HS125/Dominie question

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iainpeden
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HS125/Dominie question

Post by iainpeden »

About 13 or 14 years ago I was on holiday with my wife and daughter at the PortAventura theme park just outside Salou. We had flown into Reus airport.
One day, leaving the 2 of them by the pool, I decided a walk into town was needed.

On the way back to the hotel I saw a small jet doing circuits over the town - seemingly centred on the airport. I am 99% certain it was an HS125 or Dominie and it was painted in the red/white/blue scheme used at Boscombe Down; however no RAF roundels were visible. The curious thing was it had a very bulbous nose - as if it was testing radar from another aircraft.

I never managed to identify it and wonder if the collective knowledge here might be able to help.
(Mark Twain: There are lies, there are damn lies and then there are statistics)

ArabJazzie
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Re: HS125/Dominie question

Post by ArabJazzie »

Iain,
I instantly thought of ZF130 but a quick google didnt bring up a ripple scheme. I do though wonder if it was a 1-11 you saw as i think one of them trialed a radar. If it was on foreign soil as part of a test schedule, the roundels may have been removed.
Arabest,
Geoff.
EDIT XW930 was a RAE Bedford machine with a radar nose!
52 in a year! We must be certifiable!

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iainpeden
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Re: HS125/Dominie question

Post by iainpeden »

Thanks Geoff.
XW630 certainly appears to fit what I saw. I wonder what it was doing at Reus - maybe something to do with the Spanish Typhoon project.
(Mark Twain: There are lies, there are damn lies and then there are statistics)

ArabJazzie
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Re: HS125/Dominie question

Post by ArabJazzie »

iainpeden wrote:Thanks Geoff.
XW630 certainly appears to fit what I saw. I wonder what it was doing at Reus - maybe something to do with the Spanish Typhoon project.

Iain,
A bit more digging and it looks like XW930 was scrapped around 1997.

Reason i mentioned the 1-11s is ZE433 was the Typhoon radar development aircraft in its later days and may have had good reason to be at Reus. Im sure others will be along with better knowledge than i.
Arabest,
Geoff.
52 in a year! We must be certifiable!

Marathon Milkshake
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Re: HS125/Dominie question

Post by Marathon Milkshake »

Isnt there a civvy job stashed at Warton that fits? perhaps I'm thinking of G-BWWW?
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iainpeden
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Re: HS125/Dominie question

Post by iainpeden »

Hmm - my sighting was about 2003/2004 (going on how old my daughter was at the time). I get the theory on the 1-11 but got a lot of views of the a/c over about a 20 minute walk so pretty sure it was of the HS125 family. I'll keep digging.
(Mark Twain: There are lies, there are damn lies and then there are statistics)

Stagger2
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Re: HS125/Dominie question

Post by Stagger2 »

Not wishing to cast further doubt on your recognition skills, but how about a Falcon 20 or similar?
There have been many varieties of these flying from relatively nearby Cazaux in the past? I've see different coloured versions with a variety of additions flying out of there.
Just throwing it open as a possibility? :dunno:

ArabJazzie
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Re: HS125/Dominie question

Post by ArabJazzie »

Stagger2 wrote:Not wishing to cast further doubt on your recognition skills, but how about a Falcon 20 or similar?
There have been many varieties of these flying from relatively nearby Cazaux in the past? I've see different coloured versions with a variety of additions flying out of there.
Just throwing it open as a possibility? :dunno:


As its something thats piqued my interest, just googled that and came up with Mirage 2000 nosed Falcon 20C No131 photographed in 2005 which i think was used to train pilots to use the M2000 radar. As an aside, the Rafale testbed was a Fokker 100 which is less likely to be what the OP is looking for.
Arabest,
Geoff.
52 in a year! We must be certifiable!

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iainpeden
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Re: HS125/Dominie question

Post by iainpeden »

ArabJazzie wrote:
Stagger2 wrote:Not wishing to cast further doubt on your recognition skills, but how about a Falcon 20 or similar?
There have been many varieties of these flying from relatively nearby Cazaux in the past? I've see different coloured versions with a variety of additions flying out of there.
Just throwing it open as a possibility? :dunno:


As its something thats piqued my interest, just googled that and came up with Mirage 2000 nosed Falcon 20C No131 photographed in 2005 which i think was used to train pilots to use the M2000 radar. As an aside, the Rafale testbed was a Fokker 100 which is less likely to be what the OP is looking for.
Arabest,
Geoff.

Hmm - looks a bit pointy but I am taking the old grey matter back to the start of the century. Thanks for the help I'll just have to keep guessing I think.
Iain
(Mark Twain: There are lies, there are damn lies and then there are statistics)

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