Phone Phixer

I was a Buccaneer armourer, but on the OCU, we looked over at the big stuff the sqns were loading with envy. So I don't have first hand knowledge of their use. All S2B's were able to carry and fire both AR and TV Martels. It required the Martel role panel to be installed in the navigators cockpit left side panel. This had the relevant switches to select both variants of missile. For the TV missile, it also needed the hand controller on the right side of the cockpit and the TV screen between the navs legs. So no "wired different", but required the relevant control boxes fitting. There were slightly different launchers for each missile type and for the TV missile a data link pylon and pod were fitted usually to the stbd inboard station. But to answer your question, yes mixed loads of Martels could be loaded. As for the bomb load in the bomb bay, probably not for maritime strike sorties. Something would have seriously gone wrong if an attacking formation couldn't get a few missiles on target. There was an attacking option of toss bombing 1,000lb bombs with airburst fuzes to knock out a ship's radar dishes and comms antennas by brute force. In the overland role, bombs in the bomb bay were carried. If not for primary use, it also gave the option to drop them on any target of opportunity. A 1,000lb retarded bomb was also the favourite "rearward defence" weapon of choice against any fighter following at low level. Hope this helps. Rob.

All the Mk6,7 & 9 seats originally had short straps with Koch fasteners and the aircrew wore a body harness. The change to the "simplified combined harness" occurred in the early 80's. As to the picture above, that's a new one on me. It must be an early Mk6, as the Mk6 was the first seat to be fitted with a rocket pack. The Mk4 never has. I never saw any old references to seats looking like that on my time on the Bucc (mid 80's).

All looking great, nice work. I hope I'm not too late for the seats. The PSP in the seat pan (survival pack) were yellow fibreglass containers, but they had a black vinyl cushion on the top for comfort. Buccaneer ejection seat. Rob

Excellent build and finish on them all. Lovely work. Yeah, overly heavy on the LGB's. 2 x 1,000lb Paveway II on a shoulder pylon was not done. There was insufficient space for loading and safe release.

A very nice collection. Great work. The original 9 Sqn jet brings back memories of RAF Honnington, being on a station load team going over to load 9 Sqn's aircraft.

Thanks for the replies. All very helpful.

The most obvious difference, as wadeocu has said is the screen between the nav's knees. This was used for the video feed from the TV guided Martel and from the Pavespike designation pod. For a Martel equipped jet there would also have been a small joystick controller on the right side of the cockpit. There was a minor difference in the navigation boxes in the front right part of the cockpit, but nothing noticeable in 1/72. For a post 1986 avionic upgrade S2B the nav kit changed even more when a digital display was introduced, but again how noticeable would that be in 1/72. Rob.

I'm currently building the Academy 1/48 Phantom F4J, VF 84 Jolly Rogers boxing. I've got a few questions regarding the finishing details for an F4J around 1971/72. Regarding red painted danger areas. Obviously, the lower aux air doors are red inside, and I have seen photos showing red on the end faces of the flaps and ailerons. Did the undercarriage doors have red edging to them at that time? The other question is did they have coroguard protection strips on the wing leading edges and intake lips? TIA Rob.

Beautiful work. The weathering is perfect.

A very nice build and looks great. I'm currently building the same kit as a start to a similar collection you have. You can't beat anything in Jolly Roger's markings. 😎

Lovely work and a very nice collection.

Very nice and something a little different.

Phantastic. Beautiful work, love it.

There are just sooo many things wrong in this picture. The nose leg link between the knuckle and wheel is too horizontal, it should be angled down. The pitot tube shouldn't be angled down. The antenna on the secondary heat exchanger behind the canopy should be angled further rearwards. The centreline pylon should not have such a pronounced step after the middle 120 ERU. Only the front had that. The RAF never used Matra Magic AAM's. It looks like you are well on top of the changes needed on this kit, so this info is probably known to you. Excellent work is being carried out. Rob.

Exactly. But they would have to research all the variants, not a one scan suits all attitude.

IF a new Jaguar is in Airfix's plans, I hope they went to Cosford to do their LIDAR scans and research. Cosford has a selection of GR1, GR1A and GR3A airframes available to see the subtle differences. If they went to a single example in a museum then there could be issues. It could end up like the Buccaneer. Kit options for FAA and early RAF aircraft having scanned an airframe that was representative of it's end of RAF life state.

No, as a rule, not for every day use. We did make use of the weapon transportation trailers when on detachment at Nellis for Red Flag, but that was it. The MJ-4 "Jammer" weapon loader was used with the Phantoms, not the MJ-1 in that kit. Rob.

Amazing, the detail even on a pylon and a couple of LAU's. As I started scrolling down, I thought the BDT number made no sense. Then I saw the change. All armament role equipment, guns, ejection seats and survival equipment had a local serial number to aid tracking. It consisted of a 3 letter abbreviation of the RAF station name and numbered 1 to whatever. So in theory the pylon and the other LAU should have LEU serial numbers too. Rob.

Errrr no. All those sink marks along its length and the sinkholes!! above the fwd ERU fairings are a special gift from Airfix. The sides of the T beams should be flat and smooth. The only indents on what has been provided are the 2 very close-together holes for the cart holders and the 2 smaller holes for the ERU throttles per ERU position.

I don't have first hand knowledge of the Airfix kit. I "enjoyed" the Kittyhawk offering. Looking at the 1/72 kit box art posted above, they look reasonable. I can't see any obvious errors. Hopefully, the 1/48 versions are just upscaled.

This is the only diagram I have from my old course notes. Unfortunately, there are no dimensions. But the distance between the 2 suspension lugs is 30 inches.

It was very rare, but yes they were fitted on GR3's. We used them on 16(R) Sqn during a QWI (weapons instructor) course to drop a stick of HE 1,000lb bombs on Garvie Island.

The name for them was tandem beam. They are not available in any aftermarket goodies. The only time they were produced was the Airfix Jaguar kit, both 1/72 and 1/48. I think then, they were moulded as a complete assembly with the inboard pylons. Scratch building is the way to go. As you are doing the Kittyhawk kit (there goes my nervous twitch again). You will need an aftermarket AN/ALQ 101 ECM pod. The kit has a Phimat pod for the other outboard but it is missing the heavyweight adapter to go with it. The pylons will need re-shaping to British versions, not French. And the 1200 ltr drop tank is garbage and the wrong shape too. Good luck! Rob.

Whether there was a plan tucked away in the darkest recesses of the MOD, it was never disseminated down to the active units and practised. That might have been so not to give a big clue to the Soviets where to target in any follow up strikes! There were some publicity demonstrations of using stretches of motorway for operations, but that was using the likes of Jaguars with their rough terrain capability. Phantoms or Tornadoes were never used. 11 Sqn Tornado F3's at Leeming had a FOB role at Stornaway. That is why they operated off a conventional flight line, whereas the other 2 Leeming squadrons operated out of HAS sites. All the air defence MOB's in the 80's had HAS sites built, so the plan may have been to survive as long as possible at those locations. In RAF Germany, although we followed the same exercise timeline. We also were of the opinion that we would only see off the jets. Not so much of the possible nuclear strike, but the sheer number of Soviet armour coming over the German plains shutting down the base and the survivability of our jets numerical wise.

Another outstanding beauty. You constantly amaze, with your painting and weathering skills.