Nimrod XV226

very cool, detailed image. what is the purpose of this plane? It's bulbous like a cargo plane, but has bomb-bay doors like a bomber. There's also that refueling boom out front, too.

Also, does "Nimrod" mean something else in the UK, or is that just British humor?

The Hawker Siddeley Nimrod was a maritime patrol aircraft developed and operated by the United Kingdom. It is an extensive modification of the de Havilland Comet, the world's first jet airliner. It was originally designed by de Havilland's successor firm, Hawker Siddeley; further development and maintenance work was undertaken by Hawker Siddeley's own successor companies, British Aerospace and BAE Systems, respectively.

Designed in response to a requirement issued by the Royal Air Force (RAF) to replace its fleet of aging Avro Shackletons, the Nimrod MR1/MR2 were primarily fixed-wing aerial platforms for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations; secondary roles included maritime surveillance and anti-surface warfare. It served from the early 1970s until March 2010.

I believe they were also used requently for SAR operations.

Aren't the RAF replacing them with Boing A3 Sentry's because they had no end of problem getting the software and radar systems to work properly and it was decided the American systems would be more efficient and const effective answer ? or is my memory running overtime ?

birderman wrote in post #16444942
I believe they were also used requently for SAR operations.

Aren't the RAF replacing them with Boing A3 Sentry's because they had no end of problem getting the software and radar systems to work properly and it was decided the American systems would be more efficient and const effective answer ? or is my memory running overtime ?

I believe you are right Birderman, I don't think they could ever get both radars to integrate correctly so decided to scrap them and buy Sentry's.