BEagle,
Be very careful, please, in any analysis of the "Black 6" accident. The pilot admitted to a misjudged forced landing. However, the reason why this was necesary in the first place was never conclusively proven. I suggest that anyone who is interested visits the AAIB website,
www.dft.gov.uk/ and looks under Accident Investigation in the bulletins for May 1998 for the accident report.
rustybh, 597, now there was a jet that brings back memories. It still sits outside the "museum at Boscombe. Still went to Mach 2 nicely right until the end (not easy in most Spey-engined ones). 852, the YF-4M was another nice one. Happy memories.
My F4 conversion lasted 2 1/2 days; the one day "senior officers' refresher" groundschool (i.e. what you really neded to know), an hour in the sim and a couple of dual trips. It was so much easier in the circuit than the Bucc as you did not approach at the AoA limit and you had thrust in hand! The only problem with flying both was that the audio AoA tones in the Phantom FG1 were in the opposite sense to those in the Bucc! And from 600 KIAS on the deck in a clean F4 you could make around 30,000 ft in a vertical climb at the end of a display. Those were the days.