Jaguars at Cosford.

Paul – I shouldn’t hold much hope of them ever re-entering service . The were ‘war reserve’ Jaguar’s at Halton in 1989 which never got used . Twenty years down the road they have had their day!

It is my understanding that the Jaguar simulator has been dismantled and sold. Wouldn’t this be essential to train / retrain pilots if they ever wanted to bring them back into service?
Paul

From a base visit on 22nd May 2008 th efollowing Jaguars were noted.

COSFORD DCEA 22nd MAY 2008

Av+MTS HANGAR

XZ112 GW JAGUAR GR3
XZ377 EP JAGUAR GR3
XZ391 ET JAGUAR GR3
XZ368 E JAGUAR GR1
XX756 W JAGUAR GR1
XX726 EB JAGUAR GR1
XX746 S JAGUAR GR1
XX117 ES JAGUAR GR3
XZ104 FM JAGUAR GR1
XX766 EF JAGUAR GR1
XX767 FK JAGUAR GR3
XZ115 ER JAGUAR GR3
XX723 EU JAGUAR GR3
XZ114 EO JAGUAR GR3
XX738 ED JAGUAR GR3
XZ399 EJ JAGUAR GR3

Av+WEAPONS HANGAR

XZ398 EQ JAGUAR GR3
XZ109 EN JAGUAR GR3
XX729 EL JAGUAR GR3
XX112 EA JAGUAR GR3
XZ103 EF JAGUAR GR3
XZ392 EM JAGUAR GR3
XX970 EH JAGUAR GR3
XX752 EK JAGUAR GR3
XZ371 AP JAGUAR GR1

HANGAR 4

XX835 EX JAGUAR T4
XX840 EY JAGUAR T4
XX725 T JAGUAR GR3 PINK
XX847 EZ JAGUAR T4
XX748 EG JAGUAR GR3
XX724 EC JAGUAR GR3
XX958 BK JAGUAR GR1
XX119 JAGUAR GR3 TIGER

HANGAR 3

XX976 BD JAGUAR GR1
XX968 AJ JAGUAR GR1
XX743 EG JAGUAR GR1
XX969 01 JAGUAR GR1
XZ374 JC JAGUAR GR1
XX967 AC JAGUAR GR1
XZ389 BL JAGUAR GR1
XX819 CE JAGUAR GR1
XX959 CJ JAGUAR GR1
XZ370 JB JAGUAR GR1
XX825 BN JAGUAR GR1
XX818 DE JAGUAR GR1
XZ390 DM JAGUAR GR1
XX110 EP JAGUAR GR1 PINK
XZ384 BC JAGUAR GR1
8905M 07 JAGUAR GR1 (XX975)
XX727 ER JAGUAR GR1

HANGAR 2

XX730 EC JAGUAR GR1
XX956 BE JAGUAR GR1
XX757 CU JAGUAR GR1
XX824 AD JAGUAR GR1

For those who are unfamilar will the layout of Cosford, Hangars 2, 3 and 4 are the big ones on the airfield, adjacent to the museum. Hangar 4 contains the aircraft maintained in ground running condition, this allows students to practise on ‘live’ aircraft.

The other two Hangars are on the opposite side of the railway line, therefore have no access to the airfield, they are used a for basic airframes trade training.

‘…plus no doubt several at St Athan’ No complete Jags at St Athan now.
I thought Everett Aero had most of them!

With the Phantoms I think it was a different story because of them being American aircraft, though it is surprising how many did linger on in dark corners.
With the Lightning it seems the RAF went balls out to see them get preserved as much as possible, which was a nice touch.

Does any one know how many Jaguars are actually stored at Cosford, my impression is rather a lot, no doubt more than available Typhoons.
With the final examples being flown up from Coltishall, and from pics I’ve seen, joining quite a few already there, plus no doubt several at St Athan, a ground running one at Cranwell being noted as well, what, 30-40, more?
Is this really some kind of strategic reserve then.
When the Lightnings and Phantoms went, it was pretty final. At Wattisham, I remember the lines of Phantoms being reduced in a corner of the airfield, in my visits to Coltishall towards the end, you never saw one tatty decoy, which was unusual, or was that just 21st century politics.

inside knowledge?

I thought they had a fair bit of life left but will happily be corrected……:confused:

lovely aircraft though – saw a couple of belting pictures of low level flying by Andy Cubin in Oman………between hangers etc,

They’d need new wings first:eek:

either that or they could be sold (India? Oman?) as they are in such good condition?

Hmmmmmmm……………:rolleyes:

surely……….

they could be flown to pieces in Afghanistan now rather than run down the harriers that may be needed while the F-35 drags is sorry backside through testing? wrong forum ?

either that or they could be sold (India? Oman?) as they are in such good condition?

The Jags there (by that I mean the last ones that 6 Sqn retired, not ancient GR1’s!) are indeed on the war reserve and if needed they could be returned to service. They are looked after by the staff at ATSC, they are ground run every 28 days and towed about regularly. They are at the moment trying to get permission to taxy them to simulate flight line operations to train people up in the running of said flight line.

I was on a course at Cosford recently and they are looked after very well. There are no holes where boxes have been removed, and apart fromt the seats being made safe and all the carts being removed, as far as I could tell they are both internally and externally complete.

They regularly have electrical and hydraulic power applied and on occasion are even jacked up to allow landing gear funcs. The staff there are a good bunch who treat them with a great deal of respect. Basic trainees are not let loose on them!!

The Ground Instructional Airframes used for technical training have to be regarded as real serviceable aircraft in order to give proper experience for the trainees. When I was at Cranwell we had Sea Vixens, an early Lightning and a Provost which were all complete and fully serviceable with a proper F700 (not that I would have wanted to fly in one without a proper Major first!). Obviously to teach painters you just want a structurally complete aircraft, and for structural repair you just want a lump of fuselage – we had a Canberra rear fuselage which was comprised almost entirely of patches.

Apart from the kit that is common to the Harrier fleet………

Forgot about that….:o

Drove past Cranwell the other day and saw a Jaguar running up outside the Engineering School on the far side of the airfield.

Apart from the kit that is common to the Harrier fleet………

Hi Peter

Can’t speak for now, but up until 2004 the Jaguar Maintenance Policy Statement had a section devoted to the Policy for Ground Instructional Airframes and particularly the mainplanes. Some of the wings were to be kept in as good a condition as possible for a potential return to service, I wouldn’t be surprised if these aircraft were kept at a reasonable level of serviceability ‘in case of’. Aside from that there is no reason to cannibalise the aircraft as they are no longer in service but should be representative of a front line aircraft for instructional purposes.

John