Aviation News — February 2018

T

im Hewlett joined the RAF on

October 2, 1967 and earned his

‘wings’ at RAF College Cranwell,

Lincolnshire, on the Jet Provost. He

moved on to 4 Flying Training School and the

Gnat. During summer 1971, he was streamed

for fast jet training and progressed to 234 Sqn

for tactical weapons training at RAF Chivenor

in Devon  ying the Hunter.

He expected to  y the Phantom in the air

defence role. However, a backlog of courses

at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, saw him

diverted to the Lightning and 226 Operational

Conversion Unit (OCU) at RAF Coltishall,

Norfolk, in March 1972. Tim said: “With

hindsight, it was one of best things that could

have happened to me, as in a single seat

aircraft I had to work harder and

be responsible for all navigation,

airmanship and operating the

aircraft on my own.”

FLYING THE LIGHTNING

He trained on the two-seat T.5

and was set to join 23 Sqn at RAF

Leuchars in Scotland,  ying the

Lightning F.3 or F.6. Instead of

going to Scotland, Tim joined 56

Sqn at RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus, in the

summer of 1972.

“The Lightning was a unique

aeroplane; very exciting to  y,

obviously extremely fast and

desperately short of fuel almost

from the moment you started the engines.

“Flying the aircraft and operating the

radar was something I initially found to be

a considerable challenge. The workload

was quite high and I nearly didn’t pass the

course.

“It tested my  ying ability to the limit, but I

was blessed with good instructors and OCU

staff who wanted me to succeed.”

He believes the Mediterranean island

was a great theatre to train and operate the

Lightning. “We had excellent weather, the

longer range F.6 and an exercise area that

began as soon as we were airborne. The

Lightning was optimised for medium and high-

level intercepts. Limited fuel meant [in the UK]

you either went direct to the intercept or joined

a tanker and remained on combat air patrol.

“In Cyprus it was different. We rarely had

tankers available, except for training. There,

most live scrambles were to intercept and

identify [aircraft] but in the UK, when you

scrambled you pretty much knew what you

would see.

“In the eastern Mediterranean there was

a signi cant amount of air traffic, mostly

connected to the on-going Arab-Israeli crises.

There was a wide variety of aircraft, some

of them Soviet, some in Egyptian markings,

some American and others that had no

markings at all.

“In my time, the squadron intercepted

and identi ed everything from large Soviet

transport aircraft to Kamov Hormone

helicopters. Therefore, good aircraft

recognition skills were important

for successful identi cation. I

remember my  rst operational

scramble and intercept was a high-

winged Soviet An-24 transport.”

Tim said the most dramatic

part of his tour in Cyprus was the

Turkish invasion, which began on

July 20, 1974. “The Lightnings

were dispersed around the air eld

and our role ostensibly was to

monitor the situation, but we

carried live Red Top and Firestreak

missiles.

“We were scrambled by

‘Gata’, our  ghter control unit, to

investigate contacts and were

given remarkably clear rules of engagement.

JAGUAR SQUJAGUAR SQU ADRON BOSSADRON BOSS

Gp Capt Tim Hewlett (ret’d) LVO, OBE was the commanding offi cer

of 54 Squadron and then RAF Coltishall Station Commander. As well

as his time on the Jaguar he saw combat in Oman and fl ew Phantoms from

HMS Ark Royal. Dr Kevin Wright talks to Tim about his remarkable career.

28 Aviation News incorporating Jets February 2018

A fresh-faced Tim Hewlett in the cockpit of a

Lightning.

28-34_jaguarDC.mfDC.mfDC.indd 28 05/01/2018 15:27