RAF Jaguar variants – serials and numbers. Help please!

Looking through stuff on the soon-to-be-gone Jag, I realised that there were still a number of unanswered questions.

How many GR1As and T2As were there? Which serials?

How many GR3s? Which serials?

How many GR3As? Which serials?

How many Adour 106 jets?

How many T4s?

We do at least know how many Granby IIIs, how many GR1Bs and T2Bs, but any help or thoughts on the rest would be appreciated.

[u]Jaguar GR.Mk 1A[/u]
Some 89 RAF Jaguars were upgraded with FIN1064 instead of NAVWASS. Previously there had also been an upgrade from the Adour 102 to the Adour 104 engine.

Most published sources suggest 75 GR1A and 14 T2A. This is too few Trainers.

or

70 GR1A and 19 T2A (according to DDSM5, then HQ RAFLC’s Jaguar Support Authority!)

Serials unknown, either way!

Before the Jaguar upgrade began, in the early 1990s, the Long Term Jaguar Fleet consisted of about 63 GR.Mk 1As & 19 T.Mk 2As (The Support Authority said 64 GR.Mk 1As!), though the overall total was given as 79, 81 or 83 aircraft.

Long term fleet GR1A
XX108, XX112, XX116, XX117, XX119, XX720, XX723, XX724, XX725, XX729, XX733, XX737, XX738, XX741, XX745, XX748, XX752, XX766, XX767, XX955, XX962, XX965, XX970, XX974, XX979, XZ103, XZ104, XZ106, XZ107, XZ108, XZ109, XZ111, XZ112, XZ113, XZ114, XZ115, XZ117, XZ118, XZ119, XZ355, XZ356, XZ357, XZ358, XZ360, XZ361, XZ363, XZ364, XZ366, XZ367, XZ369, XZ372, XZ375, XZ377, XZ378, XZ381, XZ385, XZ391, XZ392, XZ394, XZ396, XZ398, XZ399, XZ400.

Long term fleet T2A
XX139, XX141, XX144, XX146 , XX150, XX829, XX832, XX833, XX835, XX836, XX838, XX839, XX840, XX841, XX842, XX845, XX846, XX847, ZB615,

Jaguar GR.Mk 1A – Granby III
Some 25 Jaguars were converted to Granby 3 standards, with enhanced defensive aids and ECM, Have Quick radios, overwing ‘Winders, etc.

XX720, 729, 733, 737, 766, 767, 970, 974, XZ103, 104, 106, 107, 109, 112, 113, 355, 357, 360, 366, 369, 372, 381, 394, 396, 398

Jaguar GR.Mk 1B and T.Mk 2B
The original Jaguar TIALD programme, launched in response to a UOR, saw the conversion of nine Granby III Jaguar GR.Mk 1As to GR.Mk 1B standards. Because they operated under a deviation to the existing release to service, they should have remained as GR.Mk 1As and T.Mk 2As, but the new designations gained near official status and were commonly used. A tenth planned conversion (XX738) was actually completed as the Jaguar 96 Trial Installation (prototype).

9 GR1B: XX748 (TI), XZ391 (TI), XX962 (PI), XX725, 729, 733, 767, 970, XZ369

2 T2B: XX146, 835

Jaguar GR.Mk 3 and GR.Mk 3A
Determining how many of the Long Term Fleet have been upgraded to subsequent standards is extremely difficult. The Jaguar 96 (GR.Mk 3) is externally almost indistinguishable from the Granby III GR.Mk 1A except for the addition of the GR.Mk 1B’s new HUD and (after the first few conversions) a new GPS with a ‘jamjar lid’ type antenna in front of the windscreen. Inside the cockpit, the Jaguar 96 had a new hand controller, different to that fitted to the GR.Mk 1B. To muddy the waters further, the only external distinguishing feature of the Jaguar 97 (GR.Mk 3A) is a tiny helmet tracker in the top of the canopy, above the pilot’s head/headrest and visible only in the clearest, closest photos. Inside the cockpit the Jaguar GR.Mk 3As have a new stick top and a new AMLCD display, but externally telling the jets apart is very difficult. (Jamjar lid and no helmet tracker = J96, Jamjar lid and helmet tracker = J97). (Though carriage of a TIALD pod indicates that the aircraft is either 1 of the 5 J96 TIALD jets, a GR1B or a J97).

Jaguar GR.Mk 3 Jaguar 96
The last time I got an official figure from the Jaguar Support Authority they expected to convert 40 GR.Mk 1As and four T.Mk 2As to Jaguar 96 standards, and I have 37 serials officially ‘confirmed’ as J96s. These included:

5 J96 TIALD: XX119, XX729, XX738, XX767, XZ369

17 J96 Recce: XX748, XZ104, XZ106, XZ107, XZ108, XZ109, XZ113, XZ115, XZ117, XZ118, XZ355, XZ360, XZ361, XZ363, XZ364, XZ366, XZ367

15 J96 Attack: XX112, XX116, XX117, XX720, XX723, XX737, XX752, XX970, XX974, XX979, XZ372, XZ377, XZ394, XZ399, XZ400

Long term fleet not converted to J96: XX108, XX724, XX725, XX733, XX741, XX745, XX766, XX955, XX962, XX965, XZ103, XZ111, XZ112, XZ114, XZ119, XZ356, XZ357, XZ358, XZ375, XZ378, XZ381, XZ385, XZ391, XZ392, XZ396, XZ398

There were three standards – a small number of J96s with GR.Mk 1B style MPCD displays and full TIALD capability, and larger numbers of what were essentially GR.Mk 1As with a new HUD, hand controller, GPS, MIL STD 1553B and ‘productionised’ Granby type upgrade. These latter were sub-divided into aircraft with and without recce capability.

Some of the GR.Mk 1Bs actually lost their MPCD displays and TIALD capability in conversion to J96 standards, donating these to the T.Mk 4 conversion programme.

Jaguar GR.Mk 3A Jaguar 97
Some Jaguar 97s were produced through the conversion of existing Jaguar 96s, but others were converted from GR.Mk 1As – at least two of them from very long term storage. Reports that two ex GI airframe GR.Mk 1s were upgraded to J97 standards now seem erroneous, though such a conversion would have been entirely possible. Before the Jaguar’s OSD was brought forward the plan was for the whole Long Term Fleet to be converted to J97 standards, but with only sufficient LRUs for the active fleet (about 56 aircraft). How many aircraft were actually converted remains unclear.

Known J97: XX112, XX116, XX117, XX119, XX720, XX723, XX724, XX725, XX729, XX737, XX738, XX748, XX752, XX766, XX767, XX974, XZ103, XZ104, XZ106 (Adour 106 trials), XZ107, XZ109, XZ112, XZ113, XZ114, XZ115, XZ117, XZ118, XZ355, XZ356, XZ357, XZ360, XZ364, XZ366, XZ367, XZ369, XZ372, XZ377, XZ385, XZ391, XZ392, XZ394, XZ396, XZ398, XZ399, XZ400

Suspected J97: (can anyone confirm by helmet tracker?) XZ111 (w/o too early to have been converted to 3A?), XZ361 in service March 05, but…..? (probably not),

The final upgrade affecting the fleet was the installation of the Adour 106 engine. This was only fitted to Jaguar GR.Mk 3As and T.Mk 4s, and all of the aircraft now in service are believed to be fitted with the new ‘donk’, though there have been GR.Mk 3As without the new engine, and some may have been retired before they were re-engined.

Jaguar TMk 4
The two seat Jaguar 96 was designated as the T.Mk 4. I don’t know how many were converted, only that XX139 (TI), XX150 (PI), XX146? XX835, XX836?, XX838, XX840? XX841, XX842, XX846? XX847 are confirmed.