Recovery of crashed British F-35B in the Mediterranean

The F-35B that crashed in the sea on 17th December in the Mediterranean last year has been recovered. The Lighting belonged to the famous "Dammbusters" 617 Squadron. It is the first accident of the type under British service. In the 6 months previous to the accident 2,000 take offs and landings had been completed from the Queen Elizabeth carrier without any issues

The accident can be seen in the link below. The likely cause was a rain cover being left on before the fighter took off.

Link

It is not known what will happen to the aircraft. Back in the 90s the Greek Air Force repaired a Mirage 2000 that crash landed in the Mediterranean sea, but depth and salinity were different. It is likely it will end up as an instructional frame.

References:

- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59323895
- https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/carrier-f

Flight hours of the Royal Air Force aircraft fleet

The table below shows the flight hours of the RAF fleet for the fiscal year 2016/17. The transport fleet (C-130, C-17) has logged many more hours per airframe than the combat fleet. 

In the last few years the EF-2000 has logged more hours than the Tornado, which is expected because the latter is being phased out.

Eurofighter:

- Fiscal year 2016/17: 22,220
- Fiscal year 2015/16: 19,650
- Fiscal year 2014/15: 17,550

Tornado

- Fiscal year 2016/17: 11,760
- Fiscal year 2015/16: 14,340
- Fiscal year 2014/15: 14,390

References:

- https://twitter.com/JoedeBrig

- http://portierramaryaire.com/foro/

Douglas Bader's humour

I wonder what would happen nowadays if you go to a school and tell anecdotes in this way...

F-35s finally arrive to the UK

The first 3 F-35 have arrived to the UK. Two of them belong to the USAF while the third is RAF. They will take part in the forthcoming RIAT and Farnborough airshows. 

References:

- Crown copyrigth.