FlyPast 06.2018

June 2018 FLYPAST 71

FLYING THE PHANTOM 100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE

June 2018 June 2018 June 2018

begins in the sky.
In the late 1970s the RAF had
yet to fully embrace the skill sets
required to be an AD navigator
and tailor-made courses were not
available. Instead each student
completed a gruelling – and
it was – 12 months of
raw indoctrination
to identify

individual strengths and weaknesses.

Flying the HS Dominie T.1 was

extremely demanding – positioned

mid-way down the fuselage, the

trainees sat between the two Viper

turbojets. The trainer, which was

the military version of the HS.125

business jet, was fitted with a deep

desk in its cabin. This is where two

pupils would sit with an instructor

and between them they would guide

the pilot on flights that could last up

to several hours. Part of the difficulty

for the students was that they were

facing backwards opposite to the

direction of travel.

In front of the desk, archaic

instruments were scattered around in

an eye-pleasing manner. Slightly

out of place and glowing

in 1970s LED amber was the TANS

(Tactical Air Navigation System) that

was deemed too complex for novices

to use and was utilised mainly in the

advanced phase of training.

Having completed the navigational

course, a selection was made to

decide if you would proceed to

Group 1 (fast jets) or Group 2

(multi-engined or helicopters).

Group 1 students would move down

a hangar and start to fly the BAC Jet

Provost T.5A – essentially a standard

T.5 with tip tanks to improve range.

Navigation at 250ft (76m) and

300 knots in the ‘JP’ was the

order of the day before heading

back to the Dominie for low-level

radar navigation. Again, this was

a difficult task, sitting in the back

with no window to look out of.

Using the radar and nothing else

was an acquired skill consisting of

trying to interpret returns as relief

on the ground – more suited to

V-bombers than fighters.

Course complete, fast jet navs were

‘role disposed’. The top slots were

for the Phantom or HS Buccaneer

S.2. For those who didn’t quite

Above left

The scarab badge

of 64 Squadron and

trellis motif of 228

OCU on the fi n of

FGR.2 XV492 – it

served with the unit

from 1977 to 1979. KEY

COLLECTION

Below left

On fi nals to Coningsby

in July 1979, FGR.2

XV488. KEY COLLECTION

“The mighty F-4 is a true fi ghter with a

formidable punch – eight air-to-air missiles,

a 20mm SUU-23 Gatling gun, a superb radar

and combat proven in Vietnam and Israel”