Aviation News — February 2018

NAVY PHANTOMS

Tim joined the RAF Phantom OCU at

Coningsby in January 1977 for a 70-hour air

defence role course, then on to the Phantom

Training Flight at Leuchars in April to learn

‘Navy specifics’. The navy had wound down

its fixed wing pilot training as HMS Ark Royal

approached its imminent retirement.

However, successive extensions to the

carrier’s decommissioning date meant it

needed additional crews for its Buccaneers and

Phantoms. By 1977, about half 892 Sqn were

Royal Navy and the rest RAF, with one US

Navy pilot and a US Marine Corps’ backseater.

Tim had an RAF navigator, Flt Lt Tim Wright,

and they flew together almost all the time.

“I was the last pilot to join 892,” he said.

“Catapult launches were exhilarating. Before

going to sea we did a practice launch

using the test catapult at Royal Aircraft

Establishment Bedford. Initially, for landing

practice, we used deck markings painted on

the runway at RAF Leuchars.

“Nearer to our first embarkation, we did

approaches and touch and goes on HMS Ark

Royal, with the hook up, when slowly cruising

offshore nearby. That was OK, but when she

was at about 25kts into a strong wind, over

the open sea and with a pitching deck, it was

quite different.

“On first joining the ship, I found deck

landings quite hard, literally. I survived some

initial poor approaches, but learnt from my

mistakes and gradually improved. It was a

‘feast or famine’ tour. You would fly twice a

day for ten days and then be at anchor or

alongside [in harbour], and so do no flying for

up to two weeks.

“When you got back to sea, getting

airborne for the first time was always a

challenge again. When at sea in warmer

climates, operating in high temperatures,

with little natural wind, external stores and

a full fuel load, it could be a struggle to get

airborne off the catapult.

“On June 21, 1978 HMS Ark Royal

docked at Mayport, Jacksonville, and we

disembarked to fly from NAS Cecil Field up

to August 8. It was good experience working

with the Americans, although they flew in a

much more regimented way.

“Their facilities were excellent and we

spent two months operating in the US, firing

live missiles, dropping bombs and using the

instrumented air combat range. We then

headed back to the Mediterranean via the

North Atlantic.” One particular sortie from

HMS Ark Royal sticks in Tim’s mind.

“On September 7, 1978 we were in mid-

Atlantic on Exercise Northern Wedding,

working with US and other NATO surface

and air forces. Clearly, this exercise was of

interest to the Soviet military and we were

notified that two Bear Foxtrot aircraft were

due to overfly the exercise area. An RN crew

and aircraft were on standby to launch and

intercept them and we were held on cockpit

readiness in reserve.

“The RN crew were duly scrambled when

the Bears were in range, but their Phantom

went unserviceable on the catapult and so

we were scrambled. We started engines and,

as the ship turned hard into wind, taxied up

the listing deck, strapped to the catapult and

launched. Vectored onto the two Bears, we

intercepted them at 25,000ft and spent about

15 minutes photographing the relevant aerials

and identification numbers painted on the

nosewheel door.

“Then, for no obvious reason, our

starboard engine failed. We left the Bears

and headed back to HMS Ark Royal, having

informed them of our emergency. As we were

‘non-diversion flying’, with no land alternative

to divert to, we set up for a single engine

approach to land. The technique was to put

the remaining engine into full reheat about

a quarter of a mile from the ship, to counter

the sink rate as we approached the ship’s

stern. All worked well and we caught the

third wire. Our one good engine remained

in maximum reheat, ‘towing’ Ark Royal, until I

was absolutely sure we had safely arrived.”

After the carrier returned from the US, Tim

completed his night-flying qualification while

sailing in the Mediterranean flying with the

squadron’s senior observer, an experienced

RN backseater. He said: “Night flying off the

carrier was challenging, but I was confident

having become much more familiar with

the F-4. In the whole tour I did 130 deck

landings, ten at night. It was not many,

but enough to say I had done it and was

technically night-qualified.”

When he finally disembarked from Ark

Royal, he had accumulated 450 hours in the

F-4K. Tim reflected:, “It was a great tour and

the Phantom was purpose-built for carrier

operations.”

JAGUAR FORCE

Tim expressed a preference to return to

single-seat flying and joined the Jaguar force

following a 70-hour conversion course with

226 OCU at RAF Lossiemouth, Scotland,

from March to July 1979. He recalled his early

thoughts about the type: “It was an easier

aeroplane to fly, much more comfortable at

low level than the Phantom, so you were able,

quite quickly, to concentrate on learning how

best to operate it effectively. After converting

to the aircraft, adapting to the head-up

display and gaining an instrument rating,

we progressed to using the weapons and

guns. In addition to conventional weaponry,

the RAF Germany Jaguar squadrons had a

strike role, but the only way we could employ

a nuclear weapon was by tossing or lofting it.

This meant releasing it in the climb and then

getting down low again as quickly as possible

on a reciprocal heading. It was an important

part of our weapons training.

http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 31

A Royal Navy Phantom

unleashes a hail of rockets.

While in the mid-Atlantic on a NATO exercise Tim Hewlett intercepted this snooping Soviet Bear

in September 1978.

28-34_jaguarDC.mfDC.mfDC.indd 31 05/01/2018 15:27