Originally Posted by
MAINJAFAD
Unfortunately, I don't have photos of all of the Aberporth F540's as my research was Bloodhound related. Thus if nothing of note Bloodhound wise happened in a month, I have not photographed that sheet. Also I tended to photo the parts of the page that covered the Bloodhound operations and not parts that covered anything else. The Fighter Command MPC at Valley stood up on 1st June 1962 and the first Squadron to visit was 64 Squadron with their Javelins the following month.
2- 18 July 1962 - 64 Sqn - 5 Firestreaks fired (two successful. one partial success and two failures).
20-31 August 1962 - 33 Sqn - 5 Firestreaks fired (three successful and two failures).
19 November - 7 December 1962 - 33 Sqn - 6 Firestreaks fired (no details bar one was successful).
1963
January 1963 - Not photographed
February 1963 - No AAM firings
18 March - ??? - 41 Sqn - 2 Firestreaks fired in March. April F540 not photographed due to no Bloodhound Mk 1 firings that month.
29 April - 17 May 1963 - 23 Sqn - 5 Firestreaks fired (4 Successful, 1 failed).
June / July 1963 - No AAM firings
18 August - 5 September 1963 - 64 Sqn - 5 Firestreaks fired (4 Successful, 1 failed).
22 September - 4 October 1963 - 11 Sqn - 4 Firestreaks fired (3 Successful, 1 failure)
13 - 28 October 1963 - 5 Sqn - 5 Firestreaks Fired, all successful.
16 - 18 October 1963 - Two Javelins from 41 Sqn for low level Firestreak firing trials, two missiles fired, both successful.
November 1963 - No AAM firings.
Last Bloodhound Mk 1 fired on 1st November 1963, thus there major gaps until the Bloodhound Mk 2 service firing started in June 1966, however
13 - 23 January 1964 - 5 lightnings from 92 Sqn fired 5 firestreaks (all successful).
9-13 January 1966 - 74 Sqn - 5 firestreaks fired (2 successful, 3 failures)
4-26 April 1966 - 5 Sqn - 2 Firestreaks fired successfully
8-27 May 1966 - 111 Sqn - 5 Firestreaks fired (4 successful, 1 failure).
11-26.July 1966 - 23 Sqn - 5 Firestreaks fired. 4 successful, 1 failure.
5-21 September 1966 - 56 Sqn - 5 Firestreaks fired. ditto
17 October - 1 November 1966 - 19 Sqn - 5 Firestreaks fired. 3 Successful, 1 failure, 1 not recorded.
14-30 November 1966 - 92 Sqn - 3 Firestreaks fired. 2 successful, 1 partial successful.(MPC actually ended on 2nd December with no firings that month).
1967
9 January - 9 February 1967. Fighter Command Training unit deployed to FCMPC for Service Red Top Firing Trials
6 - 23 February 1967 - 29 Sqn - one Firestreak fired (failure). Weather stopped any other firings.
8-15 March 1967 - Fighter Command Trials Unit Red Top Trials (not known if deployed to FCMPC)
April 1967 - MPC details not photographed.
10-24 May 1967 - Fighter Command Trials Unit Red Top Trials (not known if deployed to FCMPC)
2-10 May 1967 - 5 Sqn - 4 Firestreaks fired (not known if deployed to FCMPC)
June 1967 - 2 Red Tops fired, no details of unit (8th and 14th June).
3 - 18 July 1967 - 92 Sqn - 7 Firestreaks fired (all successful)
21 August - 1st September 1967 - 23 Sqn - Firestreaks fired on 23rd, 29th, 30th and 1st..
18 September - 5 October 1967 - 19 Sqn - 3 Firestreaks fired, all failed
18 - 24 October 1967 - 111 Sqn - 5 Firestreaks fired, 4 successful, 1 failed.
November 1967 - MPC details not photographed.
December 1967 - MPC details not photographed.
1968
3-17 January 1968 - 226 OCU - 6 Firestreaks fired, 2 successful, four failures
1-15 February - 11 Sqn - 2 Firestreaks fired - successful. 3 Red Tops fired -Successful
19-23 February - 226 OCU - 4 firestreaks fired, 2 successful, two failed.
3-12 March 1968 - 29 Sqn - 4 Red Tops fired, all failed
27 April - 7 May 1968 - 5 Sqn - 3 Firestreaks (2S, 1F), 2 Red Top (2F).
26 June - 17 July 1968 - 92 Sqn - 7 Firestreaks fired (5S, 2 F)
4th July 1968 - First Red Top QRA firing (5 Sqn).
August 1968 - No AAM firings
September 1968 - MPC details not photographed.
October 1968 - MPC details not photographed.
November 1968 - MPC details not photographed.
1-9 December 1968 - 23 Sqn
3rd Firestreak S/N B481 (Flashhead) fired by Lightning XR 756
6th Firestreaks S/N B574AA and B776AA (Telemetry) fired by Lightning XR 762 and XR 938
9th Red Tops S/N YO 311 and YO 372 (Telemetry) fired by Lightning XS 937 and XR 729.
11th December 1968 Another Red Top S/N YO 709 (warhead) was fired from Lightning XP765 but this could have been either a Trial or QRA shot.
jan 96
February 1969 - MPC details not photographed.
2 - 28 March 1969 - 11 Sqn - 2 Red Tops fired (1F 1 not assessed) 3 Firestreaks fired (not assessed).
April 1969 - No AAM firings
May 1969 - Not photographed
June 1969 - Not Photograhed
July 1969 - No MPC. 2 QRA Red Top Firings.
18 August - 4 September 1969 - 111 Sqn - 5 Red Tops fired (results not recorded)
.9-21 October 1969 - 5 Sqn - . 4 Red Tops fired (9th, 16th, 21st). one warhead round, one flash head and two telemetry. (results not recorded)
21 November - 4 December 1969 - 29 Sqn - 5 Red Tops fired (21st, 27th, 28th, 4th) 1 Flash, 2 telemetry and 2 warhead (results not recorded)
12 - 30 January 1970 - 23 Sqn - 3 Red Tops fired (15th and 20th) 2 warhead and 1 flash head. results not reported..
February - March 1970 - 56 Sqn - 4 Red Tops fired, all failures.
April 1970 - No Records
May 1970 - 19 Sqn - 6 Firestreaks fired (results not recorded)
June 1970 - 111 Sqn - 5 Firestreaks fired (results not recorded)
16- 24 September 1970 - 56 Sqn - 4 Firestreaks fired. - not all details not photographed.
7th October 1970 a 29 Sqn Lighting fired a Red Top after being detached to Valley
21st October 1970 a 5 Sqn Lighting fired a Red Top after being detached to Valley
22 October - 4 November 1970 - 92 Sqn - 5 Firestreaks fired. - (results not recorded)
8 - 14 December 1970 - 5 Sqn - 5 firestreaks and 1 Red Top fired. (results not recorded)
Between 1971 and 1974 the Bloodhound Firing Unit did their own F540, so I've not looked at the main Aberporth F540 in any detail during that period bar to check up on anything that the BFU ORB had missed. however I have found the stuff below.
BOI at STCAAME in Feb 1971 due to a failure of Red Top firings on 28th Jan 1971
First RAF Sidewinder MPC by 43 Sqn between 19 / 20 April 1971. three missiles fired.
11-14 May 1971 - 5 Sqn - 5 Firestreaks fired
14 - 26 July 1971 - 56 Sqn - 5 Firestreaks fired . One missile serial is that of a Lightning (XP 743?)
17-20 July 1973 - 92 Sqn - 5 Firestreaks fired
1-15 August 1973 - 19 Sqn - 4 Firestreaks fired
13-14 August 1973 - 23 Sqn - 5 Firestreaks fired
1-11 October 1973 - 31 Sqn - 2 sparrows and a sidewinder fired
6-13 December 1974 - 43 Sqn - 3 sidewinders fired
1-3 September 1975 - 43 Sqn fired 2 sparrows and 2 sidewinders
30 September - 8 October 1975 - 31 Sqn fired 2 sparrows and 2 Sidewiders
13-16 October 1975 - 17 Sqn fired 1 sparrow and 3 sidewinders
After 1975, Bloodhound firings became quite rare with no more than four missiles being fired in any year up to 1982, normally in a short three month period in each year, so I've not got much after 1975. All dates that don't have QRA or Trial next to them are MPC's at Valley.