of the battle area’ to blunt, or halt, Soviet
advances if needed.
Peter explained: “The WE177 could be
used as an airburst or ground burst weapon.
Weighing 454kg [1,000lb], it didn’t look much
different from a conventional 1,000lb bomb.
We developed our own methods of delivery,
unique to the Jaguar, with toss bombing as
the widely accepted way to do it. Mounted
on the single centreline fuselage pylon,
your target pull-up and release points were
dictated by the decision to use it as a ground,
or airburst weapon.
“If any war had deteriorated signi cantly
and the decision taken to use them, we were
expected to deliver our nuclear weapons,
somewhere within the Inner German Border.
Appropriately trained and quali ed pilots were
selected from each squadron for the task.
For exercises the pilot would go to the COC
for a target brief and then complete his own
mission preparations. He then returned to
the squadron, remaining quietly around the
PBF area until instructed to y his mission.
Nobody else on the squadron would know
about it, everything was kept pretty low key.
“As well as procedures for the aircraft and
weapon to be released to the pilot, there were
physical security measures before the HAS
area gates were opened to allow the aircraft
to proceed on its mission. If that wasn’t
sufficient to stop any Soviet advance, then the
whole wing could have been used. That waswhat we did, it was a role that, whilst widely
known, was never reported or talked about.
We were the guys that did it.”
The nuclear role was constantly trained
and practised. “During the many exercises
and TACEVALS [tactical evaluations], one pilot
would be selected from the Brüggen squadrons
to rehearse a ‘selective release’ procedure.“He would quietly go through all the
routines described. Following through the
release procedures he would y the mission,
but obviously not carrying a real weapon.
Sometimes, at the end of an exercise, we
would practice launching the whole wing
and towards the end of my time could even
accomplish the launch without using radio
at all.
“Recovery was made using an allocated
slot time and when you arrived you weresimply cleared to land. That was certainly an
interesting experience and one I don’t think
many other units practised.”
On March 21, 1978 Peter found himself
in the unfortunate position of having to test
another vital piece of Jaguar equipment, the
Martin-Baker Mk 9 ejection seat.
“We were participating in a NATO exercise
and landed at the Canadian Forces Base at
Lahr, in southwest Germany, with a two-seat
and single-seat aircraft,” he recalled. “For our
return, after a quick change of plan, it was
decided I would take XX971 back to Brüggen
again accompanied by the ‘T’ Bird.
“I had a complete starboard engine failure
on lift-off. The engine totally blew itself apart;
I dumped all the stores and just about got it
airborne. When it came to putting it back on
the ground I was probably still at the highest
possible weight for a single-engine landing.
“As soon as I put the gear down it was
obvious that the port engine wasn’t operating
as advertised, so I ended up ejecting from
the aircraft on the Lahr approach. The seat
was fantastic; I landed safely with no injuries
at all, spending the remainder of the day
comfortably in the bar at Lahr.
“The Station Commander arrived the
following day and I returned in the back
of the two-seater with him to Brüggen.
Fortunately, I was cleared for ying again
the next day by the Air Officer Commanding
RAF Germany.”http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 65A 14 Sqn Jaguar gets airborne from RAF Brüggen in summer 1976. The jet is tted with
underwing tanks and a centreline practice bomb dispenser. W Mennen and HJ BreuerIn RAFG the Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre cabins were
placed in a HAS or as here mounted on the back of trucks for mobile
operations. They provided self-contained photo developing, printing
and analysis facilities. Mick Gladwin CollectionThe 70mm lm from the Jaguar’s F.95 cameras was developed using
Type 11 machines. These could process up to 180ft of lm a minute.
Mick Gladwin Collection‘The Jaguar holds
a unique place
by being the only
single-seat, nuclear
armed aircraft the
RAF ever operated.’
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