much.

want to see them flying. also aircraft construction is in the blood having my granddad working initially as a rigger at avro on tiger moths then at dehavilland on the mosquito and vaampires/ nimrods- comets. then back to avro on the Vulcans . Gdad retired whilst on the Concorde sst prototype. like the Comets the Concorde suffered a similar fate.

the comets failed via fuselage breach, concorde failed failed via failure after debris on tarmac

the correllation is one faliure each on a capable aircraft , spelled doom to those who were shortsighted not to see past it.

however the RAF did with the comet / nimrod class and the Nimrods were retired this year also in the same roles for the RAF ( photo recce) as the canberras for RAAF but still essentially the same fuselages as the passenger comet. with no losses apparently.

I’m amazed they’ve been flying these things up until now. I thought they were a product of the 60’s – or earlier. Maybe I’m thinking of the Vulcan. Whatever. Best place for one of them – inside the AWM (if there’s room).

midnitecalla5:55 pm 04 Feb 06

what a waste! sorrry Thumper but id rather them be sent to temora for restoration and air shows.

Those guys will keep em flying and its a pleasing sight to see em flying not turning in to a pigeon poop shrine. wanna see g for george fly again as well but im living in hope there.

its easier to turn them over in an air worthy state and the costs would be lower than to restore a tarmac paperweight.and i bet the air crews would rather that happen than one stuck on a pole out side some over stuffed pollies residence.

a lot of our avation heritage has been allowed to rot as this type of decoration and the one near my Newcastle digs at raymond terrace has been allowed to deteriorate to the extent that the belly plate is rusting badly. not good for a 2 tonne airframe suspended on a pole next to a sixties kiddies play ground, which by the way HAS been maintained and upgraded.

As for a static display in a park that has been tried be for but some dimwit will let his kids clamber all over it or some vandal would use it as a graffito canvas and possibly like in the AWM case the Govt could be sued if some one were to injure themselves. This is what happened to the Aust War Mem when some kid in the early eighties fell off the Centurion Tank and half brained himself. dear old dad sued and those vehicles were put in to storage and to my knowledge are still the to this day.up until then kids were able to climb on and look and touch to thier hearts content.

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