RAF Phantoms in strike role

[WH904]

Does anyone know anything about this subject? I'm getting confused by stuff on the net as there isn't much reliable information. RAF claims that the Phantom could carry the B28 or 3 x B43 B51 or B61 but I thought only one bomb was carried under the fuselage?

If anyone know anything about the Phantom's strike role I'd love to hear from you as it seems to be a very poorly covered part of the RAF Phantom's history.

[Lightning Mate]

I think you will find that the only tactical "special weapon" used by the RAF was the WE177.

We could use it on the Bruggen Jaguar squadrons and I think that was the only one that could be carried by the Toomb, and would have been a single weapon on the fuselage pylon.

[WH904]

As I understood it, the Phantom carried only US weapons and the WE.177 wasn't carried until Jaguar came along?

I swear I have no idea why so little has been written about this period in the Phantom's service life. IT's not as if there are any secrets as almost everything is known about the V Force now, and yet there's so little information about the tactical forces that survived after that.

[wiggy]

According to Lake's book "Phantom Spirit of the skies", page 221:

"The RAF strike attack aircraft......could also be armed (Nos 14, 17 and 31 Squadrons ) with US-controlled B57 nuclear weapons".

I certainly heard one or two cryptic stories from the "old timers" during my time on the beast in it's AD days that, whatever the variant, it had certainly been an American controlled weapon :ooh:. Anyone prepared/able to spill the beans, or at least some of them??......

[WH904]

I don't think it is/was a secret, it just seems to be a sad fact that nobody has ever bothered to write anything much about the Phantom's brief spell in the strike role. There seems to be more to read about the Canberra, but after that... not much!

[chevvron]

Shirley the B57 was a Canberra!!

[Blanket Stacker]

There were US personnel at Bruggen to support/guard the weapon carried by the Phantoms. They and their very useful mini BX disappeared when the Jaguars took over the role.

[Kitbag]

This site (http://nuclear-weapons.info/) is often recommended reading in threads here. A quick search for Phantom implies that they were intended to carry US weapons only

[Terry McCassey]

I was at Bruggen 1974/7 whilst 14, 17 and 31 had the F4. We at Station Flight used to drag a ground power unit around the 'peri track' every few months or so to the US C141s that unloaded on a taxiway next to to sheep dip where we did the engine runs. Always heavily guarded with US military and it was rare to get even close to the loading and unloading during the weapon exchanges. The onbase BX as Blanket says was superb, ah, happy days . . .