BAE Systems

78 The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017

and sophisticated nav/attack system.

Jaguar B – twin-seater trainer with one

DEFA 30mm cannon, five external stores

points, no provision for flight refuelling

and sophisticated nav/attack system as

Jaguar S.

The Jaguar prototypes

It was decided to build eight prototypes.

Four for the Armée de l’Air flew first, E01

and E02 twin-seaters and the two single

seaters, A03 and A04 which flew in

numerical order. M05 was the prototype

for the Aeronavale and then came three

British built prototypes, two single-seaters,

S06 and S07 and finally B08 a twin-seater.

Each of them was allotted specific roles in

the test programme.

The first flight of E01 finally took place

on 8 September 1968 with Breguet’s Chief

Test Pilot, Bernard Witt at the controls at

Istres. The other prototypes followed in

early 1969. The first British prototype S06

registered XW560 first flew piloted by

Jimmy Dell on 12 October 1969 and S07,

XW563 flew on 12 June 1970. The final and

eighth prototype, B08 XW566 built to

production standard flew on 30 August 30

1971 with Paul Millet at the controls.

During the test programme, various

external refinements were made to the

design including revised nosewheel doors,

engine air intakes and spine contours (to

house an improved air-conditioning

system), cambered tailplane and a fin of

increased area. The ventral fins were added

early in the test programme to improve

stability while the airbrakes were enlarged

and perforated during development flying.

Engine problems

During the early years of flight testing

problems with the Adour caused frequent

hold-ups to flying, and a very high engine

failure rate. From September 1971

prototype E02 was based at Warton for

three years, during which it was used by

Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca for Adour

development. The Adour powerplant was

still a poor and erratic performer even after

two years and 1,000 flying hours.

Test flying losses

During the test programme, aside from the

ongoing issues with the Adour engines,

very few serious development problems

arose, although some delay resulted from

the loss of three of the five prototypes. The

first aircraft E01 crashed on approach to

Istres in March 1970 when it appeared that

an engine had failed and the pilot shut

down the other engine in error. A03 was

written off after a heavy landing in

February 1972 and S06 XW560 after an

engine fire during ground running at the

A&AEE Boscombe Down in August 1972.

By the end of 1973, with production

aircraft entering service, the development

programme was declining in intensity and

trials shifted on to more esoteric items,

such as spinning which required a

considerable amount of analysis and

dangerous test-flying and subsequent

modification.

Production

The final number of Jaguars received by

the two air arms was 400. Britain dropped

the Jaguar from the training role reducing

its order to 35 trainers while increasing its

single-seater order to 165. France also

modified its order and received 160 Jaguar

A strike aircraft and only 40 Jaguar E

trainers.

In service with the

French Air Force

The French Jaguars entered service in 1973

were gradually formed into nine

squadrons (three of which were nuclear

strike) plus a tactical navigation unit.

Unlike British Jaguars they never received

upgraded Adour engines so take off

ˆ E-22 in special

markings to

celebrate the end of

French Jaguar

operations in 2005

at Cazaux.

(Jean-Pierre Touzeau)

‡ French Air Force

Jaguars stored at

Chateaudun in 2005

after their

withdrawal from

service. (Jean-Pierre

Touzeau)