Jag at Gib

[Navaleye]

I'm looking at it now. What is its purpose given that the type has been withdrawn?

[Wander00]

Set off from UK 10 years ago, just made it.................(hat, coat........)

[Schnowzer]

Lol. Thank god for afterburner otherwise it would just be passing the Scilly Isles

[Not_a_boffin]

XX956

Demobbed - Out of Service British Military Aircraft (http://www.demobbed.org.uk/aircraft.php?type=631)

Appears to have been preserved since 2009 - gate guardian, even if she's tucked away in a corner??

[The Helpful Stacker]

Jaguar XX956 at Gibraltar « SEPECAT Jaguar in detail (http://sepecat.info/b/2010/12/03/jaguar-xx956-at-gibraltar/)

Should have left her painted in the grey/green camouflage rather than the very wrong looking grey they used.

[Skeleton]

It was indeed the Gate Guardian placed by the Western Hanger in 2009. Its no coincidence that the Station Commander at the time had spent most of his career flying Jaguars.

It has been moved a few times.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Jags were deployed to Gib to "guard" it in the early '80s, after the Spanish got a bit uppity after the Falklands.

I recall a Jag pilot and myself (in civvies) being accosted by a peace protester harridan in the Square during a demo one Saturday.

"What are you going to do when the bomb drops ?!"
He replied
"Retrim & fly home....I'm going to be the one dropping it"

(Jag pilots were usually on attachment to Gib from Bruggen, where they mounted Nuclear QRA)

[Skeleton]

The UK Sqns including the OCU took there turn as well.

[newt]

Spent three glorious weeks in Gib as Jaguar detachment commander. We flew several missions a day including splash firing and ship identification.

Great Mess and some jolly good japes including putting flour on the fans in the dining room for a dinner night! :ok:

Bloody IPad predictive typing again! Sorry! Now corrected!

[Brian 48nav]

Did you really mean flower(s)? Or was it flour - self-raising ;) ?


B48N, Jag-mate's Pa!

[Exascot]

*...putting flower on the fans in the dining room

I seem to recall a game where one tried to jump up just high enough to have a beer can knocked off your head by the fan but not too high to decapitate. :eek:

A great OM.

[Background Noise]

Did a stint on the Jag Det in Gib in 1985. They had recently stopped flying them in and out from the duty squadron and 3 aircraft were permanently based there. They had various old sqn markings so we painted them out and replaced them with G, I and B on the fins and nose doors. Flew with live armed HE rounds and had a go at splash for the first time. Can't remember what the readiness was but it must have been daylight only and we had 3 'QRA' ex-stn bikes, all painted red and white I seem to remember.

I can't recall the Jags being deployed in response to anything specific, I was under the impression that they had taken over from the Hunter det.

It was a great mess at Western Beach but over the next few visits the bar went out to tender (NAAFI) and a security fence was put up on the patio. Later it became tri-service and then became the Sgts mess, officers being consigned to HMS Rooke.

[Skeleton]

No specific threat, more a reminder to the Spanish we were ready to defend Gib.
Daylight only and there was no specific readiness.

[NutLoose]

Yep was supposed to be a low key detachment but to remind the Spanish we were there, I was there when the border opened and the Det Boss I seem to remember decided to join in so put up some Jags, needless to say people in high places nearly choked on their lunch when it was on the news....
Highlights of Gib, trying to get in with the place out of limits, nearly hit the rock and crash alarm pressed, night on the Algarve.....the naked ninja wrecking the police bar, 2 Guys going straight back on the trooper they arrived on (after asking a cleaner in the NAAFI what she thought of this while flashing her, not a lot apparently and neither did her RAFP hubby :E ) sgt with the call out beeper who having been on the beer with us at lunchtime said he would have one more, so we left to change, arrived back in same bar at 10 pm to find him passed out on the stairs, beeper still clipped to his belt.

There are pictures of the dets on the 14sqn association site.

[big v]

When the Americans bombed Tripoli after Lockerbie, it was decided to have some proper air defences for Gib. The Army sent a bunch of Rapiers, the RN sent HMS something and the RAF sent its finest - 29 Sqn of course. H24 QRA. Pee'd off northern neighbours. And a fine time was had by one and all.

The piccy didn't work but it's here:

https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/photo.php?fbid=10151602614449461&set=o.389719607763196&type=3&theater

Jaguar air defence :Dhttps://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/photo.php?fbid=10151602614449461&set=o.389719607763196&type=3&theater

[NutLoose]

The Jags also used to play Exocet for any passing Navy boats heading south to the Falklands.

Nice picture of the slowest versions of the F-4 ever built :}

http://www.14sqn-association.org.uk/14_Squadron_Association/Jaguar.html#10

[big v]

The Jags also used to play Exocet for any passing Navy boats heading south to
the Falklands.

Nice picture of the slowest versions of the F-4 ever
built :}



Maybe, but for a Jag mate to say that.........:eek:

[NutLoose]

Crawls back under rock :p

One had to say something :)

[newt]

So how was the Jaguar a facsimile of the F4?:=

[Dengue_Dude]

So how was the Jaguar a facsimile of the F4?

A very, very poor one I suspect.

Besides (alluding to the 'famous photo') not every aircraft needed a motorway to get airborne (Summer 1976 if memory serves). I remember stickers in the urinals at Gutersloh saying 'Come back Harriers, all is forgiven'.

Held in high esteem that jet . . . :ok:

[NutLoose]

Little birdy told me it wasn't carrying proper bombs either, but plastic jobbies that were megga light

[Madbob]

I remember the Jags on II (AC) Sqn using every last foot of runway at Laarbruch in 1979 to take off in summer. (Adour 102's with about 7,300 lbs in full reheat :yuk::yuk::yuk: then).

I don't know what engine thrust would have been by 1985 when Jags got later engines with a bit more oomph but I certainly would NOT like to have attempted to take off from Gib's runway at max war load at 30 degrees C........

The thought of a reheat blow-out and just CHAG as a stopping option would put most people off trying with even a light jet. I was never a Jag mate, though did get two back seat rides with D****k B****e and D**k S******r during a pre-BFTS hold, so other factors such as tyre limiting speeds, are a mystery. Always had a lot of RESPECT to those that flew them.:ok:

MB

[nipva]

I was under the impression that they had taken over from the Hunter det

Red section quit Gibraltar for good on the morning of 3rd August 1979 after many years of faithful service leaving behind many happy memories of Penelope's, Ray's Inn, USOC and, of course, Town Range.

From what I remember, it was quite some time before there was any form of permanent replacement detachment.

[Navaleye]

I watched three Airbus A320s do just that Heavy in under 10m and they did it in half the length of the strip. I first flew there in a Vanguard in 1969 and even that struggled to stop.

[NutLoose]

There is a new book out of tales of daring do from the Jag community

Jaguar Boys: True Tales from Operators of the Big Cat in Peace and War: Amazon.co.uk: Ian Hall: Books

I have been temped to buy it :p


.

[newt]

What! Two pages and no milk jokes! You boys are slipping! If you flew the jet then you know how good it was. If not then do keep up the rhetoric. We love it!:ok::ok::ok:

[Skeleton]

Saw a Jag airborne by the Spanish road once in the middle of August!!, it was early morning, display fit and fuel, but it still counts! Was an air test, think he went once round the rock, declared fuel priority and landed
;)