Raspberry Ripple Delights - The Glory Years

[bigcrow]

The test & evaluation squadrons in the UK are a shadow of it's former self with privatisation & lack of interesting airframes, so thought it would be nice to go back into the archives to show you the variety & the wonderful schemes that were applied. For completeness I've shown the various schemes before the Raspberry Ripple scheme was applied to the fleet. UK test aircraft were a particular passion of dads.

#1

ZB615 Jaguar T2A Empire Test Pilots School, MOD(PE) Boscombe Down. March 1994 by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#2

WK163 Canberra B2 , RAE MOD(PE) Bedford, Greenham Common, IAT 77 by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#3

WH734 Canberra B(TT2) RAE, MOD(PE) Llanbedr by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#4

WT327 Canberra B(I)8 DRA, MOD(PE) Bedford by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#5

WF379 Varsity T1 RAE, MOD(PE) Bedford by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#6

XE601 Hunter FGA9 A&AEE, MOD(PE) Boscombe Down by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#7

ZA947 Dakota 3 RAE, MOD(PE) Farnborough by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#8

XW987 Buccaneer S2B A&AEE, MOD(PE) Boscombe Down by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#9

WH453/L Meteor D16 RAE Llanbedr, Fairford, IAT 89 by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#10

XT661 Viscount RAE, MOD(PE) Bedford by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#11

XX105 BAC-111 RAE, MOD(PE) Bedford by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#12

XT575 Viscount RAE, MOD(PE) Bedford by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#13

XT575 Viscount RAE, MOD(PE) Bedford by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#14

XS606 Andover C1 ETPS, MOD(PE) Boscombe Down by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#15

WL679 Varsity T1 RAE, MOD(PE) Farnborough by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#16

KF314 Harvard TIIB ETPS, MOD(PE) Boscombe Down by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#17

XL563 Hunter T7 RAE, MOD(PE) Farnborough by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#18

XW930 HS-125 RAE, MOD(PE) Bedford by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#19

WL679 Varsity T1 RAE, MOD(PE) Farnborough. by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#20

XN817 Argosy C1 A&AEE, MOD(PE) Boscombe Down by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#21

Canberra B(TT)2 WK128 DRA Llanbedr, Fairford, IAT 96 by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#22

WJ992 Canbeera T4 DRA, MOD(PE) Bedford by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#23

XV344 Buccaneer S2C Defence Research Agency, MOD(PE) Boscombe Down by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#24

XV814 Comet C4 Royal Aircraft Establishment, MOD (PE) Bedford. by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#25

XT597 Phantom FG.1 A&AEE, MOD Boscombe Down, Greenham Common, IAT 83. by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

[TimFoo]

Superb!!! Thank you

[Mustang531]

Thanks for sharing these, always looked forward to seeing types from the test units at shows over the years. The shot of the Harvard's nice to see, the only time I saw the trio was at the Bassingbourn show in 1978. Some great shots here.

[Hunter49]

A Great Selection, The best years ! Rob

[Kevin Brewer]

Yet another cracking set of pics showing some of the more interesting types we used to enjoy - thanks for sharing.

[Snoop 95]

Wonderful nostalgic set. Makes me realise how lucky we aviation enthusiasts were in those days!

[ridgmeister]

Another great set of nostalgia shots!
Thanks for sharing these gems.
Paul

[binbrook87]

What a fabulous set! The Raspberry Ripple fleet was always a favourite to see and I'd always hope that one would drop in whilst sitting on the fence somewhere or appear at an airshow static display. The variety of aircraft and colour schemes were truly incredible in the heyday. A far cry from today's Boscombe Qinetiq fleet Thanks for sharing your pics!

[SeaFuryFan]

Superb every one of them! But XE601 is just stunning!

[paddyboy]

What a totally stunning set

Every one a gem

Thanks so much for taking the trouble and time to post them

Paddyboy

[F3]

Some rare and v. interesting airframes there. Thanks for posting.

[Agent K]

My word, some absolute classics there, and great photos. Thanks for sharing.

[raptor9]

Just out of interest, for those that may not know, the second picture [Canberra] is of the World Altitude Record Height holder, in 1957 of 70,310 feet.

[PhilE]

Fantastic set, as always thanks for sharing these wonderful photo's. Phil

[roughcutter]

Here's one or two images from Greenham in 83, not the best quality I'm afraid, a little bit shadowy. Being a novice at the time, I tended to be 'snap happy' with my Chinon CE4/Prinz zoom
_61G9384 by Mark Lewis, on Flickr

_61G9406 by Mark Lewis, on Flickr

_61G9410 by Mark Lewis, on Flickr

_61G9411 by Mark Lewis, on Flickr

_61G9416 by Mark Lewis, on Flickr

_61G9428 by Mark Lewis, on Flickr

[paddyboy]

Lovely add-ons, Mark

[Rick]

Superb shots. We took them for granted in the day.

[Ferrari]

Brilliant.
Thanks for posting.
The Comet for me!

Regards,
Ferrari

[Jason Grant]

This era truly was the glory years, great airframes and colours.

I have always loved the Canberra, especially in these colours but the Comet is gorgeous.

A post to put a smile on anyones face. Cheers mate.

[MADWOP]

Fantastic set(s) brings tears to my eyes remembering what we probably took for granted at the time
Thank goodness for collections like you guys have.