On 22 April 2013 at RAF Coningsby, four Typhoons lined up, and later flew as a three ship, in 41(Reserve) Squadron markings for the first time. The Typhoons will be operated by 41 (R) as part of their Test and Evaluation Squadron (TES) role alongside the Tornado GR4s they are already equipped with.
The four Typhoons were all previously assigned to 17 (Reserve) Squadron, which was tasked with bringing the Typhoon into service as the Operational Evaluation Unit (OEU). With the Typhoon considered fully operational with all Typhoons at Block 5 or higher, 17(R) have been stood down and will stand up at Edwards Air Force Base in California in the near future to act as the OEU for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
The four Typhoons are:
ZK332 coded as EB-J (was previously AI with 17(R) Sqn)
ZJ947 coded as EB-L (was previously AH as well as the special marked tail with 17(R) Sqn)
ZJ930 coded as EB-R (was previously AA with 17(R) Sqn)
ZJ914 is still coded DS*
*ZJ914 is coded DS from a previous assignment with 11 (Fighter) Squadron (although it has previously been operated by 17(R) as AF). It will be returning to the fleet and a 29 (Reserve) Squadron twin seat T3 will be assigned to 41(R) to replace it. This will get a EB- coding but at this time that code is undecided.
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