Tonka F3 - The flying flick knife

[Jonesy]

Its a quiet Saturday so I've been trawling my photobucket account and decided to show my F3 shots. I've been fortunate to get some nice ones in the past few years and I can't see myself getting anymore before 111Sqn retire. So here they are.





























Feel free to add your own.

Cheers,
Neil.

[jaguarfarewellday]

great post thanks love them all.

[exocet_uk]

Very nice. It somewhat saddens me to look through my archives and have a scandalous lack of F3 shots. Bad times, here are some of the few...

[StevenH]

I'm sure I can find a few somewhere... Nice shots Neil and Michael also.

[exocet_uk]

A couple more to hand...

[eng3]

Superb, thanks for sharing

[Neilf92]

[StevenH]

Sorted out a 'few' of mine. All over discs and HDDs but managed to pick these out...

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


#6


#7


#8


#9


#10


#11


#12


#13


#14


#15


#16


#17


#18


#19


#20


#21

[LN Strike Eagle]

[Burleysway]

Bad Ass photos of a Bad Ass machine

[APG]

Small and carp quality but different from the norm, blasting the hell out of Pembrokeshire

[markjayne]

Great shots

[Flyingmonster]

They are all stunning shots!! I love all of them!!
What an aircraft!! I will be sad to see it go!

Jamie

[Chris Procter]

Some really top shots in this thread guys
add a few of mine

2

3

4

5

6

7

8
Scrap

9
I must be mad

10

11

12

cheers
Chris

[TheDuck]

Great shots, of what I think is one of the prettiest fighter aircraft ever made.

[itfcscott]

Great shots every single one

[PhilEAF92]

Well why not jump on the bandwagon

[Hellfire]

Just the one

[MP 2484]

Some excellent shots of a great aeroplane will be very sad when they finally go. Thought i'd add a few of my shots aswell.

Biggin Hill 2008




Leuchers














Regards
Mike

[Skyflash]

Brilliant thread. I remember being properly gutted when the F3s first arrived at Leuchars to replace my beloved Phantoms - it seems strange to be contemplating their retirement now, and how much I'm going to miss them in turn (although the Typhoon is a wonderful replacement, it must be said, even from an enthusiast's perspective...)

A few of the shots I have kicking around:





















All hail the mighty Tonka!

[CH2]

[aceyone]

Thanks everone for posting pics of what I consider to be the best looking aircraft ever built,sure going to miss ! ps Chris ,that 2nd ( smaller photo ) would I be correct in saying that was Fred Grundys old ship from the eighties ?

[CH2]

Thanks everone for posting pics of what I consider to be the best looking aircraft ever built,sure going to miss ! ps Chris ,that 2nd ( smaller photo ) would I be correct in saying that was Fred Grundys old ship from the eighties ?

I don't know who the crew were, but that was taken at Finningley in 1988 in the old 2290CU/65Squdron. Seems like only yesterday though! I think the Firebirds ship is 92 or 93.

I think you're right about the F3 when it came to looks, but I certainly remember as a teenager being slightly disappointed with the display, I think I was expecting the Lightning replacement to match its performance. I wonder if there are some who are kicking themselves in the MOD perhaps thinking (with hindsight) was the F3 a complete waste of time and perhaps our F4's(which I have read to understand with a MLU) could have soldered on until Typhoon turned up.

[aceyone]

Just checked my diary and find that Fred was displaying in 1990 so unlikely .Your right about the F3 though , great looker but did it ever fire a shot in anger ? I suppose the F4 could have carried on but that's politics more than anything ! I don't think anything flying could turn your head like a Lightning , last time I saw one display was Biggin ,cant remember the year but I was on the road at the 03 end and it came hard and fast and low and as it reached the road he lit the fire and went vertical more or less above my head, I swear I can feel the power even to this day,happy memories ps Stunning shots,cheers ,Andy

[Lossie15]