736 NAS

[zaphod30]

guessing thats what the jet noise over Redruth is at the moment then.

cloud is too low, cant see anything

[Malcolm]

theres also a f15 kicking around he's around yovil at the min may see it may not... hes bang on 23000 ft which may mean he's AARA 10E?

FL230 (or FL240) is the altitude required for the Swindon and Westcott corridors. Most stuff transiting from the Westcountry to East Anglia to land there will climb/descend to FL230 to be level somewhere between Yeovilton and Brize.

[lmgaylard]

Two Hawks have just 1005 taken off from CU. As they are mainly flown & operated by civilian company ie SERCO they do not follow Navy leave patterns. buzz41

Just as info; 736NAS are a Royal Navy squadron. There is now, currently, 1 Serco pilot. In the FRADU days yes it was mainly Civilian operated but now it is a fully fledged naval unit.

[buzzer]

Just read AirForces monthly (OCT), very nice article by Lewis on 736NAS, cheers for that, good read.

Thought the same.well done Lewis. And your article on the whirlybird in aviation news was top class to
Interesting to note the possible ( and it is just that.. nothing more than an idea at this early stage!) replacement for the hawks could be early block F-16's!! that would be a nice image for someone to photoshop.. an all black F-16 with 736sqn markings

[seven]

Yea, genius idea that. Buying cheap F-16's with all the costs of a new type etc, when theres perfectly servicable Sea Harriers stored which are already owned and have a spares back up.. Sounds like a decision we would make.

7

[seven]

Serviceable, not airworthy, exactly what I said. The costs of getting them airworthy wouldn't be any less than doing the same with redundant Vipers from the US. Regardless of your or my opinion, it isn't going to happen anyway.

7

[Malfatron Malkovic]

Just read AirForces monthly (OCT), very nice article by Lewis on 736NAS, cheers for that, good read.

Blimey, Dave, so that makes yourself, Buzzer and the boy Greet reading the rag. The publishers must regard West Cornwall as a goldmine!

[lmgaylard]

Hi Guys.

Thank you for your kind comments regarding the article.

If I may waffle a little; the understanding I have is that the future replacement for the Hawk T1 /T1A is well underway with several options. One option would be Hawk T2, but this is unlikely as the RAF don't have that many and the Government would probably not be willing to buy another batch. Another option would be an Embrarer aircraft, which I can't remember which was looked at. What seems, at the moment, to be very feasible is buying older' Block' F-16. On the surface, as Seven says, this does seem like it could cost a fortune in terms of support. However, the replacment, for the FAA and RAF, has a duel role of being 'aggressor' aircraft as well as a stepping stone to JSF. The later 'stepping stone' is more prevalent to 736 as at the moment it is the only fast-jet squadron in the navy. I believe, although I might be wrong, that Lockheed Martin / USAF have been contacted regarding a future purchase or loan. As far as I know 100 squadron are very keen on F-16.....
With regards to manpower with 736, as Buz41 correctly says, the ground crew are all Serco with a lot of other support being civilian. Aircrew are all navy with one Serco pilot, at the moment. How the squadron evolves in the future I can't speculate......