A short documentary about 6 Squadron when they operated Jaguars from RAF Coltishall in Norfolk. Since the closure of Colt, and the disbandment of the Jaguar, 6 Sqn has moved to RAF Lossiemouth and now operates Typhoons.
I always loved the look of the Jaguar, especially the clips from the 1st Gulf War with their over-wing sidewinders (they just looked the part 🙂). The videos of them flying low level and through canyons are amazing.
Living only two or three miles from BAe Warton in Lancashire, one could always identify the noise of the Jaguar flying overhead. It stood out from the Lightning, Tornado and Typhoon - even the Harrier no less. It was noisy for its size. A robust aircraft - very much underrated - but very much an Anglo-French success.
I remember in the late 90's going to RAF Shawbury with the ATC where a Jaguar had made an emergency because of bird strike. I remember being amazed at how the nose undercarriage fitted into it's bay that was smaller than the undercarriage itself. I also remember seeing a film taken from a Lightning that was attempting to intercept a Jaguar through the mountains of Wales and on the straights the Lightning catching up but then losing it again in the twists and turns around the Valleys. Remarkable aircraft. Shame we don't have any like it any more.
I was on 6 during the making of this, although i don't actually appear in the video, my face didn't fit. I know all the people interviewed, most are good people, a couple of tossers too. It was a golden time, only 25 years later do i appreciate just how much of a good time we had.
A much underrated aircraft that was nearly as good as the TSR2 .Those low flying shots through the mountains made me feel quite ill but it makes you appreciate the level of training the pilots must go through .
Completely different aircraft. Jag had no radar, and was initially built as a trainer. Not even close to a TSR2. The tornado is the closet to TSR2 and even that wasn’t as good.
I was a medic on Royal Navy S. A. R in Scotland many years ago. I remember going to an Australian RAF reservist crashing a jag in Dumfries & Galloway. Luckily for him he ejected after a bird strike. There wasn't much left of the jet. I took him to hospital with only minor injuries.
Great aircraft, relatively cheap compared to other aircraft and did the job well. In the shadow of the Tornado in later days but still a capable aircraft.
India loves its jaguar aircraft. ALWAYS THE FIRST TO GO INTO ENEMY TERRATORY. THEY WERE THE FIRST TO GET UPGRADE WITH AESA RADAR. With new weapons i.e. long distance runway bomb making them deadly. Other planes can also do much of what Jaguar can do today. I dont if they can do it just as well.
Spent a lot of my time on Jags as a Squipper at 226-16 and then onto Colt on the other Squadrons. Managed to blag 3 jollies in my time too with Tim Kerrs, Tess Tickle and ? Connell and got some 'stick time' over the Moray Firth :-) Some familiar faces here for sure . Absolutely the best of times. I miss the Jag life. I miss going away on det, I miss the people and the laughs and lifestyle.
Great video. Thanks for posting. I used to live at RAF Coltishall in the late sixties when dad was an air traffic controller there following a couple of years in Malta. Our house was about a hundred yards from the gate guardian (which was a Spitfire then) before being moved to WO quarters further down the road.226 OCU was operating Lightnings then along with a number of Saudi Lightnings.Coincidentally, I ended up having a daughter who served with 6 squadron, but not this one. She was with 6 squadron Royal Australian Air Force operating F-111's and on to Super Hornets.
That Spitfire was SL542, a MK16 its in the states now. Served at Coltishall during the time of the lightning and the Jaguar. I took the undercarriage off that Spitfire to help repair, the BBMF MK5 spitfire.
I love this video because it's peacetime squadron operation, to the sharpest standards, of a tactically valuable aircraft that along with the Viggen and Harrier (and possibly Tornado?) would have been the only NATO aircraft sustainably operating in Europe after five minutes of an invasion by the USSR. Fast jet low-level interdiction is my kind of sim flying (yes, I'm one of those) so it's fascinating to see what the real thing looks like in comparison. The highlights are: 1) HUD footage of the CIP method with moveable horizontal ranging bar placed on target and auto-release audio tone as the bars converge. I was familiar with CIP, but holding the bars crossed on target, laterally with bank and longitudinally with the horizontal bar thus pickling it, was something I hadn't seen through the HUD before. 2) Low level onboard footage of sadly deceased pilot (as mentioned above) flying down a valley in classic 'never pull when you can bank' style ie. pointing the lift vector like a boss, and then skimming the wadi like a razor. 3) The Bucc 208 Squadron pin-up girl at Deci: bloody classic.
Its something of a masterpiece the last British and to a degree French plane designed and conceived by human minds not computers. The F-18 and Tornado always appeared unexciting and designed by committees and computers and anything but the ultimate edge. The Jag has well as being very survivable and able to operate after significant hits by AAA always looks a bit of art.
Frederick Miles i like your post but your "French to a degree" is incorrect. Jaguar is every bit as French as it is British. The 2 nations built some of the best birds ever to take to the skies.
The fact is the project began with Bréguet and Britain join afterward so it cannot be " French to some degree" it is a common plane. And a wonderful one
@@guillaumeromain6694 Spot on Guillaume - Concorde being the ultimate in our co-operation in aircraft. Let's also not forget the amazing work the UK and France continue to do together in air-launched weaponry.
Happy, happy days. I can't believe I said what I did though, thankfully Lizzie is still that 'Rock' (and I don't waterski anymore!) - VERY embarrassing looking back on it now! Difficult but wonderful to see all the pictures and videos of a dear friend, sadly no longer with us, still miss you Mike. pod
Pod, you may or may not remember me, i was a Liney and Fairy on 6 92 to 96, i remember your face though. Very sad what happened to Mike, appeared to have it all, you never can tell what folk are thinking though. Hope you're well.
Never understood why RAF fighter pilots that do such a macho job, then do something fanny like water-skiing lol Suppose it's similar to beach volleyball though 🤣😂🤣😂 That low level flying through the canyon was something else though!!! Top skills 👍🏿
I was a squipper on the Jag OCU at Lossie 72-79. If anyone from the brake parachute bay was there at the same time please contact me. I also used to glide with the RAFGSA Fulmar, first at Milltown and then at Kinloss.....get in touch......! Loved the K8 and the Pilatus B4. Does anyone remember Prince Andrew gliding at Milltown with the ATC? Does anyone remember Michael Foal, the British astronaut gliding with RAFGSA Fulmar at Milltown?
Loved these planes when growing up. What a great doco - rare chance to have extended view of the Jags in action. Didn't know RAF Jags used the over-wing rails as well; thought it was only O/S users. Might be just me though, but barely understand what the sqn commander is saying...
Awesome documentary...i really like the guitar sound tracks in these late 80's and 90's documentaries. What are the names of songs at 3:25 when the Jags land and at 10:29 in the mountain flying sequence!?
Used to sit up on the coast at Mundesley and watch these flying around all day. Whenever I return home now I can drive the length of the country and never see an RAF aircraft. Foreign Policy insignificance? Of course we are
I was at 431 MU servicing Adours for the Jags. Bit boring really with the modular design. 5 Jags crashed in the first month I was there with PFCU failures. It gave us a chance to get fresh air while we picked up the pieces.
Fabulous scenes. Thanks! The thing that I react to in video is that Italians fly Star fighters. The worst plane in history. Hundreds of german pilots lost their lives flying those airctraft. Nearly no wing. How could the USA accept it in this day and age?
They were initially built as a trainer. Only once they realised how good they were did they start to use them outside of that. But the airframe couldn’t deal with much more than 20-25% extra.
The Typhoon is all well & good but zero character & just is a EU number. Before that with our own planes Tornado, Buccaneers, Jaguars.. they had character in design & function. France still has its own fighter jets.
The cost of developing a naval version the M version for the RN to fly of the Hermes and say two new 30,000 ton carriers that might have been afforded rather than the dubious Invincibles, would have been beyond Britain but it should have been in the US USN competition with the F-16/ F-18 if a US partner had been found to develop and build a carrier version.
