F
or ten years from the mid-1970s the
SEPECAT Jaguar was the backbone
of RAF Germany’s (RAFG) nuclear
strike, attack and photographic
reconnaissance squadrons.
The Jaguar Conversion Team formed
in 1973 at RAF Lossiemouth, Moray, soon
becoming 226 Operational Conversion Unit
(OCU), training all RAF Jaguar pilots up to- The first officer commanding was Gp
Capt, later AM Sir John ‘Whiskey’ Walker,
who soon became Lossiemouth Station
Commander. His association with the Jaguar
continued when he was posted to become
RAF Brüggen’s Station Commander from
February 1976 to January 1978 during the
crucial, formative years of the Jaguar’s
introduction to RAF Germany.
ENTER THE JAGUAR
Close to Düsseldorf, on the Dutch-German
border, RAF Brüggen was one of RAFG’s
three vital ‘Clutch’ bases together with RAF
Wildenrath and RAF Laarbruch. It was home
to RAFG’s Phantom strike squadrons from
1970 until the arrival of the Jaguar.
The station’s key nuclear role, ensured
transition to the new aircraft was rapid. No.14
Sqn was first, when Jaguar T.2 XX836 arrived
on April 7, 1975 and officially re-formed on
July 9. It was quickly followed by 17 Sqn, with
its first aircraft, T.2 XX840, arriving in June- No.31 Sqn transitioned in January
1976 and finally 20 Sqn re-formed on March
1, 1977 after relinquishing its Harriers. No.II
(Army Cooperation) Sqn was unique among
the RAFG Jaguar force as a dedicated
tactical reconnaissance unit. It operated from
nearby RAF Laarbruch and was declared
operational on October 1, 1976.
The RAFG Jaguar force soon became
very successful; 14 Sqn won the annual
‘Salmond Trophy’ RAFG bombing competition
in 1975, 1976 and 1977 ahead of the much
longer-established Buccaneer and Harrier
squadrons. In 1977, 14, 17, II(AC) and 31
Sqns took the first four places.
Retired Sqn Ldr Peter New – known to his
colleagues as ‘Newt’ – gave Aviation News an
insight into RAFG Jaguar operations at RAF
Brüggen. Having joined the RAF at South
Cerney, Gloucestershire, in 1967, flying more
than 700 hours on Lightnings with 92 Sqn at
Gütersloh, he passed the 1,000-hour mark
with ‘Treble One’ Sqn at RAF Wattisham,
Suffolk. As an experienced flight lieutenant
his long association with the Jaguar began in
May 1977, joining 226 OCU at Lossiemouth
for his conversion course. Subsequently
posted to Brüggen in September that year,
he joined 31 Sqn, later returning for a second
tour in September 1980 with 14 Sqn.
He accumulated more than 1,250 hours
on the Jaguar (including 260 hours flying with
the Royal Air Force of Oman).
Describing the aircraft, he said: “I loved it.
For a single-seat pilot it was a dream to fly.
There were lots of electrical problems with the
aircraft in the early days, awful ergonomics in
the cockpit, but the avionics were really ‘early
21st century’ and it was great at low level, a
wonderful aeroplane to fly.
“When I first arrived on 31 Sqn the
NAVWASS [navigation and weapons aiming
subsystem], an early inertial system, seemed
to dump every second trip. It would just stop.
Without a functioning NAVWASS it was like
flying the Hunter again, where you had to
rely on stopwatch and map, so you had to be
pretty proficient with both.
“But when the NAVWASS worked, it
was brilliant. The engineers had to spend
a lot of time and effort fixing those early
problems. They started by matching systems
to individual aircraft, then lots of detailed
programmes came along to get it, and
the HUD [head-up display], which had its
problems too, working properly.”
Life on 31 Sqn was very busy. As an
experienced pilot, Peter soon became
a deputy flight commander and was the
squadron strike training officer.
“Although dedicated to low-level work, we
regularly practised tanking and did some
medium level 1 v 1 air combat,” he explained.
“The whole wing was committed to both the
nuclear strike and conventional ground attack
roles and we constantly practised both using
a variety of weapons delivery methods.”
The Jaguar GR.1’s introduction at
Brüggen saw the squadrons begin operations
from newly constructed dispersed hardened
aircraft shelter (HAS) areas. Brüggen was the
first RAFG airfield to undergo the hardening
programme, which had started in 1974.
Each squadron had its own area
comprising nine shelters (taking up to
two aircraft each). Initially this required
developing working routines for getting both
aircraft into each shelter, taking them out and
moving them safely around. A hardened pilot
briefing facility (PBF), command operations
centre (COC) and other facilities were also
constructed.
Great efforts were also made to ‘tone
down’ runways, buildings and vehicles,
making them as inconspicuous as possible
from the air. Alongside this was the ‘soft’,
peacetime accommodation including
crew rooms, technical and administrative
facilities. All the HAS sites and other key
buildings were surrounded by barbed wire
and protected by guard posts. Initially, the
HAS areas were expected to be used onlyhttp://www.aviation-news.co.uk 63SEPECAT Jaguars XZ112/32 and XZ104
from II(AC) Sqn during a sortie from
RAF Laarbruch in June 1988. The
lead aircraft wears the squadron’s
anniversary markings. Peter R FosterAn effective braking chute was a key part of the aircraft’s short field capability, enabling it to
operate from austere landing strips and damaged airfields during war time. R Shaw and HJ Breuer62-66_jaguarsDC.mfDC.mf.indd 63 04/05/2016 17:24