The Shocking 1982 RAF Phantom vs. Jaguar Incident. Cold War Chaos in the Skies!

Подписаться 34 тыс.

Просмотров 46 тыс.

50% 1

Uncover the intense and shocking 1982 incident when an RAF Phantom accidentally shot down an RAF Jaguar in the skies over West Germany.
Join us on a journey back to the Cold War era as we explore the constant state of readiness the Royal Air Force maintained for a potential conflict with the Soviet Union. On May 25, 1982, routine training turned into a harrowing experience for two RAF Jaguar GR1 pilots of 14 Squadron recovering to their base at RAF Bruggen.
In this gripping video, witness the events unfold as one Jaguar pilot finds himself targeted by an unknown aircraft during pre-landing preparations. Within moments, he's forced to eject from his disintegrating aircraft, landing in a farmer's field. To his shock, the adversary making a low pass overhead was not a Soviet Mig but an RAF F4 Phantom from 92 Squadron, armed and on a chaotic scramble.
Delve into the details of the exercise at RAF Wildenrath, where a routine training session resulted in a disastrous engagement between friendly NATO aircraft - a fully armed F4M Phantom FGR2 of no. 92 Squadron RAF and a pair of Sepecat Jaguar GR1 aircraft of No 14 Squadron RAF.
In this video, we break down the circumstances leading to the accidental shootdown, providing insights into the challenges faced by military aviators during training exercises. Discover the aftermath and the lessons learned from this tragic incident.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:02 Background
02:31 Wildenrath Exercise
06:00 Jag Spotted
07:37 Shoot Down
09:54 Investigation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments are always welcome and I try to respond to as many as possible.
Please keep the comments polite and respectful.
I reserve the right to remove any comments that breach these guidelines.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Music Credits
Epidemic Sound.com
Get a 30 Day FREE Trial of awesome music using this link.
www.epidemicsound.com/referra...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Northern Historian on Social Media
Facebook
/ thenorthernhistorian
Instagram
/ northern_historian
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Credits & Attributions
creativecommons.org/licenses/...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Ro...
fighterjetsworld.com/weekly-a...
www.key.aero/article/when-raf...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_A...

Развлечения

Опубликовано:

17 май 2024

Ссылка:

Скачать:

Готовим ссылку...

Добавить в:

Мой плейлист

Посмотреть позже

Комментарии : 131

@nikshmenga Год назад

A Farmer's daughter - a most welcome sight under any condition.

@royfearn4345 Год назад

And the brandy - don't forget the brandy (hic!)

@Ttelmis Год назад

My claim to fame is that I was the Combat Operations Officer who scrambled the pair of F4s on that mission.

@HollyandSandy Год назад

I was one of the guys sent to guard this actual crash site. What it doesn't mention is, there were a lot of overhead power cables in the area, and the parachuting pilot miraculously missed all of them. Apart from the back injury he sustained during the ejection process (which is fairly normal), he made a full recovery. The farmer who's field the Jaguar crashed in, was more than financially reimbursed for his loss of potential earnings and the clear up operation.

@maciek_k.cichon Год назад

I love when an accurate machine is shown when talked about, not just a random stock footage. And these few freeze-frames just made it feel a period piece documentary. Good show!

@TheNorthernHistorian Год назад

Glad you enjoyed it!

@richa8308 Год назад

You missed the F4J's then (not the aircraft in question and not purchased until long after the event) and the grey colour scheme which again was not introduced until long after the incident. Equally, the continual footage of jaguars flying through hilly terrain was hardly representative of the northern West German plains. Sorry to burst your bubble.

@maciek_k.cichon Год назад

@@richa8308 No need for apologies, the bubble is still inflated and happy. I'm happy i'm seeing appropriate type when spoken of, the rest is suspension of disbelief. Not like in Dark Docs series videos, when there's talk about WW1 airplanes, usually we get Fairey IIIF or Stearmans, and so on. It would be nice to see your level of detail in yt documentaries, and probably someday we will, with the digitization projects on hand. At least when Western aircraft are on the table.

@majormanfredrex Год назад

Kudos to this RU-vidr for doing better than the Yanks by using footage of aircraft from the correct century let alone the correct manufacturer and even the correct manufacturer.

@majormanfredrex Год назад

Oops. I meant to say correct air force, not repeat manufacturer.

@chrisaskin6144 Год назад

Ahh sweet memories! This incident happened a few months after I'd left Brüggen, I was on 20 Sqn Jaguars as an armourer from Feb 79 to Aug 81, and before that Apr 75 to Oct 77 in the Station Armoury - also at Brüggen. Two of the best times in the RAF.

@TheNorthernHistorian Год назад

Sadly, I never got the chance to see RAF Germany, My only squadron posting was 43(f) between 92 and 96. I knew loads of guys though who had many tales, including this one, of RAF G.

@chrisaskin6144 Год назад

@@TheNorthernHistorian My first posting after a two year apprenticeship at Halton was Leuchars, home of 43 Sqn Phantoms and 23 Sqn Lightnings and also the land base of 892 Sqn Fleet Air Arm when they weren't on the Ark Royal.

@johnp8131 Год назад

@@chrisaskin6144 Didn't realise the FAA were there too but it makes sense. We had the same at Honnington in the mid to late 70's with 809 Sqn Buccaneers. Worked with "Wafu's" a few times as I did two tours at Wyton as well and 360 Sqn were 25 to 30% Navy as they were used to jam naval radar. Good lads and excellent detachments.

@glenngiles7307 Год назад

Hi Chris, my dad was at Bruggen and Gut around that time, he was same trade as you, Dave Giles

@chrisaskin6144 Год назад

@@glenngiles7307 I can't say for certain whether I knew him or met him, but the name seems familiar to me.

@johnp8131 Год назад

Not long arrived from Scampton and only been in the role bay at Brüggen for few weeks. This was in the days when armourers serviced pylons. I think it was late morning on a Thursday or Friday? A Sgt from one of the other bays grabbed me and off we went to Wesel to try and disarm it! Steve Griggs and the farmer were very lucky. Most of the aircraft came down in an empty field between a power station, the farm buildings and an autobahn. The back end, that was cut off, dropped into the river Lippe, I think, as they couldn't find it at the time? Don't know where Steve landed but his seat came down in a copse about a quarter of a mile away. Steve came back to the Armoury at Brüggen a few months later with some more beer and a tape recording of his 2nd ejection over Scotland. I believe it was taken by a USAF F111 during the exercise?

@TheNorthernHistorian Год назад

Thanks for sharing that John.

@paullacey2999 Год назад

I dont know what was worse,being blasted out your wrecked plane or being the other lad who let off the missile from his aircraft.Scary stuff!

@iainmalcolm9583 Год назад

As no one was seriously injured, I guess this falls into the 'funny' category. Ejecting from 1 aircraft might be thought of as unfortunate, but ejecting from 2 seems careless.

@TheNorthernHistorian Год назад

It certainly was a little unfortunate

@ABrit-bt6ce Год назад

The chap has two (MB) ties. Not many people can claim that. ;)

@Steve-GM0HUU Год назад

No serious injury but how much did a Jaguar cost? 😢

@awritenthat Год назад

Enjoyable presentation , many thanks for your effort and hard work .

@TheNorthernHistorian Год назад

Glad you enjoyed it

@steveashforth5097 Год назад

This incident led to the fitment of what was called the 'Eagle Eye' mod. This was a periscope fitted in place of the quarterlight window on the left side of the airframe, for the use of the navigator. I was at Coningsby, on the ASF & fitted quite a few of them.

@raven_1133 Год назад

The accent fits the narration very well. I have fallen in love with this channel.

@stuartofblyth Год назад

McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom - a legend.

@philipaudsley9335 Год назад

The Phantom jockey was down South in 1986 and attended the AAC happy hour at Lookout Camp. All was well until The Music Man started up, and a chorus of “ooh ooh my missiles gone” rang around the bar. Stunned silence from those wearing their gro-bags 🤣

@TheNorthernHistorian Год назад

oh dear....awkward!

@ibnewton8951 Год назад

05:34 By this point I knew what had gone seriously wrong. Nice presentation and very good narration.

@TheNorthernHistorian Год назад

Thanks very much

@clives344 Год назад

Heard about this when living at Laarbruch at the time. An amazing account of the events leading up to what happened

@KapiteinKrentebol Год назад

Goal: realistic training achieved ✅

@awritenthat Год назад

Hi , when are you adding some more videos , hope all well with you ??

@MisterIvyMike Год назад

As that happened I was 15 years old and very hardly addicted in watching fighter jets. I live 50km west of Grafenwöhr in southern Germany and at that time we had a few jet traffic every day, so between 4 or 6 jets on bad days and 20 on better days at 450ft. (But that was nothing like the situation at our nearby low flying area at the Hesselberg 😍, where on normal days 50-80 jets where common at 200ft and at excercisses 200 or more!) We where so many days on the hills to watch them, at the Hesselberg often below us. But in the late 80ies everything changed. After the Ramstein accident and the german reunion the gouvernement decided that we need no low level sorties anymore. And nowadays? This year I have seen in six months 2 F-16 at high altitude coming from Grafenwöhr and thats it. The years before I had years without a single jet. Not a single one, neither high or at low level, meaning 1000ft. Oh man, I miss these old days... 😔

@TheNorthernHistorian Год назад

Things certainly have changed over the past 30 or 40 years. I served 1991 to 2000 in RAF and a lot has changed even since then. Thanks for sharing your memories.

@bananenkranz3436 Год назад

One of my earliest memories is looking up at two Panavia Tornado's flying at what must have been 1000 ft around 2003/4 in southern Germany. It took me until 2019 to relive this experince, when driving on a Country road, where after hearing a rumble, I looked up in time to see a single Tornado fly low enough to make out the markings on the wings. At the next exit I had to stop an let out my excitement. That happend about 40 km from Ramstein Airbase, so it's normal for me to see Military Aircraft.

@ColinH1973 Год назад

Excellent article. I had completely forgotten about this incident. Luckily there were no casualties. Did you ever work on spooks?

@TheNorthernHistorian Год назад

Glad you enjoyed it. As for Spooks......that would be telling haha!

@ColinH1973 Год назад

@@TheNorthernHistorian Just asking 😁

@andybarton6055 Год назад

I remember it well. I was a young SAC working on Tanker Pool, having most probably refuelled both jets at some time.

@keithattwood59 9 месяцев назад

I was on that exercise that day on 19 Sqn. I remember the report coming in. A Battle Flight kite sent out to play games...

@billb7876 26 дней назад

I had a Jaguar flight with Steve Griggs a few years before this happened at Lossie.

@Lord.Kiltridge Год назад

I remember about reading about this in an aerospace magazine.

@geordiedog1749 Год назад

Great story. I was wondering if he’d get to ‘keep the kill’.

@TheNorthernHistorian Год назад

He sure did!

@johnp8131 Год назад

Don't know how much info' you'll get on it but one of our Canberra's bought down a Lightning in '87. It was 5 Sqn's last APC at Akrotiri and he shot the crossbeam supporting the banner off of the Canberra. Trouble was it went straight up his intake. They weren't impressed when 100 Sqn ground crew stuck a DayGlo sticker of a Lightning under the canopy. I know the lads "zapped" a U2 as well that had crash landed near our pan. That did not go down well?

@thearmouredpenguin7148 Год назад

The Yanks don't have much of a sense of humour, when I was on Treble One there was a squadron exchange with a USAF Phantom unit; their CO went absolutely ballistic when one of the Treble One ground crew guys zapped the USAF 'tooms with a Scottish Liberation Air Force zap.

@andyb.1026 10 месяцев назад

I hadn't heard of that One ( ex 19 Rigger)

@wuaf_devas9678 Год назад

That jaguar pilot earned paratrooper qualifications!

@chrisaskin6144 Год назад

A plumber is a slang term in the Air Force for an armourer - used by aircraft technicians of an inferior standing to a plumber (which is basically all of them).

@TheNorthernHistorian Год назад

I was a 'fairy'

@davegoldsmith4020 Год назад

@@TheNorthernHistorian Somebody had to be ! I was a rigger on 31 squadron at the time

@chrisaskin6144 Год назад

@@davegoldsmith4020 Just need's a sooty to stand up, and we've almost got a full house.

@johnp8131 Год назад

@@davegoldsmith4020 As a 'Station Plumber', I did Deci' 82 to 84 inclusive with 20 and 31 and on my second tour with 31 Tornados. So I probably know you, at least by sight. I presume your name went on 'the wall' out there?

@davegoldsmith4020 Год назад

@@johnp8131 It did, I left 31 in Jan 82 so we may have missed each other . My second tour I was the SNCO Tank bay, visited my old haunt often, so we may have have bumped into each other.

@richhughes7450 Год назад

Not a kill a pilot wants on his cv. Lol. Thanks for posting. Both planes look good.

@ianrkav 8 месяцев назад

The footage of those jaguars taking off shows the right afterburner glowing brighter than the left. Anyone know why? Did they use just one afterburner during take off for some reason?

@millycarrington 7 месяцев назад

Don't know why the burners are different or if that is just a quirk of the jag but both would have been engaged. We had some jags on exercise at Leuchars when I was there on the F4 and the standard joke was that the jag took off due to the curvature of the earth as it was so underpowered so everything would have been maxed out on takeoff.

@iansinclair7581 Год назад

Could not believe it when I started to watch the video. I thought is this the story I was told back in the 80’s. When Flt Lt Inverarity’s name came up it clinched it. This story was related to me by Don Inverarity who is the Navigators brother. We were serving on the same ship probably one of Shell’s G class at the time.

@itsnotalwaysblackandwhite8624 Год назад

Please, please, please. Do a story on the V1 that landed in the North East on 24th December 1944.

@TheNorthernHistorian Год назад

I'll do a little research and see if it's doable.

@ColinH1973 Год назад

@@TheNorthernHistorian Please, I second that request.

@thearmouredpenguin7148 Год назад

I returned from Wildenrath some months before this incident occurred and still had a few mates out there at the time. The general feeling was that the aircrew had been crapped on by those above. The only thing they were guilty of was forgetting, in the heat of the exercise, that the aircraft was armed with live weapons. Everything in the aircraft behaved in exactly the way it would on any other training exercise pretty much automatic and their actions were, as one would expect, totally consistent with that training. Two things not mentioned in the video; 1) the tape was missing because no tape could be found, this was reported at the time but the sortie was authorised by "someone" anyway, and 2) Alistair Invararity was a fairly big guy and because of the exercise was also required to carry a pistol; this would have been in the right leg pocket of his flying suit. If you have ever sat in the back seat of a 'Toom then you will know that there's not lot of room, the circuit breaker panel in question being adjacent to the Navs' right leg meant that it would be very easy for the small amount pressure required for the faulty CB to make contact without him knowing.

@TheNorthernHistorian Год назад

Thanks for that insight. Interesting about Inverarity being a big guy and having to squeeze into the back seat. I've never sat in a phantom before, I was a Tornado engineer, but I can imagine the problem. Bit of a daft place to put a CB panel.

@thearmouredpenguin7148 Год назад

@@TheNorthernHistorian Oh, and by the way for some reason QRA at Wildenrath was always (at least informally) referred to as "Battle Flight".

@kevingould6725 Год назад

Hay Tornado engineers don’t be too critical of the cb panel .. with certain 2 cbs pulled if one is foolish enough you can start a engine which will runaway to destruction . Welcome to Tornado FADEC . Engines run by computer. Ow by the way I worked on both the Toom and Tonka

@jwassell9512 Год назад

I was working in the elect bay at Wildenrath when the CB panel came in. As I remember, after all sorts of resistance checks after heating and cooling the panel, I signed off as NFF. However I was part of a team and the final sign off was carried out by my Chief Tech. And it was a long time ago.

@raymondyee2008 Год назад

I see that your video covered parts that Mark Felton didn’t touch on.

@David_Owsnett Год назад

An amazing story!

@L_U-K_E Год назад

Playing the Jaguar GR1A in War Thunder rn.

@sicknote1558 Год назад

Lol that narrator sounds like decklin Donnelly 😅

@CJB- Год назад

Can you please stop making videos about historic events that I can remember. It makes me feel old.😂

@TheNorthernHistorian Год назад

If I have to feel old....then so do you haha. When I first arrived on a squadron in 1991, ex RAF-G people were still talking about this like it was yesterday. My next video is WW2 era so I'll give you a break

@CJB- Год назад

@@TheNorthernHistorian haha thank you, great work BTW.

@TheNorthernHistorian Год назад

Jeez, haven't been called a sprog for a while haha!

@Saxondog Год назад

Never knew about this event till now. Thanks for the info. A series of events, like you stated, caused this to happen...Hmmm..how many nuclear weapons are there? I'll try not to lose too much sleep on that one.

@twotone3070 Год назад

A question, I had heard many years ago that because of the g force applied to the spine when ejecting a pilot wasn't allowed to fly that role again? Clearly this wasn't true?

@UncappingBadger Год назад

I am unsure of the RAF’s policy on such things but I believe the USAF allows pilots to eject 3 times before they’re grounded because of said G forces and stresses on the body. I think after 2 ejections though I would be questioning if someone, somewhere wasn’t trying to tell me something and get a desk job anyway 😂

@twotone3070 Год назад

@@UncappingBadger Thank you for the information.

@johnp8131 Год назад

@@twotone3070 Depended on the mark of seat and obviously the health of the aircrew, post ejection. On early seats I fitted, 3's and 4's, they only used a main gun (basically a telescopic tube) with three steps of gradual charges. Enough to throw everything clear at speed. Someone once said to me 0 to 60 in 0.2 of a second, don't know how much truth there was in that though? Later seats, as in the Jaguars, also had rocket packs, therefore less force was required to clear the aircraft, as when the main gun was fully extended the rocket pack would take over so the acceleration was more gradual. I worked on Mk 3 through to Mk 10 seats. What a difference! Also, they discouraged aircrew from using the "Face screen handle" as it caused a possible curvature of the spine on ejection. You'll notice that later seats only have a "Seat pan handle", at least on MB seats.

@twotone3070 Год назад

@@johnp8131 Thank you, excellent explanation.

@sicknote1558 Год назад

@@johnp8131interesting 👍

@chrisfox3161 Год назад

Not provable. Mere hearsay. But putting a Cpl sootie into a headquarters post does give him a bit of info The dayglo tape around the final arm switch wasn't fitted because instructions were issued to stop the practice. It'd been normal for any Q jet to have something to remind the crew they were "live" thus avoiding incidents. However someone thought otherwise and stopped it on the Sqn. Oddly enough in 1992/3 when I did my last stint as Q groundcrew bits of dayglo were once again adorning every " don't touch unless you mean it" switch.

@kevinward3088 Год назад

An immediate " interview without coffee " with the Station Commander awaited the Phantom pilot upon his return. At least the Jag pilot received as minimal bodily harm as was possible during an ejection , thankfully. Good video , thanks for posting , the real dangers of the " fog of war " under necessarily realistic training regimes.

@ColinH1973 Год назад

Sorry, but I hate that expression. I have had lots of interviews and never yet been offered coffee. Absolutely no offence meant to you, friend.

@tmobaile1187 Год назад

REALY STRANGE ACCEDENT

@88SPIKE Год назад

you forgot RAF Geilenkirchen and the flying sequences were on the mach loop in Wales

@TheNorthernHistorian Год назад

At the time of this story, RAF Geilenkirchen was no longer a main flying station in RAF Germany. There is very limited footage online in which to use and so the Mach loop will always feature somewhere in many peoples videos.

@88SPIKE Год назад

@@TheNorthernHistorian Understood - thank you

@johnp8131 Год назад

@@TheNorthernHistorian Sounds about right. On my first tour at Brüggen quite a few "Scaley's" were still quartered a Geilenkirchen as there were plenty going spare, as I don't think it was fully operational by then. When I went back five years later I suppose they needed them again as the AWACS had totally moved in, and I can't remember anyone commuting there?

@Spitfiresammons Год назад

Great story do a story of a raf ground crew who took off by accident in a lightning.

@TheNorthernHistorian Год назад

I may look into that. It's a great story

@johnathanh2660 Год назад

An RAF senior engineer who was performing an engine test when the Lightning took off. He also happened to be a qualified pilot, but only on basic aircraft, and certainly not fast jets.

@warhawk4494 Год назад

Great video on a unfortunately accident.

@TheNorthernHistorian Год назад

Glad you enjoyed it

@andyb.1026 Год назад

I worked with the Jag jockey ~ His version after a few glasses was Hilarious

@jon1801 Год назад

Think this was the only RAF "shootdown" since WW2, until a few months ago when a Typhoon shot down a drone over Syria. All the Falklands kills were by Shar.

@RedcoatT Год назад

The RAF shot down 4 Egyptian aircraft in 1948

@sicknote1558 Год назад

@RedcoatT didn't know anything about both incidents thank people

@bertiewooster3326 Год назад

Des Lawrence was the father of the pilot an old chum of mine !

@dt7449 Год назад

The Jag pilot ejected on two separate occasions in 1982 !!!!!

@johnp8131 Год назад

At leasttwice? Steve came back to the Armoury at Bruggen to show us the film of his second ejection filmed by an F111 over Scotland. We heard rumour that he ejected a third time, unlikely but not impossible? It would depend on his health and if his seat used a 'rocket pack'? Slower and more staged ejection sequence. Less impact on the spine. As an armourer, I went directly to the crash site that day, less than an hour after it happened as they needed us to drag out the 30mm that was smouldering? Not a chance!

@tonymayhew9304 Год назад

There was a simulator plug fitted on a Sparrow launcher on RAF Phantoms

@johnp8131 Год назад

What are you talking about Tony? Enlighten me? Don't know so much about Sparrows but we used to fit 'Aquisition' Sidewinders for that purpose. That much I know as I used to fit and do the 'Growl checks' on Jags and Tornados. Were Sparrows different?

@sicknote1558 Год назад

@@johnp8131lol 😂 you shut him down 😂

@rhino269 Год назад

Didn’t the Jags have any flares?

@johnp8131 Год назад

ECM and BOZ could be fitted but If they were, they weren't activated as it was only an exercise and could have affected the civilian community? I don't remember seeing any in the remains but I was more interested in smouldering 30mm cannon shells?

@george5590 Год назад

stiff upper lip , got them. out of trouble

@brucelamberton8819 Год назад

Oops!

@carnelmccarthy1099 Год назад

Glad the Phantom got its kill mark... It deserved it.

@wellggbro3961 Год назад

achievement unlock: learn how to shoot IR missile.

@grahamjordan1040 Год назад

I landed safely no drama

@nickdanger3802 Год назад

@antigod8385 Год назад

i think it's unfair that the pilots were punished, they did not know the aircraft was fully armed and therenwas nothing they could do about it apart from not firing the missile (which they thought was a dummy until it actually fired)

@johnp8131 Год назад

Absolute rubbish! Have you not read what those that were there have written? Or more likely you didn't understand.

@antigod8385 Год назад

@@johnp8131 this is actually the first i've heard of the incedent so i just went off what i heard in the video

@johnp8131 Год назад

@@antigod8385 The Phantom pilot lied about the tape as at least three groundcrew saw it and signed for it. Also live missiles have big yellow rings around them to indicate high explosive, "requisition missiles" do not! Plus, it's all documented in the 700, (aircraft log). You can't miss either unless you fail to do your compulsory pre-flight checks correctly? If it had have been the fault of the armourers in any way, they would have been "hung" for it, and surprisingly they weren't! As it was, the Phantom aircrew just got a "smacked wrist", re-training and temporarily grounded for a few months. The latter would have hit the hardest as they would have lost "flying pay", which could be up to 30+% of their salary. In the end a "Court Martial" isn't what most people think it is?

@antigod8385 Год назад

@@johnp8131 i see, thanks for telling me more on this, as i said i was only going off what the video said

@davegoldsmith4020 Год назад

The NCO who prepared the F700 for the pilot of the Phantom would have made sure the pilot was happy with the state of his aircraft when the Pilot signed and accepted responsibility, for the aircraft. I was an NCO in charge of a flight line at Lossiemouth, More than once a pilot tried to complain about his aircraft. Once a pilot started to complain he had failed to get his refuelling sign off because the probe was U/S. I pointed out he had signed for an aircraft that did not have a refuelling probe and pointed out, where it was written in the F700 red line limitations, which he signed as having read. but he still insisted it was the ground crews fault.