Jaguar Farewell

[Mr Blake]

Fantastic 12 ship flypast across the Flatlands. As expected very professional and superbly executed. After 20 years on the old crates, a sad sad day, but time to move on I guess. Will we be so affectionate about the sprightly young typhoon in 3 decades?

[mojocvh]

Not the first time either....

Sad fact that this is not the first time this has happened-what was the Leeming based unit that, whilst on operations over balkans, got the dreaded phone call?

[MostlyHarmless]

Well that's a 12 ship, a 8 and a 7 this week - how many other forces can put that up?!

[PPRuNeUser0211]

12 on the walk, 8 on the taxi and 7 airborne, no worries!

[Inverted81]

Saw the formation on radar this morning/afternoon... caused quite a stir in the ops room in Aberdeen looking at the Anglia Radar sector....

I'm sure all at Aberdeen, and in particular those who work Anglia Radar will miss seeing the Jaguar..

Good luck to the current force.

Any more pics of the flypast would be greatly received... (Nice to see the "Real" thing)

81

[Junta Leader]

Saw the last one leave Lossie on Thursday..... Not a dry eye in the house.

[Bob Viking]

Flypasts

It was only a matter of time until I had to post something!
Just got in from happy hour. A little earlier than desirable but c'est la vie!
May I just add that the formation was accomplished by launching 12 from 12. Neither of the 2 hot spares were required!
BV

[Ex F111]

Brief and Step the lads an hour earlier and have them paint them themselves. At least you know they will get the job done, on time and correctly.

[whowhenwhy]

In a way it feels like Coltishall's chapter of history is finally coming to an end as the jet goes. JS, I still remember spending a great deal of time sitting down with you after you'd just come back to the Force after being on the IPT, learning stuff for a presentation at the Purple Learning College. You and the guys have been treated very shabbily.

Will always remember as I got to the mid-point of my time at Colt when they got the Eng sorted out, having upwards of 30 jets on the line everyday. They'd all go within 30 minutes of each other and all come back together 90 minutes later. Made it even more fun when the Viggens and Hawks came over and we tried recovering about 40 jets in IFR in the space of 35 minutes. Good times.

I realise that it's a pain to get to, but are you planning on including us poor dejected rotary airfields on the tour? Particularly the southerly one!!!

[neilmac]

Lossie farewell

loads of pics on

http://www.ukar.co.uk/cgi-bin/ukarboard/ikonboard.cgi

Under mil photos.

It mentions in one thread how the lead said we will miss Lossie and the reply from the female controller was yep bye, she could have said more!! Maybe I am just being to sentimental!

NM

[clicker]

Was unable to make Friday but did a quick visit on Thursday.

Nice to see the Jag's out of their lair although would prefer to see them continue for a few more years.

Thanks to JS for the heads up and I wish all 6 Sqnd lads and lasses well in their new adventures.

clicker

[Zoom]

During my USAF exchange we 'sharkmouthed' all of our F-4s on a Sunday. The proverbial hit the fan on the Monday. We painted them out on the Tuesday - very poorly.

But for a couple of days they looked fantastic.

[ericferret]

I am curious as to 6 squadron being described as having uninterrupted service since formation.

The standard work on RAF squadrons Wing Commander Jeffords
"RAF squadrons" shows them as disbanded once.

A cross check with "Flying Units of the RAF" by Alan Lake shows them as disbanded twice.

I suppose it all comes down to definition of disbanded.

Out of interest 24 squadrons entry in Jeffords book shows them as never disbanded since formation.

[Archimedes]

The presence of 6 (Designate) Squadron with Jaguars at Lossie is the answer. When the Phantom equipped 6 Squadron disbanded, 6 (Designate) Squadron - which had formed some time months before - simultaneously lost its 'Designate' title and the squadron seemlessly re-equipped. As noted above, the silver, standards, etc had been handed over to the Jag equipped unit before the Phantom unit stood down.

IIRC - and being pedantic - 6 (Phantoms) disbanded at 23:59:59 and 6 (Jaguars) came into being at 00:00:00, so the squadron disbanded for a nanosecond or two...

You're right about 24 Squadron, although it reduced to cadre status in the early 20s, IIRC.

[ericferret]

6 also had a cadre existence previously when they converted from Canberras to Phantoms. January to May 1969.

I reckon that accepting the cadre existence as valid then 6 shades it in the historical stakes by virtue of it's date of formation 31 Jan 1914 as to 24's
1 Sept 1915.

However you cut it both have a long and proud service record.

Jeffords definition of a squadron makes depressing reading.

" A squadron is a squadron because the ministry says it is"!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The MOD has little interest in sentiment, observe the treatment of some army regiments with histories stretching over several hundred years.

[REDBEARING]

how much money was saved?

colt,

why o why, is this cheap reliable kit sent to the bin, its got years ahead, dont vote for blair, bin blair, it could carry loads, and does many jobs so well, ok VFR only, its still worth having, but lets just be grateful that it was so good, what next?? perhaps these will come back like those hunters???

[soddim]

No way did 6 reduce to cadre status in 1969 - we suffered the great hardship of a trip to Cyprus whilst converting to the new Phantom as No 1 Course and took back with us to Coningsby the two Royal standards and all the silver. For the remainder of our conversion to the jet we were in every sense No 6 Squadron and proud to be so. In every way we were a squadron although, sadly, we had no groundcrew because some idiot in head shed thought that centralised servicing was the way to go - took a while to prove that he was wrong.

[ex_rigger]

6 Sqdn

Thanks for the the heads up JS. Guess it has been a bummer of a week for you all. Like the rest of the posts I am saddened to see the untimely end of this great a/c. I did my tour on six in the mid eighties and had a great time.
Having come off Lightnings it was a revelation to be home by around 23.00hrs off a night shift. Go on detachment with 12 jets, fly 95% plus of our sorties and then bring them all home together. At Deci and many other detachments beat the F4 guys to the bar by hours and not give a damn about the dish of milk placed for our cats. We always knew when the chips were down we would beat the S**t out of them.
Just hope you can somehow keep the number plate alive.
All the best to all air and ground crews.

[Wee Jock McPlop]

Yep, this decision makes lots of sense. Spend sqillions of pounds upgrading an already capable platform and then sh..can it shortly after to save not an awful lot. Yet another blinding decision from the powers that be. Ranks along side the old one of spending tens of millions modernising/upgrading an airfield (Chivenor readily springs to mind) and then promptly closing it. Do these idiots never learn - clearly not. If you invest heavily in something, you should get a return from that investment. The politicians, civil servants and the air ranks involved in this decision should hang their heads in shame. The timescales involved in that decision are, quite frankly, breathtakingly quick and brutal. Makes me glad i've left, if thats the way they work.

Had the pleasure of working with the Jags during the early to mid-nineties. A more professional, dedicated and talented bunch you could not find. Best wishes to JS, the aircrew and groundcrew. Hope you enjoy the last days and see the Cat out of service in style - i'm sure you will. Rise above them.

Best wishes,

WJMcP

[DHI]

Thanks

Sir and all. Have assisted Jag air and groundcrews throughout years, from the early eighties to as recently as last year. In Abu Dhabi on our way to Magic Carpet and even RIAT, but thats another story!

Many Thanks, till the next time.

Cheers

DHI