Le Hawker Siddeley Nimrod (aviation) - documentaire

Video from the channel imineo Documentaires about Hawker Siddeley, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 56:02. Language: French. Video type: Documentary.

French-language documentary about the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod, the Royal Air Force's four-jet maritime patrol aircraft. It explains how it originated from the Comet airliner, traces the development of its versions, and shows the day-to-day work of its crews in anti-submarine warfare, maritime surveillance, and search and rescue.

The story begins with Coastal Command's flying boats in the Second World War, such as the Short Sunderland and the Consolidated Catalina, and continues with the Avro Shackleton. This aircraft, derived from the Lincoln bomber, entered service in 1951 as a stopgap solution. The arrival of faster, quieter Soviet submarines, some nuclear-powered, forced a search for a replacement. In June 1964 the Air Ministry issued Specification 381, and the following year a maritime version of the Comet 4 was chosen. This version had an unpressurised weapons bay under the fuselage and Rolls-Royce Spey engines. The name Nimrod, the hunter from Genesis, was adopted in 1967, and the prototype first flew on 23 May with John Cunningham at the controls. The first production MR1 flew on 28 June 1968. The XV230 entered service in autumn 1969 with 236 Unit at St Mawgan. From 1975 the MR1s were converted to MR2 standard with the Searchwater radar. The AEW3 airborne early warning version, announced in 1977 and flying from July 1980, was cancelled in December 1986 in favour of the Boeing E-3, after its costs spiralled. During the Falklands War, the Nimrods received Sidewinder missiles and an air-to-air refuelling probe, becoming known as MR2P.

According to the documentary, the MR1 reached 900 km/h, cruised at 780 km/h, had a range of 9,600 km and could stay airborne for 12 hours; 40 units were ordered. The standard crew was 13: two pilots, two navigators and two sensor teams, one "wet" team for acoustics and one "dry" team for radar, radio and the magnetic anomaly detector. The documentary also describes the passive and active sonobuoys, the Marconi AQS 901 system, the Mark 46 and Stingray torpedoes, and the Harpoon missile. It also covers the "Tapestry" fishery patrols, search and rescue missions, and the major overhaul every 2,400 flying hours.