Depends on how you look at it & what is meant by operational. Would a trainer like the Chipmunk be considered an operational aircraft? The BBMF Chippies are still used as trainers, the job they have always been used for & I believe they're still on the RAF inventory.
No, just as a Tutor, Tucano or Hawk would not be considered as an operational aircraft (unless a Hawk became involved as an air defence fighter). An operational aircraft would be an aircraft directly involved in the completion on military operations (be they war fighting, peacekeeping or humanitarian for example). The last time this
may have occured with the Chippy would have been the hops out of Gatow in Berlin...
[edit]Hence this would also include all the BBMF types - the last in operational service of these would probably have been the Dakota ZA947 in its former guise (as we all know the ZA serials were from the late 70/early 80s!
). There's always KF183, the Harvard at Boscombe too...
The only model of Canberra now in RAF service is the PR9 as according to the MoD website the last remaining T4 was retired on 1 September 2005.
Both are somewhat different to the B2 that first entered service in May 1951 & the first PR9 was not delivered until 1959.
I think it situations like this we always refer to the type, and not necessarily individual marks. This is very applicable for some types as the later marks are modified/retrofitted versions of earlier airframes which are allocated new serial, for example the single seat Hunters that were converted to become T7s...
