Gloster Javelin

[Mike Thurman]

Great shots blade! But i'v never heard of Gloster Javelin.
It looks similar to a paniva tornado.

I'm not so sure that XH771 is a british registraition

[Hagar]

Great shots blade! But i'v never heard of Gloster Javelin.
It looks similar to a paniva tornado.

I'm not so sure that XH771 is a british registraition

The Javelin is a well-known Cold-War jet. This style of registration (2 letters followed by 3 numbers) has been used on RAF aircraft for as long as I can remember. You might be getting mixed up with the WWII-style squadron code letters which are no longer used.

[HawkerTempest5]

That looks stunning! I've only ever seen one real Javelin and it is bigger than you might think.

[ozzy72]

Mike, Hagar is right. That number is correct. If you look at the signature shot of HawkerTempests5s Spits you'll see the old fashioned squadron markings, and in smaller black letters the aircraft ID (just visible in the white tail-band).
If you asked any of the Brits here who was XH558 they'd all answer 'The last flying Avro Vulcan B2'. After the Korean Conflict I believe they were all altered to two letters and three numbers (but I might be wrong... Hagar?)

Ozzy

[Hagar]

Mike, Hagar is right. That number is correct. If you look at the signature shot of HawkerTempests5s Spits you'll see the old fashioned squadron markings, and in smaller black letters the aircraft ID (just visible in the white tail-band).
If you asked any of the Brits here who was XH558 they'd all answer 'The last flying Avro Vulcan B2'. After the Korean Conflict I believe they were all altered to two letters and three numbers (but I might be wrong... Hagar?)

Ozzy

Ozzy. I'm no expert & Tempest is better at this stuff than me. I think it was one letter & 4 numbers pre-WWII. The Spitfire prototype was registered K5054. I'm not sure when they changed it? MH434 is probably the most famous Spitfire in the world & that has authentic markings.

[ozzy72]

OMG!!!! Of course it was pre-WWII. I'm denser than lead today. I'll now go and beat myself around the head with a cricket bat!!!
You are right and I'm a wally

Ozzy

[Hagar]

OMG!!!! Of course it was pre-WWII. I'm denser than lead today. I'll now go and beat myself around the head with a cricket bat!!!
You are right and I'm a wally
Ozzy

LOL

Just for the record - XH771 was a Gloster Javelin FAW.9 - delivered to the RAF on 24/11/59 & scrapped in 1967 at No 27 MU Shawbury. This is the only info I can find.

[HawkerTempest5]

Ozzy. I'm no expert & Tempest is better at this stuff than me. I think it was one letter & 4 numbers pre-WWII. The Spitfire prototype was registered K5054. I'm not sure when they changed it? MH434 is probably the most famous Spitfire in the world & that has authentic markings.

Without checking up, I know that the single letter and four number serial codes were still being allocated until late 1940. BBMF's Spitfire IIa (August 1940) is coded P7350 and this is it's correct serial.

[C]

I think the RAF serials changed in late 1940 or early/mid during 1941.

P7350 was delivered in August 1940, but the following August the serials were already at AB (AB910 was delivered August '41).

However, having just seen that AR213 was delivered in July '41, and AR501 was delivered in June '42, I can only assume serials were allocated when the order for the aircraft was approved (in this case with Westland's at Yeovil), as I believe they are now.

(P7350 and AB910 were both built at Castle Bromwich - a lovely housing estate nowadays...)

I wonder what they'll do when the current serials are full (like we'll ever buy that many aircraft), as the C-17's are ZZ***'s

Charlie

[Hagar]

I wonder what they'll do when the current serials are full (like we'll ever buy that many aircraft), as the C-17's are ZZ***'s

Who knows? Logically they would add another letter somewhere. Logic seems a little hard to come by these days.