What other aircraft do you think the BBMF should be able to operate?

They may have missed a trick there then - they were worth the wait. The RAAF used F-111s for over 40 years. Fantastic aircraft. Full vertical with afterburner at night was truely something to behold!

I got to "cab" one when i was a youngster. There are quite a few on display around the country, but never to fly again.

 

Only RAAF one I saw was at the USAF 50th Anniversary event at Nellis, NV, back in 1997..........



Never saw (or heard) any of them when I was near Amberley in Queensland!

For anyone who thinks a Lincoln should be added, the Argentinians still have a couple. This one is seen at the museum at Moron, outside Buenos Aires, 9 years ago......

 

Prehaps we can offer a deal to them, we have a few captured ground attack aircraft of theirs, in a few of our museums, exchange these for a Lincoln .

 

Of course, the main advantage of sticking with WW2 (or earlier) period warbirds, is that they have no official fatigue life - you can just keep on rebuilding them as long as you use like-for-like materials and methods. Unfortunately I believe the BBMF Chipmunks will eventually fall foul of this as they are late enough to have fatigue life limits.

Perhaps what the BBMF needs is a two seater Spitfire (or Hurricane!) for tail dragger conversion once the Chipmunks are no more. (Yes, I know they could use a Harvard, but a two seater Spit is more in the spirit of the BBMF.)

 

I would defiantly say yes to a Harvard , I suppose the BBMF send pilots on one of the TR9's schools for conversion when a new pilot needs to progress from the chipmunk to either the Hurricane or Spitfire ?

 

My understanding was that they use the Chipmunk to train on tail draggers, then pilots go solo in the Spitfires or Hurricanes.

 

Maybe not an impossibility to see one eventually - even if it isn't part of the BBMF: http://www.peoplesmosquito.org.uk/

 

I've just been reading through this thread. There have been some interesting remarks/suggestion. As ever the spectra of cost cutting was raised with regards to funding, at one point a number of years ago the funding for the Fleet Air Arm historic flight was to be cut. The Navy responded with the reply; "OK then cut the funding to the BBMF too....." Needless to say they kept their funding. I got to thinking, ok then combine all three services Historic flights, with hopefully being able to reduce the overall costs of the three flights. As has been stated/hinted at the armed forces aren't here to preserve the past, rather defend the country. Though they should to a minor degree preserve their history.

 

Nicely done single engine divert landing executed in the BBMF Dakota at Manchester Airport over the weekend.