Hawker Siddeley Nimrod, RIAT 2007 ©Nigel Key
ROLE
Maritime Patrol / ELINT / AEW.
FIRST FLIGHT
23 May 1967.
The development of the Nimrod began in 1964 as a replacement aircraft for the Avro Shackleton. The Nimrod was designed from the Comet 4 civil airliner but was fitted with Rolls Royce Spey turbofan engines.
Modifications to the Nimrod included internal weapons bay, extended nose to house radar, a new tail, electronic sensors and a magnetic anomaly detector (MAD) boom.
Three MR1 Nimrods were modified as signals intelligence aircraft and designated the R1. The R1 was distinguishable by the lack of a MAD boom.
The R1 was fitted with an array of rotating dish aerials which were located in the bomb bay. There were additional dish aerials in the tail and at the front of the wing mounted fuel tanks.
By August 1979, 35 Nimrod aircraft had been upgraded to MR2's by installation of an updated electronic suite. Further provision for in-flight refuelling and hard points to enable AIM-9 sidewinder missiles to be fitted was developed and the aircraft variation designated as MR2P.
In 1991 further modifications were carried out to a small number of MR2's including improved datalinks, electronic countermeasures, a towed radar decoy and an infrared turret under the starboard wing.
PRODUCTION
The Hawker Siddeley Nimrod was produced from 1969, with 49 built.
ENGINES
4 x Rolls Royce Spey turbofans, producing 48,640 lbf.
ARMAMENT
20,000 lb (kg) Bomb bay capacity.
The R1 had a flight crew of two pilots, a flight engineer and two navigators. The R1 was based at RAF Waddington and operated by No. 51 Squadron.
The R1 had its last flight on the 28th of June 2011 from RAF Waddington and was replaced by Boeing RC-135WC Rivet Joint aircraft, known as Air Seekers, which was delivered between 2014 and 2018.
The Nimrod MR2 carried out three main roles: Anti-submarine Warfare, Anti-Surface Unit Warfare and Search and Rescue.
The Nimrod MR2 was based at RAF Kinloss and operated by Nos. 201, 120 and 42 Squadrons. The MR2 was withdrawn from service on the 31st of March 2010.
| Crew - 13 |
| Length - 126ft 9in (38.65m) |
| Wingspan - 114ft 10in (35m) |
| Height - 31ft 0in (9.14m) |
| Empty Weight - 86,000lb (39,009kg) |
| Max. Weight - 192,000lb (87,090kg) |
| Max. Speed - 575 mph (923 km/h) |
| Range - 5,755 miles (9,265 km) |
