Heads up for the UK members

a reply to: Silentvulcan

They shut it off when they're away from other aircraft, like in the middle of the Atlantic, then turn it back on when they get near busier or controlled airspace.

I’ve seen a similar process with our RR’s...they disappear every now and again...😉a reply to: Zaphod58

a reply to: Silentvulcan
I think it goes outside of receivers on the ground and that's why it's patchy. Zaph explained it to me when I spotted it off Portsmouth going from 70k to 0 in seconds and back up to altitude

a reply to: Woody510

Yep, there's that too. They're doing better at getting receivers into the ocean, and using satellite, but they aren't there yet. They're actually mounting them on buoys to increase their reception.

I'm travelling to see family in the west country tomorrow and I'm going to stop off somewhere at Fairford to see if I can get a few shots of some 52s taking off. It's gonna be hit or miss and I'm not too sure where to park up so just going to see if I can get lucky

Part of an American bomber plane fell off and landed in a garden after it took off from a British RAF base. The B-52 bomber was on a routine training mission from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire on Wednesday when the wing-tip gear door fell from the plane over Warwickshire. Military personnel retrieved the part and the US Air Force confirmed a safety investigation was being carried out

found Via the BBC

The "keys" to the first UK P-8 were handed over at a ceremony at the Museum of Flight today. The aircraft was pulled into the parking lot for the ceremony. Next it goes to NAS Jacksonville for formal handover, before heading to Lossiemouth in February.

Neat, I wish they painted the words 'royal Air Force' on the side like our Rivet Joints have on them. Lossie is a bit far to travel for me just to get a picture of it but next year I'm trying to plan a road trip around Scotland and was thinking of making a visit to Lossie. I wonder if we will see the P-8 (on static) at any airshows next year

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

Maybe late in the year, but I'd say probably 2021 for an airshow is more likely.

The first P-8A was flown to NAS Jacksonville for the formal handover to the RAF the 30th. It's scheduled to arrive at Lossiemouth February 20.

The Pride of Moray is over Maine, enroute to the UK.

Lossie is a long long way from me to be taking a flying visit. It would take me longer to get there than the actual flight. Anything on the horizon (bomber deployments) for Fairford anytime soon, or can you hesitate a guess of when a deployment might happen ?

She landed at Kinloss. She'll operate out of there until Lossiemouth repaving is done. She came in with Typhoon escort.

I noticed something that right now the aircraft only has a refuelling receptor for a boom operated tanker. Is the RAF p-8 eventually going to be fitted with a refuelling probe

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

I haven't heard any plans to. If they need refueling they'll rely on US tankers.

Could we retrofit the boom to the Voyager tankers we have ? I think only the Voyager KC3's have the centre line probe and drogue kit KC2's ony have the wing pods . Will we also suffer the same shortcoming for refuelling the Wedgetails when we start getting them come on-line ?

a reply to: yittak

No reason I can see that they couldn't be refitted with a boom. The RAAF KC-30 is an A330MRTT with a boom. As for the drogues, the KC-10 and KC-46 both have a boon and permanently installed centerline drogues.

The P-8 and E-7 could also be refitted with probes during their heavy maintenance when the time comes. Honestly though, the P-8A in US service doesn't see a lor of refueling on missions. They entered service in November 2013, and didn't make contact with a boom until April 2017, and didn't refuel on a mission until October 2018. It's a useful capability to have, but between the Bloody Hundredth and the TDY units there's plenty of tanker capability in the UK.

City of Elgin, ZP802, arrived at NAS Jacksonville today and is now under RAF control.

They haven’t even decided where they are going to build the RAF E7’s yet so they could include a probe in the build stage...a reply to: Zaphod58

a reply to: Silentvulcan

They could, but doing so will increase cost and push delivery back. They'll have to certify it with the probe, where if they add it later, they can take delivery as soon as they're built.