The Jet Provost that nobody likes!

[TJJ]

Will people get used to it? Time will tell. If they had remained in RAF service they may well have ended up black like the Tucanos anyway.

[lynothehammer]

I quite like it, nice set...

[LN Strike Eagle]

Prefer the old paint. Nice shots regardless.

[capercaillie]

Will people get used to it? Time will tell. If they had remained in RAF service they may well have ended up black like the Tucanos anyway.

But they didn't so that's irrelevant and this one never served with the RAF so doubly irrelevant.

[MiG_Eater]

I really don't understand the hatred of this scheme... I think it looks quite smart!

[Unknown74]

Cool and Smart, I like it.

[Blackbird]

Sorry, but no images visible.

Andy

[speedbird2639]

I can see the images fine on Google Chrome so presumably its a browser/ system settings issue - are you trying to view them at work as some works browsers are screwed down so tightly for security reasons images don't display.

[MachJump]

Towards the end of the service life of the JP, at least one was painted black, for conspicuity trials, and at least one (XW333) has been accepted by the CAA to fly in the black/RAF scheme, without it's registration, on that basis.

[Wyvernfan]

Who cares what colour scheme it is? It looks pretty damn cool and it’s still flying - that’s good enough for me!
Those moaning are probably the same ones who complained about the Sea Vixen or P-38 flying in Red Bull colours.

Nice pics by the way.

[capercaillie]

Towards the end of the service life of the JP, at least one was painted black, for conspicuity trials, and at least one (XW333) has been accepted by the CAA to fly in the black/RAF scheme, without it's registration, on that basis.

Really? Got to be honest it passed me by if it did. The last JPs were retired at the end of 1993 with 6FTS and the black scheme hadn't really been adopted by then, only the display pair of Hawks in 1992 I can ever recall wearing black up to that point.

Any clues as to which unit had the black JP?

And Wyvernfan, yep the Vixen and P-38 looked absolutely naff as well. There you go.

[Binbrook 01]

None of the RAF JPs ever flew in the Black scheme in service.

XW333 was painted as such because somebody asked for that scheme after it was retired from RAF service.

[Wyvernfan]

And Wyvernfan, yep the Vixen and P-38 looked absolutely naff as well. There you go.

Capercaillie - Should’ve gone to Specsavers

[capercaillie]

And Wyvernfan, yep the Vixen and P-38 looked absolutely naff as well. There you go.

Capercaillie - Should’ve gone to Specsavers

I need an opticians to tell me a classic 1950s fighter flying around pretending to be a giant energy drink can isn't naff????? OK.

[Ant.H]

I have to say I've mellowed in recent years, I used to be an absolute fascist for authenticity and any kind of sponsorship titling/paintjob used to bother me.

These days I realise how lucky we are to see any kind of classic jet airborne, the money has to come from somewhere and if that means sponsorship then so be it. The Red Bull scheme on the SeaVix was pretty garish, but you have to wonder if her repairs would have been carried out if RB were still involved. No criticism of FNHT, it's just that organisations like RB have the big bucks.

Operating a classic jet as a private individual can't be a very attractive proposition in many ways. The airframes and many of the components have finite lives, and the more you fly the more life you use up. Effectively they devalue while they are airborne. From my understanding of the situation, it's very easy to spend an awful lot of money operating something that at the end of your ownership is worth less than what you bought it for.

[capercaillie]

I don't know if Red Bull would have had the enthusiasm to pour in the money for a repair like the Vixen currently requires. The P-38 yes, its a more valuable aircraft in airworthy condition. But a Sea Vixen, I think it would have been turfed out or offered for sale as is to be honest. No takers, scrap.

They do offer great opportunities, take the Sycamore as an example, it looks the part even if the airframe involved isn't accurate to the scheme its wearing. The Sea Vixen could have been more sympathetically schemed like the Sycamore or the Corsair, but hey its what it was, still naff though.

I think in the current climate even without Covid, the events of a few years ago, have hit the classic jet display scene much harder. As you say must be a nightmare now.

Then again when you see the Swedish Flight, the Swiss Mirage, the potential of F-104s, something's right in Europe.

[Unknown74]

Don't see anything wrong with that scheme on the JP just shows how they would have looked if they had still been in RAF service.

[CJS]

Well I like it

[capercaillie]

Don't see anything wrong with that scheme on the JP just shows how they would have looked if they had still been in RAF service.

So on that basis if we paint everything that's historic in either overall black or overall grey, its Ok because that's how they'd have looked now had they still been in service. That works well.

How she looked when initially retired, they had even bothered to paint the replacement rudder back in red to match the rest of the fin, so she looked right. (Apologies hijacking your thread TJJ)
Jet Provost T5 XS230 ex ETPS Boscombe Down by Paul Downes, on Flickr

[vulcanshammer]

I know which scheme I prefer... but at least she is being kept in good nick.

[TJJ]

I retired from North Weald Ops over fourteen months ago, so find it quite amusing that this thread has recently gained a lot more comments and views than it did when I first posted the pictures in 2018!