. Im sorry my facts have been wrong in that they have 3 mths left to fly  .  Who cares whether they have 3 mths or 6 mths still to fly , they are still being  retired . They are still being replaced . They will still probably fly every now and then by the airforce or maybe they might sell them off  or put them on display . Sorry John i took so long to answer you but I was flying . As you said " still in operation "  well so are a lot of retired aircraft that the airforce have used .  Cheers ..