Classic British Aircraft - Hawker Siddeley Nimrod

Now retired, The Hawker Siddeley Nimrod, whose airframe was based on the groundbreaking Comet airliner, was widely regarded as one of the world's best maritime patrol aircraft. (The series was produced in 2004 and narrated by Harry Enfield, the series features interviews with those who designed and flew and maintained a remarkable collection of aircraft which are often get overlooked but which played a key role in the history of aviation.)

[@brianwillson9567]

The nimrod airshow display was always spectacular, almost up to the Vulcan. To see an ‘airliner’ being thrown about the sky like a mustang or spitfire was awesome.

[@johnprice6641]

I was part of the team from BAe salvaging a fuselage from a dispersal pad in Kinloss. The aircraft had been stripped of anything serviceable. It was a 40 year old rot box . It had 3 bird nest's within . You could physically crush intercostal structures with your hands . If they just decided to make a new fuselage to match the new wings , engines, it would still be flying .

[@mowogfpv7582]

Or just start with an existing modern airframe in the first place like they did with the comet? The MRA4 fiasco is an example of something that happens in all kinds of industries. It's easier to get backing to iterate on your existing platform than start a whole new project because to a non technical customer it intuitively *seems* like less work. I doubt it really surprised the engineers to find that the job got bigger once they got into it. But some sales chaps at BAE spun portillo a good story.

[@leezinke4351]

What a gorgeous plane!

[@diceman199]

I got to go on several Tapestry flights, maybe 30 hours flight time. Walking up the middle of the aircraft while they pull one of those 2G manoeuvres is interesting

[@gca259]

BAE Systems won the contract to update the Nimrod fleet based on the cost of carrying out the required work on one example. The cost spiralled as it was found they all had different problems. Many parts were originally 'hand-made', meaning no two planes were the same.

[@seanjoseph8637]

This didn't age well...I cut some of the 4's up at RAF Abingdon after the project was canceled...very sad.

[@cdchantler]

Raf Abingdon - when did that close ? I live just down the road

[@camoTiara]

I used to love NIMROD. When I was a boy. 1970,s and 80's. Then i saw two Harriers blowing an unholy spray at the sea front of Seaburn and Roker. Fabulous.

[@myplane150]

To my eyes, this is one of the best looking large aircraft in the world...☺

[@veganforlife8251]

It looks like your mother

[@camoTiara]

I agree it was like something from a black and white Flash Gordon movie.😊

[@myplane150]

@@veganforlife8251 Great looking, yes. But she's pretty thin. Thanks for the complement though...☺

[@ianrichards909]

So you like your aircraft like you like your women… Fat and Ugly…

[@VanderlyndenJengold]

I liked it (the Nimrod, not met your mum) it was quirky and it was British (again, the Nimrod, not met your mum). Such a shame what became of it; it still makes me seethe (Nimord). The UK part owned Airbus - how could the boffins not just put all the tech in an Airbus instead of having to buy a US patrol aircraft? The UK has these good ideas yet screws them up eventually, It's probably down to lack of management and investment.

[@glennread3305]

I spent 12 enjoyable years on the flight lines both NLS & NLS (N) between 84 - 96

[@davidnoseworthy4540]

This is an excellent series of short stories where the people who have flown, worked on or restored these classic aircraft, share their favorite experiences or the lore that has been passed on for those who are interested. I wish there were more!

[@timhancock6626]

And then we had nothing for ten years 😕

[@johngrantham8024]

Yes, but it was ok because we crossed our fingers and called 'faynights' to the Russians!

[@shockthejock8505]

Started my career at Kinloss and retired at Northwood, always loved the Nimrod and sad to see dumped so quickly.

[@user-ow8tc7jf1h]

Flew in a Comet to Christmas Island in December 1957 as a 19 year old National Service man in the Royal Signals, memories.

[@stevenmccolm1531]

The MR4.A was cancelled. I got to fly on the MR.2P whilst I was in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force 1986-1997. Should have kept flying until the P8 came into service. New engines and avionics was all that she needed.

[@johnjephcote7636]

The cancellation of the MRA4 on 19th October 2010 saw all nine aircraft broken up and Kinloss closed. The design was essentially a completey new aircraft. Edward Lucas, energy editor of the 'Economist' described it as 'one of the most extraordinary fiascos in the history of Britain's defence procurement'.

[@ozzy8286]

Not 2MHU by any chance?

[@stevenmccolm1531]

@@ozzy8286 Number 2 MHU Royal Auxiliary Air Force is based in Edinburgh, 1 MHU now 600 Squadron City of London is based at RAF Northolt and 3MHU is in Plymouth. There was a 4MHU in Belfast but it didn't last very long.

[@ozzy8286]

@@stevenmccolm1531 Yes, I was in 2 MHU in the early 90s. Absolutely loved it and had the privilige of flying in Nimrods from RAF Kinloss and also an Aurora from the Canadian Air Force. The Nimrod was a fantastic aeroplane.

[@stevenmccolm1531]

@@ozzy8286 , I was a member of 1MHU. They were based in Valency House Northwood before moving to RAF Northolt. I miss RAF Turnhouse and Pitreave Castle. I spent May a year in Gibraltar. I flew with the Canadians and USNavy. Good Times.

[@idubzh243]

What a beautiful design ! I Love this plane.

[@Nick-xe7ek]

Still better than new one, analog plane...👍👍👍👍👍

[@craigk1328]

I was working on the airfield and got to have a go on the simulator in our lunch break, It was great fun. I crashed into the tower a couple of times lol.

[@46shortee]

Was privileged enough to be able to do some work experience with 42 Torpedo Bomber Sqn at RAF St Mawgan in the late eighties. Absolutely loved being around these aircraft and working on them. Miss them flying around Cornwall. 😢 10:31

[@allgood6760]

Awesome 👍✈️

[@chandrachurniyogi8394]

the internal bomb bay of the Nimrod MR4 multi mission ASW aircraft, built into the under fuselage section of the MR4 could do with some serious ordinance (because that's what it's meant for) . . . for e.g. the AGM-84E Harpoon II semi-active radar homing inertial guided anti-ship missile & Storm Shadow active radar homing GPS guided air-to-surface land attack cruise missiles . . . could carry guided torpedos as well . . .

[@D4n13ly]

Brits knew how to built beautifull aircrafts.

[@_Name_]

That's simply one of those infamous british avia freaks.

[@cdchantler]

Great but of early career Harry Enfield narration

[@TheHandThatBites]

Enjoyed warching them at Rosneiger

[@43sq]

One of the aircraft I wish to fly

[@timw6928]

British genius yet again

[@robertlowe7186]

I reckon it's an attractive looking aeroplane ! 💜👍💚 Don't care what anyone says.☘️

[@PhD777]

The Victor, Vulcan and Nimrod were some of the most beautiful aircraft ever to fly.

[@D4n13ly]

I agree. Brits knew how to design beautifull aircrafts.

[@anels9]

What series is this from? :)

[@davidsirett5560]

it is a shame that at least one could not have been saved in air worthy condition and kept flying for displays.

[@idubzh243]

For those who ask, it's the military version of the first jet airliner, the Comet.

[@cjmillsnun]

The Comet was an airliner, not a business jet.

[@idubzh243]

Thanks to correct me, I'm not english and I misspoke @@cjmillsnun

[@rickprobst7555]

so This is what I look like, bc my Mom always called me a Nimrod

[@user-ng2er9rj4h]

Когда-то Великобритания была великой авиационной державой, виктор, комета, вулкан, маскито, метеор, а сейчас? 😪

[@Dandalore]

Fortunately, we finally have the P8 to replace our Martime Patrol and Reconnaissance capability. It's a very capable airframe, crewed by some people who were on Nimrods previously and have decades of experience. Despite the Government screwing up and leaving us exposed to naughty submarines for 10 years, we're finally in safe hands once again. I think P8 will be a worthy successor to the mighty hunter that was the Nimrod.

[@PiersLawsonBrown1972]

It is a shame that we went from a large capability fleet starting with 49 airframes to what we have now of 9 P8's. Certainly the ability of the P8 is not in question, but as with all the down sizing that the RAF and other services have gone through, as a Country, we are a shadow of our former selves.

[@bobthebomb1596]

Too few and cannot operate at low level like the Nimrod.

[@Dandalore]

@bobthebomb1596 They do, in fact, operate at low level. So much so that they're regularly washed to prevent salt corrosion.

[@bobthebomb1596]

@@Dandalore Not to the extent that the Nimrod did, we should have bought Japanese and at least three times the number.

[@Sterlingjob]

Nimrod has 3 x range of p8

[@factfilenews]

It's wing doesn't flex like that of Modern Boeing airliners.. amazing. 😮

[@derf9465]

Back when we had an RAF now we have nothing. A flying club with very much reduced flying , high leaving rate, huge skill fade.

[@LordOfLight]

Evidence?

[@thelastdruidofscotland]

For 40 years the Nimrod served the UK very well, but each airframe, after decades of use, had many different problems, BAE systems tried, but there was no way to recondition each aircraft without extensive work, meaning each aircraft would have had to have been rebuilt from the ground up, the right decision was made to rely on NATO to deal with a reduced soviet threat scenario until the P8 arrived, which are cloud enabled and very much fully modern, however, the NIMROD leaves a very high bar to reach, the russians HATED the NIMROD with a vengence, as it was fully capable of sonar bombing russian subs without being detected, and it did so for decades without the russians having any answer to it, there was simply no way to escape a NIMROD with a belly full of sonar buoy's, they flew low, fast, and quiet, and if I was a Russian submariner during the Cold War, it would have been the NIMROD giving me nightmares.

[@carmadme]

There's one you can go inside at Norwich air museum

[@L_U-K_E]

RIP nimrod

[@mattbaur9784]

when I first saw this plane in Qatar in 2004 and was like what the hell is that. I knew it was likely old based on the engine placement. I did wonder if it was related to the Comet, but I didn't think that was possible. Though I don't know why I was skeptical given I worked on ancient KC-135's lol. but I was still in awe, I think the plane is beautiful in an odd way. Not the one with the big nose though.

[@simonlunt353]

I remember seeing these lovely aircraft at RAF waddington which they put some new wings on the aircraft and gest what the new wings didn’t fit l was told that the new wings were all made up with a computer but you have to remember this aircraft was designed on a drawing board they had to have the plates remade and after all that it was scrapped 😢what a shame great aircraft

[@380Scania]

You know you were on the Nimrod pulling a 2G turn holding onto one of the life rafts and standing on the stbd life raft looking at the sea between you feet through the window

[@Div3r]

Sadly it didn't survive the short-sighted politicians. 🤬 I often wonder when Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 comes back into the news if the wreckage would have been found if the Nimrod had still been in service and had been tasked.

[@zenzen9131]

I thought the exact same thing

[@skydive1424]

Read the Haddon-Cave report...

[@ALAMGIRHOSSAIN-wj4oy]

🌹

[@alanhutchins5916]

MOD incompetence is the aircraft in front of you.

[@robertcornelius8056]

Looks like the comet

[@stevenr2463]

My father was in the drawing office of De Havilland from the war (second ww) till 1957 (with a break 52-54) and worked on the Comet. Then moved to Guernsey, where I was born. I believe Guernsey had a squadron of Nimrods. Cant remember the name (202?).

[@unclestuka8543]

My Uncle worked there in Hatfield too, then got transferred to Hurn near Bournemouth.

[@stevenmccolm1531]

The Nimrod only operated out of two airbases in the UK, RAF Kinloss and RAF St.Mawgan. The runway at Guernsey is too short for the Nimrod to land let alone take off from.

[@archawasoontornsima8465]

[@phillippe.cai.]

Гениальная тактика делать самолёты, которые в случае неудачной бомбардировки, смогут до смерти насмешить врага внешним видом самолёта 🤣

[@camoTiara]

Upgrade it and send it out again.

[@notmenotme614]

They tried that with the Nimrod MRA4. It wasn’t successful

[@SpeedFireARL]

мда. старые английские самолеты выглядят очень необычно

[@simba7107]

TU 95 the best .

[@notrut]

Classic indeed ... So why did Dr Liam Fox MP wave £4,000,000,000 worth of them DESTROYED?

[@donaldduck9727]

I’m surprised this channel has decided to include this video considering it was made in 2004, two years before a Nimrod caught fire, exploded, and killed all 14 on board in Afghanistan. Some of the ‘safety’ claims made in this video have turned out to be either ignorant or disingenuous. The coroner’s statement regarding the safety of the Nimrod: “…never been airworthy from the first time it was released to the service nearly 40 years ago". Nimrod was an accident waiting to happen by bodging together military systems onto the first ever jet airliner design, and as was later discovered in the MRA4 fiasco, in a completely unique and non-standard way for each airframe. Nimrod’s greatest legacy is the complete overhaul of the UK military aviation system and establishment of the MAA to ensure this type of hubris can never occur again.

[@brianwillson9567]

A military aircraft with a vital mission. Success in the mission comes well before elf n safety. Nimrod attrition was by no means bad. Think Luftwaffe F104.

[@WellBoared]

Your response shows your ignorance, the reports are like comparing modern house builds to victorian houses, should we tear them all down? no because they are actually better built without the modern reg's.

[@paulnutter1713]

Nobody wastes money like the British government when it comes to aircraft. If Britain ever sent a man to Mars they'd spend trillions on the programme and then cancel it an hour before lift off

[@notmenotme614]

A very biased and one sided story, that doesn’t mention the safety issues Nimrod had. MRA4 was that bad nobody was prepared to take the risk of signing it into service.

[@NBBNewsUpdates]

Can you donate this plane for sri Lanka asian country.

[@unclestuka8543]

What have you got against Sri Lanka ? No one deserved this leaky, flaky, pile of airframe shite.

[@HerbertDuckshort]

The old “Vomit Comet”. Repaired one or two back in the day. Great old bus.

[@markdawson7090]

Sadly it was a death trap killed 14 crew members in Afghanistan after that it was scrapped

[@WellBoared]

Only it wasn't, one incident in how many years and hours of operations?

[@user-et7ul7wg4p]

Why britain never build its own Aircraft instead of buying from the US?

[@mikehotwheelz]

Why can’t you understand the simplest thing?

[@iamtehmunkie]

The UK is skint, we haven't designed a new combat aircraft in the UK since the Hawk and that was in the 70's on slide and rule. Armoured vehicle production is very much going the same way. The UK joins international programmes making some components and sub assemblies for the finished article.

[@stscc01]

because the UK can't afford it anymore. The development costs are too high for the UK, the RAF has never had less aircraft than today. And the UK's aerospace industry consequently has seem better times. But that is true for most smaller countries, the French and the Swedes notwithstanding.

[@keithammleter3824]

Britain is a small country, about 68 million people. GDP about $3 trillion. The USA has 330 million people, and GDP is about $27 trillion. These basic statistics indicate that Britain's productivity per person is half the USA's. Britain is way too small to develop its own aircraft. The USA is big enough.

[@jessegarman7899]

Forgive me, but I think that the British made some of the ugliest, weirdest looking aircraft of the cold war era.

[@Szarko32c]

THey cancelled it and replaced with Boeing 737.

[@Dandalore]

Only the prototypes were 737s, 1 or maybe 2 of them. The rest are purpose-built P8s from the ground up, and are very capable. Source: trust me bro.

[@jhorrorfan2116]

​@@Dandalorethey are capable, but we by far don't have enough. I said that the government should've worked on the MRA.4, it was fixable and wasn't as bad as it was made out to be, and fly the MRA4 alongside the P8's. Possibly the strongest maritime patrol capabilities in the world

[@allancopland1768]

Never happened.

[@vivasangabriele1608]

An aircraft engineered and built to serve Britain and not just to please NATO. 🫡🇬🇧

[@ianrichards909]

That’s got to be the ugliest looking aircraft in the world…

[@samrodian919]

Built for a purpose mate, and it did it bloody well for more than 30 years

[@ianrichards909]

@@samrodian919- Nah, not really… it failed miserably at that as well… fell out of the sky like flying rocks, that’s why they cancelled it…

[@viking1236]

Look at a Gannet if you want ugly

[@BadRavenFPV]

Most maritime aircraft were pretty ugly in a good way, they were built for a task that was considerably away from the norm, one that prettier machines struggled to come close to or could not match (Cough, Seafire). Specifically look at all the Nimrods "competition", and then tell me it was uglier than them.

[@bobthebomb1596]

@@ianrichards909 Four crashes in over forty years of operation. 1980 Engine failure following multiple bird strike 1995 Ditch due to engine fire on post-service test flight 1995 Crashed following a stall during an air display 2006 Inflight fire and explosion related to refuelling probe. Pretty good record for an aircraft that spent much of its time at low level. It was also widely regarded as one of, if not the, best maritime patrol aircraft of the cold war.