When the Boeing E-3D Sentry entered British service in 1991, it was the end of a long saga, and the start of an even longer career. Here, Dr Kevin Wright takes a closer look at the recently retired aircraft
When 8 Squadron reformed at RAF Kinloss in Scotland on January 1, 1972, it was equipped with 12 archaic Shackleton AEW2s as an interim airborne early warning (AEW) platform. Fitted with refurbished 1940s AN/APS-20F radars, taken from retired Gannet AEW3s, the squadron moved to RAF Lossiemouth in August the following year.
Royal Air Force Boeing E3D Sentry ZH107 ‘Bashful’ taxies for departure at its home base of RAF Waddington. The jet was withdrawn from service in December 2019
Jamie Ewan
While British Aerospace’s proposed Nimrod AEW project was intended to replace the desperately outdated Shackletons sometime during the mid 1980s, the ill-fated project – crippled by huge cost escalation and extremely poor performance – collapsed in 1986. The hunt for a suitable AEW platform was on.
