Exercise JATFOR 1970's?
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Exercise JATFOR 1970's?
Evening All
Just being looking on you tube about the C130, came across a snippet about when 36 C130's took part in Exercise JATFOR. Does anyone have any more details on this exercise back then.
Just being looking on you tube about the C130, came across a snippet about when 36 C130's took part in Exercise JATFOR. Does anyone have any more details on this exercise back then.
I'm pretty sure there was a period in 1973 or 1974, when I was involved in Air Transport force tasking, that the board was cleared for a full-scale JATFOR exercise. I stand to be corrected by anyone flying out of Lyneham in those days.
I think it was in July 1972 when I was on a short detachment at RAF Lyneham, during which a JATFOR exercise was held. I think it was EX CHAMPION HURDLE? First by day, then by night. For the day event, I watched as 39 aircraft all started simultaneously - a huge brown cloud rose over the aerodrome, then off they all went, although some were spares, but weren't needed. After they'd all launched, we climbed into a bus and raced off to the DZ to watch the delivery of the paras and their kit.
An amazing experience - but then I went along on aircraft 35 of 36 at night! All at low level; I vaguely recall seeing Trevose Head and also the disused RW markers at Merryfield before we ran in to deliver the paras. Watching their speed of exit when the green light came on was fascinating - MUCH quicker than in any war film.
By the time we got back to the squadron, someone had pinned the 'scoresheet' of paras delivered on the board, plus injuries sustained. A few sprains, but no broken bones!!
Brave chaps to hurl themselves out into the blackness like that, with only a few seconds to wait before they hit the dirt.
An amazing experience - but then I went along on aircraft 35 of 36 at night! All at low level; I vaguely recall seeing Trevose Head and also the disused RW markers at Merryfield before we ran in to deliver the paras. Watching their speed of exit when the green light came on was fascinating - MUCH quicker than in any war film.
By the time we got back to the squadron, someone had pinned the 'scoresheet' of paras delivered on the board, plus injuries sustained. A few sprains, but no broken bones!!
Brave chaps to hurl themselves out into the blackness like that, with only a few seconds to wait before they hit the dirt.
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I remember standing on the pan at Brize late 80's in the early hours of dawn and there were lots of them flew over in trail. It was a sight to see in that early morning sun.
"Mildly" Eccentric Stardriver
The Kiel Canal drop was Ex "Bold Guard", 19th Sep 1974. I believe that was the end of JATFOR exercises. There is a lot of stuff on Wiki about it. A combination of faults/failures. As I recall, the DZ was wrongly marked, the winds were not as planned, and of course, the ship was there. I was co-pilot on one of the last aircraft to drop. We were mesmerised by all the lights and flares going off, and continued the run-in. It wasn't until the nav said "for crissake, they are red lights" that we threw it away. Normally expecting just a red flare, the amount of light distracted us. As we flew over the DZ I saw the ship off to the right. We diverted to Hahn to offload.
The person who I believe committed suicide was the canal master. The canal should have been closed to traffic at that time.
The person who I believe committed suicide was the canal master. The canal should have been closed to traffic at that time.
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For me, the whole exercise changed .with myself and an RMP sergeant maintaining liaison with Germans. We were the only two German speakers. Liaison was maintained by raiding the duty free store and setting ourselves up next to the German police.
A very busy week ensued and I was glad to get home, albeit with some very sad and unhappy memories.
If you look on the 'Global Aviation 'thread you will find lots (including some of my pics) on the whole JATFOR concept . I was an airdrop instructor on the OCU and participated in most JATFOR exercises including , 'Bold Guard' as mentioned and 'Deep Furrow' when we took 37 a/c to
Turkey for a NATO exercise.
Turkey for a NATO exercise.
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Wish I had seen many as that! when I was in the air force on detachment to Leeming once with 8 C130s. This was a two week exercise in which the paras were been dropped at the Otterburn Range around the clock!
Last edited by Boeing Jet; 22nd Mar 2021 at 15:09.
UK JATFOR (Joint Airborne Task Force) was a UK only capability that was canned in the 1974 Defence review.
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JATFOR holds a mix of good and bad memories, as I was Nav Ldr on one of the Lyneham Sqns for both the Turkey and Germany exercises in 73/74 and was much involved throughout. From my logbook I note that the Turkish exercise on 27th Sept 73 was a 37-ship low-level for 7hrs 55mins, only climbing to 1000’ to get back into the circuit at Incirlik! The Germany exercise (BOLD GUARD) on 10th Sept 74 was 6hrs 10mins as a 32-ship day into night and on the 11th again day/night for only 3hrs 15mins as we landed at GAF Hohn after aborting the drop. Herod (post #7) describes it well, as we were on the same Sqn and I was leading the wave of 6 and the first a/c to cancel our drop seeing the problems ahead. These exercises have been discussed at length elsewhere and Beagle (post #4) refers to the obvious effort/skill of the crews. The whole formation maintained almost radio silence from before engine start through taxy, take-off and form-up (can you imagine the noise if they didn’t?).
Remembering that this was all done before the Hercules had INS/GPS/SKE and for both day and night the crews had practised the 'procedural' flying needed to transition from low-level to ‘penetrate’ cloud to be both VMC ‘on top’ and in a position to quickly restore the formation. Similarly, the option to cancel and ‘scatter’ 36 Hercs safely from low-level and then all recover to Lyneham. It would take too long to explain how we would also take 18 a/c to the Benbecula VOR holding 1000’ apart, before descending IMC to break below cloud and in a position to form as an 18-ship! If you are sufficiently sad to be interested, you can PM me!
Other Ppruners including dougieM and ancientaviator62 were also much involved.
Clearly lots of training, with some mega-briefs and debriefs. One abiding memory is of our Luftwaffe Exchange Officer (Hptm Wolfgang Xylander) standing up at a debrief and saying “Now I know how you British win the wars – it is because you practice the chaos!”.
Remembering that this was all done before the Hercules had INS/GPS/SKE and for both day and night the crews had practised the 'procedural' flying needed to transition from low-level to ‘penetrate’ cloud to be both VMC ‘on top’ and in a position to quickly restore the formation. Similarly, the option to cancel and ‘scatter’ 36 Hercs safely from low-level and then all recover to Lyneham. It would take too long to explain how we would also take 18 a/c to the Benbecula VOR holding 1000’ apart, before descending IMC to break below cloud and in a position to form as an 18-ship! If you are sufficiently sad to be interested, you can PM me!
Other Ppruners including dougieM and ancientaviator62 were also much involved.
Clearly lots of training, with some mega-briefs and debriefs. One abiding memory is of our Luftwaffe Exchange Officer (Hptm Wolfgang Xylander) standing up at a debrief and saying “Now I know how you British win the wars – it is because you practice the chaos!”.
On Deep Furrow I despatched paras on the 25th Sept 1973 but we had a full 'dummy run' trip a few days before which lasted 8 hours ! On Bold Guard I dropped 1 Ton containers on the tenth and para on the eleventh of Sept 1974. We thought we had done a good job but when we landed after our para Bold Guard trip all hell had broken out. Seems like yesterday !
