736 NAS

[hawk man 1994]

Can anyone confirm that the above squadron will be working out of VL from tomorrow for a couple of weeks whilst CU is on summer leave.

[Seaking93]

VL are also on block leave, although I did see one Hawk on the line yesterday as well as a few Sea King and Wildcat CTF's

[Buz41]

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

[zaphod30]

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

cloud is too low, cant see anything

[Buz41]

Since my last posting there has been a steady flow of Hawks overflying Helston & heading west. As I am house bound I cannot tell how many are involved but they are probably those being reported in the Cam/Red area.
To see the performing like that in this area is almost a daily occurrence.


Buz41

[wally1986]

for future ref just check this http://www.live-mobile-mode-s.eu/search ... mit=Search
the hawk is XX316 its working with 2 falcons (amber1 and 2) which are G-FFRA and G-FRAD.

[wally1986]

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?

[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.

[wally1986]

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.

it was FL23 that realy intresting thanx

[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.

[DaveG]

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

[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

[Buz41]

On which planet are you living 7? There are no perfectly serviceable Sea Harriers, the ex RAF & FAA Harriers were all dismantled & shipped off to the States for spares. There are a few taxiable examples on CU dummy deck & elsewhere but it would probably cost more to get them airworthy than buy cheap F16! In any case it's more dependant on the replacement for the RAF Hawks.

Some people have got the wrong end of the stick regarding 736 being military or civilian operated? I know all bar one of the pilots are military but most of the support services are by civilian contractor, in 736 NAS case SERCO.

buz41

[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!

[DaveG]

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!

I get it delivered electronically to iPad, only took annual subs as it was offer at time, not sure if I'd renew at full price. That said, its a nice read.

[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......