'Things we don't see any more'

[LN Strike Eagle]

Started this little series over on my Instagram account, figured I might as well share them here too. Stuff that, not even that long ago, we'd take for granted and is now gone completely, hasn't flown for years or are just very hard to come by these days.

Some dubious quality on some of these. Seems my limited talents are even more limited than I recall.

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[Ryan.]

I hate to be one of those, things were better in the past, people but with airshows? The Sea Hawk is such a perfect little jet, saw a lot of it but never appreciated just how rare the aircraft was. A lot of very charismatic military hardware has gone too.

It's odd how something that could headline any airshow now, was taken for granted not so many years ago. Hopefully the Skyraider will rejoin the circuit sooner rather than later, it's certainly an aircraft I've missed.

Great set of photos and a nice idea for a thread.

[Dan O'Hagan]

Still miss the Jaguars, and Coltishall itself.

[aceyone]

Very much enjoyed that trip to the past !

[MiG_Eater]

Lovely photos but... the B-1 at the end... something I don't know?

[King Cobra]

Cracking selection.

[parsley]

Lovely photos but... the B-1 at the end... something I don't know?

The B1 fleet is in somewhat of a state...they've basically worn them out....at a Senate hearing at the end of July it was stated that out of a current fleet of 61aircraft only 6 were mission capable and significant airframe issues were being found in depot maintenance which may make not all aircraft financially viable to repair.

It's been proposed that instead of repairing the worst affected aircraft the funds be diverted to bringing forward introduction of the B21 and other projects such as B52 re-engining.

“The story of the B-1 is that we designed an aircraft to fly low altitude, high-speed, supersonic to penetrate enemy defences and take out targets,” says David Goldfein, chief of the staff of the USAF.
"For the last 18 years, we've flown it at medium altitude, very slow, wings forward. We flew the B-1 in the least optimal configuration for all these years. And, the result of that is we put stresses on the aircraft that we did not anticipate. When it goes into depot we're seeing significant structural issues with the B-1.
The discussion we're having is there are some number of B-1s that would be so cost prohibitive to be able to get back to a code one status and that we should retire those,” says Goldfein. “Then, flow that money into doing some key things within the bomber portfolio.”

[King Cobra]

Thanks for an enjoyable stroll down memory lane.

[HeyfordDave111]

werent there 2 or 3 B1's doing Baltic stuff a couple of weeks back?

if true then thats 1/3 of their B1 total force, and i cannot believe that for a minute.

[Ant.H]

Some much-missed hardware, thanks for sharing these.

Just in case anyone gets the idea that the SeaHawk and SeaFury are somehow gone for good, they are in fact still on the books of Fly Navy Heritage Trust. The Fury has been hangar-bound at Yeovilton for several years and IIRC the SeaHawk is in storage at Shawbury. Fingers crossed they return to airworthiness sometime soon...

[Blackbird]

I hope it's OK to add a few. Some of these disappeared longer ago than others!
1. Photo03_28 by Andrew Shaw, on Flickr

2. IMG_0840-1 by Andrew Shaw, on Flickr

3. 108_0805 by Andrew Shaw, on Flickr

4. 2001 F117 Photo24_4A-1 by Andrew Shaw, on Flickr

5. 2003 F117 Img_0382 by Andrew Shaw, on Flickr

6. 77 F111 Photo13_4-2 by Andrew Shaw, on Flickr

7. 98 Connie frame02 (5) by Andrew Shaw, on Flickr

8. Photo08_35 by Andrew Shaw, on Flickr

Andy

[capercaillie]

That first Seahawk picture is stunning Dan, utterly gorgeous lighting.