@ Colo, YES! I knew about Jaguars back in '91, when the RAF was using them in Desert Shield/Storm, and I was only 9 years old. I remember seeing them on the news.
_________________ "It is better to type nothing and be assumed an ass, than to type something and remove all doubt." - Me
The Jaguar became the back-bone of the RAF alongside the Tornado family. It began as a supersonic trainer requirement, then teamed up with the French and then the RAF used them as a Hunter replacement (there was nothing else on offer at that time with P.1154 having been axed). The French wanted a ground-attack/ strike variant but never really used the Jaguar in the numbers the RAF did and never kept them as updated. Perhaps had Dassault not brought Breguet then things might have been different. There was an aborted Jaguar M carrier-borne fighter too. Killed partly by its poor deck-landing characteristics, poor response of the Ardours and the fact Dassault wanted to sell Super Etendards to to French Navy. By then the FAA had Phantoms and was winding down its carrier fleet anyway.
I think perhaps it was the most fortunate programme the RAF was ever involved in, it gave them the aircraft it really needed that did what it said on the box at reasonable price. The P.1154 would probably have been a disaster and certainly would not have lasted as long in service. It has been said before that the RAF perhaps scrapped its Jaguars too early, they may have had longer lives by the Typhoon is a better aircraft all-round.
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English Electric Canberra FD
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Yeah the M55 trial was probably the only one of its kind in Britain. The stretch of M55 hadn't been opened and was brand-new then. I bet the constructors were real chuffed to come back and find their fresh laid tarmac scorched!
_________________ Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft