refuelling to the north of Ireland. Then on
over Scotland back to Coningsby. It was an
amazing sortie, full of excitement. Sadly, I
don’t think the photographs gave us much,
as the temperature contrast between the
submarine hull and the sea was too great.”
Shortly afterwards Ben was promoted and
posted to II(AC) Sqn to continue tactical
reconnaissance on the Phantom as a ight
commander, accumulating 1,268 hours on
recce work.LOW-LEVEL FLYING
Philip Sturley, who joined 41 Sqn in 1974,
gave Aviation News his views on the twin-
engined ghter-bomber: “The Phantom was
very good at the low-level reconnaissance
role. The EMI pod was sophisticated – I
found it very good – but it limited you to
pulling a maximum 5g. On a typical training
mission, you had two or three xed targets
to nd. The inertial navigation system was
not sufficiently precise for our needs, so
a lot of detailed navigation still had to be
done using maps. You xed on an initial
point and map-read yourself onto the target.
As a two-seat aircraft you had to operate
effectively as a crew.
“The AN/AWG-12 pulse-Doppler radar
was super, way ahead of its time, and
for a reconnaissance aircraft to have this
was marvellous. We carried our own
anti-aircraft missiles for self-defence, so
anyone would mess with us at their peril.
If you had a good navigator he operated
the air defence side of the radar while
you concentrated on the reconnaissance
navigation, and this made it a formidable
aeroplane for its day.
“You could y low-level around a lot of the
country, down to 250ft and later, in selected
areas, as low as 100ft. We did a lot of work
with the army, especially on Salisbury Plain
and at Otterburn, plus regular detachments
to [West] Germany of a week or two. For
major air defence exercises we were
regularly employed to ‘attack’ the UK. We
also ew missions over the North Sea oil
rigs as part of Operation Tapestry [patrol of
sovereign sea areas]. There were regular
ights to Cyprus on ‘Ghost Trails’, which
were tanking exercises to practise for thereinforcement role. We accumulated a lot
of ying hours and the Phantom seemed to
work better the more it ew. Even though we
had fewer airframes than the other Phantom
squadrons, our boss ensured we ew
more hours. The engineers did a sterling
job of keeping the aircraft going. No.41
was a busy squadron with a true multi-role
capability aircraft.
“The Phantom was a real war machine,
a powerhouse with enormous thrust in
afterburner. It was a very exciting rst
tour, doing a bit of everything. I was very
pleased with my time on the [aircraft].
It was wonderful to y something so
advanced, powerful and such good fun.”
When Philip left the squadron, he had
accumulated more than 700 hours on the
type in two-and-a-half years.RE-ROLE
When the SEPECAT Jaguar entered service
in 1974, the Phantom was reassigned to
air defence, demonstrating its multi-role
credentials. Fighter training had always
been a subsidiary part of the 228 OCU
syllabus but it now moved to the forefront.
The transition resulted in major
squadron changes. No.54 Sqn stooddown as a Phantom unit on April 23, 1974,
and received the Jaguar. It passed most
of its Phantoms, and some crews, to 111
Squadron (Designate) at RAF Coningsby.
No.6 Sqn relinquished its Phantoms for the
Jaguar at the end of that September.
Meanwhile, 111 Sqn re-formed at
Coningsby on September 30, having
retired its English Electric Lightnings at
RAF Wattisham, Suffolk, and remained in
Lincolnshire until November 17, 1975 when
it moved north to Leuchars in Scotland.
Additionally, 23 Sqn re-equipped with
Phantoms at Coningsby and transferred to
Wattisham on February 25, 1975.
Another ghter unit, 29 Sqn,
relinquished its Lightnings in July 1974,
re-forming at Coningsby December 31,
1974 and becoming the second resident
Phantom out t.
The last UK Phantom unit to form
during this major realignment was 56 Sqn,
which officially replaced its Lightnings at
Wattisham on July 8, 1976. No.41 Sqn then
exchanged its Phantoms for Jaguars on
March 31, 1977.
In RAF Germany, Brüggen’s Phantom/
Jaguar swap had begun in December
1975 with 14 Sqn, followed by 17 Sqn in46 Aviation News incorporating Jets October 2018
were tanking exercises to practise for the squadron changes. No.54 Sqn stood squadron changes. No.54 Sqn stood 1975 with 14 Sqn, followed by 17 Sqn inThe ‘Goldstars’ – 31 Sqn – formed as a Phantom unit in October 1971, completing RAF Germany’s nuclear capable strike wing. The well-travelled
FGR.2 XT909 served with the unit in 1975. Peter R Foster