Miramar Surprise!

[JONLITE06]

Didn't expect to see this!!
mra49 by Jon Cross, on Flickr

[65thAgressor]

Nice shot, am i right in thinking they are from Edwards.

[JONLITE06]

The pilot said they were from South Carolina?

[Malcolm]

There was a second one in the sun sheds down on the flightline - ZM138/004. On Friday it was the one tail on in the right most sun sheds as viewed from the end of the public area. The RAF pilot I spoke to said they were also planning to be on display at this weekends Edwards AFB open house.

[Seahawk 11]

Now thats one great photo there,

Rob

[downes0106]

So the RAF can put a F35 on static in the US, but not at RIAT! Nice shot. What was the rest of the show like?

[Nighthawk237]

Are the stories of major hassles on the Saturday true?

[JONLITE06]

Didn't notice any problems!

[Scudpilot]

So the RAF can put a F35 on static in the US, but not at RIAT! Nice shot. What was the rest of the show like?

Presumably they are the RAF Training aircraft based in the US, and therefore unused at weekends?

[Malcolm]

So the RAF can put a F35 on static in the US, but not at RIAT! Nice shot. What was the rest of the show like?

Presumably they are the RAF Training aircraft based in the US, and therefore unused at weekends?

No, they're trials aircraft.

I asked if they thought 001,002 and 004 would ever come to the UK. The answer surprised me - he said they were currently 'negotiating' for some newer block aircraft to swap out these 3 early ones. If/When that happens these 3 will be exported.

I asked if that meant sold/exported to someone else - Italy, Japan, whoever. He said no - exported to the UK/Marham. At the moment these 3 jets contain stuff which is not allowed to be exported from the USA. They will have to be de-modified back to standard RAF spec before the US will allow them to return to the UK. Obviously he wasn't prepared to elaborate on what these additions/modifications were.

He also claimed these 3 jets have been kept up to date with the latest production spec. I find that difficult to believe from what I know about Typhoon tranche production, but that's what he said.

So we might get to see these 3 in the UK yet. I just hope they send a some of the current Marham jets to replace them, not new build straight from Fort Worth.

[NorvilleRogers]

So the RAF can put a F35 on static in the US, but not at RIAT! Nice shot. What was the rest of the show like?

Presumably they are the RAF Training aircraft based in the US, and therefore unused at weekends?

No, they're trials aircraft.

I asked if they thought 001,002 and 004 would ever come to the UK. The answer surprised me - he said they were currently 'negotiating' for some newer block aircraft to swap out these 3 early ones. If/When that happens these 3 will be exported.

I asked if that meant sold/exported to someone else - Italy, Japan, whoever. He said no - exported to the UK/Marham. At the moment these 3 jets contain stuff which is not allowed to be exported from the USA. They will have to be de-modified back to standard RAF spec before the US will allow them to return to the UK. Obviously he wasn't prepared to elaborate on what these additions/modifications were.

He also claimed these 3 jets have been kept up to date with the latest production spec. I find that difficult to believe from what I know about Typhoon tranche production, but that's what he said.

So we might get to see these 3 in the UK yet. I just hope they send a some of the current Marham jets to replace them, not new build straight from Fort Worth.

Also see comments from Edwards show..

viewtopic.php?f=51&t=221262

[FlyingFairy]

He also claimed these 3 jets have been kept up to date with the latest production spec. I find that difficult to believe from what I know about Typhoon tranche production

Yes all three aircraft have (one at a time) been through the FRC-E for upgrade over the past couple of years, turn around normally takes around 9 months.

If you weren’t aware, 2 of the frames that were originally delivered to Marham have also returned to FRC-E around 6 moths ago for upgrade.

HTH

FF

[Alf]

FRC-E = Fleet Readiness Centre East. aka Cherry Point. If anybody else was wondering what is was.

[POL]

I was wondering.

When did aircraft fly back west? Or did they get dropped off by boat?

[FlyingFairy]

I was wondering.

When did aircraft fly back west? Or did they get dropped off by boat?

I don’t have my notes to hand at present, however from memory it was late April/early May. They flew back with a Voyager tanker as support, I think one of the jets was ZM141?

I’m sure someone else will confirm exact frames/dates.

FF