Mallet Blow 90/2
Hello.
Some new info has come to light that might be of interest/use.
As we know, the MoD has always denied having Harriers in Scotland at the time/day when the Calvine photo was allegedly taken. They might well be telling the truth, or they might be being a little pedantic due to official secrecy and the nature of parliamentary answers, e.g.
Q: "Can the Minister please say whether the RAF had Harriers near Calvine at 9pm on 4th August 1990?"
A: "No, we didn't." (Unsaid: We had Harriers near Calvine at 8.55pm, but you didn't ask that.)
Anyway, according to Hansard, between 30th July and 3rd August 1990 (the day before the Calvine sighting allegedly occurred), the low-flying exercise Mallet Blow 90/2 was undertaken in northern England and the Borders region of Scotland (which doesn't include Calvine, but it's reasonably close).
In the 18 Mallet Blow exercises from Mallet Blow 84/1 to Mallet Blow 89/2, Harriers were involved in every instance.
In Mallet Blow 89/2, a total of 193 Tornadoes, Jaguars, Harriers, F-111s, F-16s, and F-18s took part, so it was quite large.
And in Mallet Blow 90/1, aircraft flew from the following bases:
RAF Brize Norton
RAF Coltishall
RAF Coningsby
RAF Cottesmore
RAF Honington
RAF Leeming
RAF Leuchars
RAF Linton-on-Ouse
RAF Marham
RAF Waddington
RAF Wattisham
RAF Wittering
A & AEE Boscombe Down
RAF Alconbury
RAF Bentwaters
RAF Lakenheath
RAF Upper Heyford
RAF Bruggen
RAF Laarbruch
331W
RAF Gutersloh
GAF Büchel
GAF Bremgarten
GAF Leck
GAF Norvenich
NAEWF Geilenkirchen
A few thoughts/queries:
Q1. Do any old hands hence recall Mallet Blow 90/2 and the involvement of any Harriers, please?
Q2. During Mallet Blow exercises up to 90/2, night flying wasn't apparently permitted (11pm to 7am), and scheduled flying seemed to end 30 minutes after sunset. (Sunset on 4.8.1990 in Calvine was at 21:22, so in practical terms, was there enough time for a Harrier or two to be in the air at 9pm over Calvine and fly back to a nearby base by 21:52?)
Q3. If Mallet Blow 90/2 ended on Friday 3rd August 1990, might there have been any reason for a Harrier or two to just stay over in southern Scotland or northern England (at a base other than their home squadron base), and hence be in the air on Saturday 4th August?
Q4. Were exercises like Mallet Blow ever extended for 24 hours or into a weekend for any reason (bad weather, logistics, more practice requested)?
Thank you.
Last edited by Matthew Illsley; 2nd Mar 2022 at 09:49.