Know a guy who was on the station at which the footage of the Vulcans on the ground was taken. He told me that the Film producers asked the RAF if was possiable to use a Valiant and actually stage a real ditching of it. No guess required on what the MoD’s reply was.

They are current on both and actually prefer tanking off the boom (I have heard), easier to park the large aircraft behind the tanker and allow it to do the fiddly job of hooking up also a faster fuel transfer.

Having seen it first hand from the cockpit, you heard right.

Small target and fairly agile, certainly underpowered as you say but the late RAF variant had more poke as does the Indian version.

In air to air combat the French version was probably nothing much to write home about as it was a fairly orphan type in their fleet with a basic Magic capability. On the other hand the RAF fleet before they were retired had a helmet mounted sight and ASRAAM capability so were certainly potent close in. I’m sure I read somewhere that an RAF Jaguar got a kill on a Typhoon in an exercise somewhen.

Jaguar GR3 never got ASRAAM as far as I know (never saw one on a Jag LAU any time I was at Colt). Jaguars got toasted by Typhoon every time they played together as far as I know.

Jags did get a couple of F-15’s on a Red Flag back in the early 1980s with gun kills, two Jags at low level, F-15 leader drops in behind them only to be killed by two other Jags in trail that he and his wingman hadn’t seen. 2nd F-15 drops in behind the second pair of Jags, and gets a fox 3 call on him from a third pair of Jags behind the second pair.

133 Sqn started out with Hurricane II’s on their formation in 1941 if memory serves. Later got Spits and became part of 4th FG when their aircrew transffered to the USAAF.

The RAF has no place existing, just because an organisation is old it does not mean that it should be kept around. There is no doctrinal reason for the UK to have n independent air force.

The RAF exists to project AIR POWER across the majority of spectrum, something that the Navy and Army have never ever done and never will be able to do efficiently and effectively. (The reason that the RAF was formed in the first place, and its still valid today as it was in 1918).

Found this on the Web, BBC ‘Task Force South, the Battle for the Falklands’, made in late 1982. If you watch the Programme titled ‘Beach Head’ there is TV tracker footage of a SHAR shooting down an Argintine aircraft taken from one of the Frigates between 8.40 and 10.30 into the programme. Brian Hanrahan says it was taken on 21st May, hence that would have been Lt Morrell shooting down Capitan de Corbeta Philippi’s A-4Q Skyhawk after he bombed HMS Ardent. Another bit of TV tracker shows what I first though were Skyhawks when I first saw the footage in Jun 82, which at second glance today, look like Daggers, dropping bombs and turning. The tracker then continues tracking down into the sea to show what looks like cannon strikes in the water (I wonder if that footage is of one of the Type 22 getting strafed).

oops just spotted my deliberate mistake:o, checking Demobbed XX733 is no longer IIRC she crashed off the end of Colts runway in the mid 90s, but the doors were definitely on display in the foyer of the Sgts Mess.

The Spotty Jag scheme is too good to lose but IMHO, I don’t see it as being fitting for the Bomber Command hall at Hendon.

None of the Nose art panels at Colt were off the original GW1 aircraft, but repos done on gash panels by the orignal artist (the Orignals were across the panels and fixed parts of the airframes). The Pink Spitfire, Katrina Jane, White Rose and Saddam ones are now at the RAFADRM at Neatishead (Canopener Al rescued the Pink Spitfire panel from the Sgt Mess, it went to Coningsby and when 6 Sqn was canned, Al’s missus dropped it off at my House and I took it to Neatishead).

The 6 Sqn 90th Tail off the Hanger queen the Sqn had also survived, it was removed when the airframe was scrapped and went to Coningsby in Jun 06.

Spotty Jag must be kept!!!