De Havilland Dove/Devon

AFAIK apart from the ETPS Bassett they were all sold off. And I recall the military overseas M callsigns, not sure when they stopped.

canberra wrote:

And I recall the military overseas M callsigns, not sure when they stopped.

I think the use of the 'M' followed by 4 letters ceased when all RAF flying units were allocated ICAO 3 letter designators and callsigns, about 1990 I think.
Farnborough and Bedford pilots all had their personal 'Nugget' callsign numbers and they retained these for use overseas prefixed by the ICAO 3 letter code 'RAE'. eg 'Nugget (RAE) 01 was CO Experimental Flying (a Gp Cptn), Nugget 02 was OC Flying Farnborugh, Nugget 03 was OC Flying Bedford the exceptions being Met Research Flight Farnborough with 'MRF' (Metman) and Radar Research Sqdn Bedford with 'RRS' (Blackbox).

The M series callsigns finished well before 1990, I cant remember any being used after I left Marham in 1980. As for units getting the three letter ICAO designators (or trigraphs) that didnt happen until 1998.

And Ive just remembered that we had a Bedford Canberra divert in to Goose (Gander was out of his limits) in April 1990, and he used a BLACKBOX callsign.

canberra wrote:

The M series callsigns finished well before 1990, I cant remember any being used after I left Marham in 1980. As for units getting the three letter ICAO designators (or trigraphs) that didnt happen until 1998.

No the ICAO 3 letter code was in use at Farnborough before Experimental Flying Wing transferred to Boscombe which was about 1994 or 1995.

Sorry I confused you about the three letter trigraphs, by that I meant Strike Command units. Of course the reason behind trigraphs is that only 7 characters can be put in the callsign box on a flightplan, so callsigns such as BLACKBOX are written as RRS.

And when I was at Turnhouse the OC 12 AEF was the last commander of the 207 Sqn detachment.

And of course the Royal Navy operated the Devon although they called it the SeaDevon. Must admit that I never saw one.

The Comms squadron at Lee used them along with Wessex's; they were frequent 'customers' on Farnborough LARS so I never saw them 'in the flesh', only on radar.
Not sure but they may have been painted green like the Wessex.

Kevin wrote:

RAF Devons were consolidated in March 1976 when No. 21 Squadron disbanded at Andover and No. 26 ditto at Wyton, leaving just No. 207 at Northolt.

What about the ex Wyton one which was (allegedly so I was told at Coningsby in 1985) purloined by BBMF.
As it wasn't on their inventory, they had no spares, so with Transport Flight at Farnborough having just 'demobbed' their Devons in favour of Navajo Chieftains, I gave BBMF a phone number to call to see if there were any spares left at Farnborough.
Surprise surprise, a few weeks later we were treated with a visit by the BBMF Devon. Soon after arrival, it was pushed into the hangar where our Devons used to live, to emerge a couple of hours later with its undercarriage more compressed then when it went in.
As for Doves, one registered G-OPLC moved into the civil enclave at Farnborough soon after it opened; I don't know who actually owned it but Lord (call me David) Trefgarne often flew it, as he did when it moved to Fairoaks.
It now 'lives' at Dunsfold and often flies private charters out of Fairoaks.