# british aircraft of the suez crisis



## jrk (Oct 6, 2005)

below are listed an assortment of RAF and FAA aircraft that played their part in the campaign.












supermarine scimitars FAA






suprmarine sea hawk FAA






fairey gannet FAA AEW






de havilland sea vixen FAA






bac canberra RAF






avro shackleton RAF AEW






avro lincoln RAF






handley page hastings RAF






douglas skyraider FAA AEW






westland sycamore with westland whirlwind RAF SAR






westland whirlwind RAF SAR






vickers valiant RAF






vickers valetta RAF






westland wyvern FAA










gloster meteors RAF


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## Gnomey (Oct 6, 2005)

Nice pics jrk!


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## evangilder (Oct 6, 2005)

Good stuff!


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## syscom3 (Oct 6, 2005)

What in the world are those jets doing in the pix "supermarine scimitars FAA"?.............looks like theyre doing wheelies.


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## Nonskimmer (Oct 6, 2005)

Good question. Nice collection.


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## jrk (Oct 6, 2005)

i havent a clue i only found the picture.perhaps its synchronised take off formation as opposed to swimming lol


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## Nonskimmer (Oct 6, 2005)

I hope those two guys on deck ducked then.


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## Gnomey (Oct 6, 2005)

Nonskimmer said:


> I hope those two guys on deck ducked then.


They wouldn't be too well if they hadn't NS  It might of hurt a bit. Decapitation is not a pleasant way too die.


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## Glider (Oct 6, 2005)

The Scimitars were at an angle to get the right lift for the takeoff from the catapult. The strop has the plane under tension just before the launch. The tension lifts the front off the deck and the plane is supported by a wheel at the back of the plane. You can just make out the wheel and the strop (roughly halfway down the fuselage) in the photo.
We had a similar problem with the Phantom but being a much heavier plane and the design changes that would have been needed, RN Phantoms had an extending front undercarriage. On the catapult, this was extended lifting the nose of the Phantom higher of the deck, achieving the same result.

Scimitars were dreadful planes to land. It was always said that no one landed a Scimitar, they did a controlled crash landing, even on land.


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## Nonskimmer (Oct 6, 2005)

Glider said:


> It was always said that no one landed a Scimitar, they did a controlled crash landing, even on land.


The USN and USMC used to say the same thing about the F-4 Phantom.
Thanks for the bit of info about the Scimitar by the way.


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## plan_D (Oct 6, 2005)

Ah, the good old Westland Whirlwind. They had one here at RAF Finningley and it had a wasps nest in it. Amazing story of today.


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## Glider (Oct 7, 2005)

Nonskimmer. The difference is that the Scimitar was dreadful. I think I am right in saying that half the Scimitars built crashed in accidents of one kind or another. Not always the planes fault but 50% is a huge loss.


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## cheddar cheese (Oct 7, 2005)

Truely wonderful pictures 8)


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## mosquitoman (Oct 17, 2005)

Nice one! Liking the Wyvern


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