Duxford Highlights 21.06.2025

[WB124]

Commemorative Air Force - N151ZE - Douglas R4D-6S Skytrain by William Boyle, on Flickr

Heli Czech - OK-AHC - Bell TAH-1P Cobra by William Boyle, on Flickr

RAF - ZK559 - Boeing Chinook HC.6 by William Boyle, on Flickr

Army Air Corps - ZZ390 - AgustaWestland AW-159 Wildcat AH1 by William Boyle, on Flickr

Army Air Corps - ZM741 - Boeing Apache AH-64E by William Boyle, on Flickr

RAF - ZK311 - Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon FGR4 by William Boyle, on Flickr

[F3]

Nice set. Particularly liking the Wildcat + Typhoon. How long has the Typhoon force been using numbers instead of tail letters?

[Supra]

This extract below is Courtesy of a KEY.AERO article dated 27th April 2017 giving an indication it ain't a new thing!
FYI. I copy/pasted your question into Google & this is the first result in 5 seconds!
In fact, this change is so old that some Unit markings are re-emerging!

The Royal Air Force Typhoon fleet recently started to adopt a new tail code system. The new codes consist of the last three digits of the serial in white on the tail, instead of squadron-related letter codes. The first Typhoons were seen wearing the new codes in February, and by late March about a dozen had been recoded. Recently, many aircraft were swapped between squadrons or stripped of their unit markings, due to international operations. The new system allows the Typhoons to retain their own, unique codes regardless of the squadron they are assigned to; in a similar way, the RAF Tornado GR4 fleet was recoded.

[XWP29]

Last one is very nice with a little vapour too, thanks for posting

[WB124]

Nice set. Particularly liking the Wildcat + Typhoon. How long has the Typhoon force been using numbers instead of tail letters?

Thank You, Im unsure to be honest i've always known to it been Tail Numbers

[WB124]

Last one is very nice with a little vapour too, thanks for posting

Why Thank You, And No Problem

[WB124]

This extract below is Courtesy of a KEY.AERO article dated 27th April 2017 giving an indication it ain't a new thing!
FYI. I copy/pasted your question into Google & this is the first result in 5 seconds!
In fact, this change is so old that some Unit markings are re-emerging!

The Royal Air Force Typhoon fleet recently started to adopt a new tail code system. The new codes consist of the last three digits of the serial in white on the tail, instead of squadron-related letter codes. The first Typhoons were seen wearing the new codes in February, and by late March about a dozen had been recoded. Recently, many aircraft were swapped between squadrons or stripped of their unit markings, due to international operations. The new system allows the Typhoons to retain their own, unique codes regardless of the squadron they are assigned to; in a similar way, the RAF Tornado GR4 fleet was recoded.

Thank you for the information