80 FLYPAST May 2018
1918 2018from end to end [of Great Britain],
we should be able to guarantee
success!”
The northernmost part of
mainland Britain is famously known
as John o’ Groats, north of the
town of Wick and east of Thurso in
Scotland. At the southern tip is the
appropriately named Land’s End,
southwest of Penzance in Cornwall.5,000-UP
One of the original FG.1s allocated
to 43 Squadron in 1969 was
XV582, and it had served with no
other unit. Each aircraft carried an
identification letter and XV582
was given ‘F for Foxtrot’, which
was later changed to “AF” when the
RAF allotted squadron codes in the
mid-1980s.
As one of the most reliable aircrafton the squadron, ‘F’ had flown more
hours than any other Phantom in
the RAF and by early 1988 it was
approaching its 5,000th flight hour.
It seemed appropriate that XV582
should achieve that milestone
during a memorable sortie. Suitable
commemorative nose art was applied
for the event.
Preparations began immediately,
and it soon became apparent that
plans for this flight had many
similarities with those for an
operational mission. Hence, it
provided valuable experience for
those involved.
The proposal was put to the Royal
Aero Club (RAeC), which prepared
a ‘Notice of Proposed Record
Attempt’ and advised on the pre- and
post-flight requirements; the latter
including preparing documentationclearly a better operation than the
other lot [111 Squadron, also at
Leuchars.] we could do with a few
more headlines to help advertise the
fact. ‘Need some publicity old boy.’
[Air Marshal Bairsto had served
with 43 and was chairman of the
Squadron Association.]
“We cast around in the squadron
for ideas and one proposal was that
we flew to the North Pole so 43
could be ‘on top of the world’. My
assessment was that this carried
too much risk and had limited PR
opportunity.
“I knew that one could claim
a world record between any two
significant points and recalled that
a Harrier had set the London to
Edinburgh one, beating a post-war
Hurricane flight that had stood for
many years. As none had been set“The last major hurdle was that the shortest route penetrated the
missile testing range in Cardigan Bay, off the west coast of Wales.
This would need to be stood down to allow safe transit”Top
A welcome sight at the
end of the run – VC10
K.2 tanker ZA143 of
101 Squadron trails its
centre hose ready for
XV582 to ‘prod’. VIA
AUTHORAbove
Flanked by the author
and Wg Cdr John
Brady, the ground
crew in their special
white overalls: Cpl
Steve Cassidy, Cpl
Barry Munro, SAC
Mark Flitton with J/T
Paddy Mustard on the
ladder. VIA AUTHOR / D C
THOMPSON