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http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #361 APRIL 2018 // 9

ALTHOUGH THERE

has been no official

confirmation, informed

sources report that QinetiQ

retired its Alpha Jet fleet

at MOD Boscombe Down,

Wiltshire, on January 31.

The move is believed to

be part of a major renewal

of the QinetiQ fleet, which

has resulted in orders

for various new types of

aircraft and helicopters.

The Alpha Jets, along with

QinetiQ’s Hawk T1s, are

being replaced by two

PC-21s, the first of which

made its maiden flight

at Stans, Switzerland,

on January 15 (see First

flight for new QinetiQ

PC-21, March, p9).

Four Alpha Jets, all fully

instrumented, were used

by QinetiQ for the Empire

Test Pilots’ School fixed-

wing course, captained

by pilot students, who

studied the aircraft’s

performance, stability

and control and flying

qualities. QinetiQ acquired

a total of 12 ex-Luftwaffe

Alpha Jets, which were

delivered to Boscombe

Down between December

1999 and January 2001

and allocated serials

ZJ645 to ZJ656. Only six

(ZJ645, ZJ646, ZJ647,

ZJ648, ZJ649 and ZJ651)

were flown by QinetiQ,

while the remainder were

stored at Boscombe to

act as spares sources.

Of the operational

examples, ZJ648 and

ZJ649 were retired some

time ago and placed in

storage. Dave Allport

New King Airs delivered for Shadow upgrade

TWO SECOND-HAND

Hawker Beechcraft

B300C King Air 350C

aircraft recently joined the

RAF’s No 14 Squadron

at RAF Waddington,

Lincolnshire. Both are

currently standard civilian-

configured aircraft, but are

due to be modified with the

intelligence, surveillance and

reconnaissance (ISR) mission

systems that will bring them

up to Shadow configuration.

They comprise 2009-

built G-DAYP (c/n FM-29,

ex N6029S) and 2013-built

G-GMAD (c/n FM-54, ex

N51154), both of which

have been acquired through

Farnborough, Hampshire-

based Gama Aviation. The

older example arrived at

Waddington on September

29 last year, then departed

again on October 3 for

Kidlington, Oxfordshire,

for painting. It returned

on November 16 in an

overall drab green colour

scheme and was still flying

with the unit, unconverted,

as of late February.

The second aircraft,

G-GMAD, was operating

with No 14 Squadron by

last October, although

its exact arrival date is

unconfirmed. It currently

retains its previous civilian

colours. It was delivered

from Waddington to Gama

Aviation on January 23,

presumably to be prepared

for Shadow conversion. The

main portion of this work will

be at Raytheon’s facility at

Broughton, North Wales.

Plans to acquire three

additional Shadow R1 ISR

aircraft to join the five already

in service were announced

as part of the Strategic

Defence and Security Review

published on November

23, 2015. In addition to

the two new acquisitions

above, the third Shadow

conversion will be G-LBSB

(c/n FM-55), which was

delivered to 14 Squadron on

July 30, 2013, as a standard

King Air 350C and since

then has been operated on

behalf of the MOD by Gama

Aviation for crew training

of Shadow pilots. This

was delivered to Gama at

Farnborough on October 2

last year, making test flights

from there on November

14 and January 17 before

delivery to Raytheon at

Broughton on January

18. It is currently still at
    Broughton and was test

flying on February 13 and 15.

Although security

considerations mean that

details of the equipment

fit on the RAF Shadows

are sparse, it is known that

incremental upgrades are

under way on the fleet –

see Upgrade for Shadow

R1 fleet, November 2017,

p9. This will eventually lead

to a Shadow R2 variant

• all of the current fleet
  and new deliveries will
  then be modified to this
  standard. Under current
  plans, the type is expected
  to remain in service until at
  least 2030. Dave Allport

ALMOST FOUR decades

after it was delivered to

the RAF, the last of the

original fleet of Hawk T1s

delivered to the Red Arrows

has finally been retired.

The aircraft, Hawk T1A

XX227, performed a final

formation flight with the

Red Arrows at the team’s

RAF Scampton base in

Lincolnshire, on February

16, after which it was

withdrawn from use.

This particular Hawk was

originally delivered to the

RAF on July 14, 1978.

After preparation, it joined

the team on February 6,

1980. By the time of its
      retirement, it had flown 8,
      hours and made 13,
      Above: Hawk T1A XX227 taxiing out at RAF Scampton for its fi nal formation aerobatic sortie before retirement. Red Arrows landings. Dave Allport

Boscombe

Down Alpha

Jets retired

Last of original Red Arrows Hawks withdrawn

Jamie Hunter