To respond to a couple of posts.
SLF,
The Northern Q jets were FG1s, which were the Navy models - not all of them were ex-Navy, though. As such they didn't have things that didn't go well with ships in those days. So, no INAS, which needed to be pretty much stationary to align, no internal battery (maybe acid was too nasty for sailors), no HF (I don't know, but maybe the aircraft weren't supposed to go that far from the ship).
Joking aside, Leuchars ended up with the jets that did most of the QRA work, way out of range of land-based nav aids and comms, without a decent internal nav system and without the long-range radio. Just the way it happened, I suppose.
Biggus,
Yes, you are right. The picture there is the design of the Bear. The actual badge has a "10" in black in the middle of the bear's chest. There was never any intention to make any further badges in a series.
MSOCS,
Yes, I get that. Thanks.
AQ,
Yes, the API hamster wheel was bloody awful, especially as we all trained on a jet with the INAS. If you nurtured it and didn't go and do a lot of manoeuvring it would keep a reasonable PP. I think we've probably all had days when we were surprised by the way it could drift, but I believe that it could keep us in the ball park, as long as we looked after it. In the cases mentioned here, a little MDR may not have gone amiss. Maybe a discussion for early next month?
PN,
Yes, I think we were very lucky not to lose a Q jet in those days. For more reasons than just the nav kit.