Phantom serial number

[LG wildenrath phantom]

Hi guys

I am hoping to make a replica of an RAF Wildenrath phantom from 19 squadron. My dad was wing commander TJL Gauvain of 19 squadron from 1978-1980. I am enquiring here to see if anyone knows what the serial number of the aircraft he flew was. I'll see if i can find any of his old log books but if i can't i was wondering if any of you were based at Wildenrath at the time and may know? I have already bought the Air doc RAF phantoms of Germany decal sheet and have my fujimi phantom FGR.2 kit in the box.

Thank you, any help is greatly appreciated

[ursa_major]

Hi LG,

if 19 followed what I'm told was normal practise and the Boss flew the jet coded 'A', then in 1979 your dad's mount would have been XV497 according the the warpaint mag on the British Phantom.

Hope this helps.

G.

EDIT: A swift shufti at the Phantom Shrine has shown (without dates, unfortunately) several other jets that wore 'A' on 19 were XV430, XV439 & XV499. 2 jets wore the code 'AA' on 19 too: XV487 & XV401 - I'm not sure of the significance of this coding, perhaps someone on here can explain this & give dates too?

I was going to suggest asking on the 19 all-ranks site: http://www.19sqnallranksassoc.org.uk/ but the site appears to be down.

Edited February 13, 2011 by ursa_major

[LG wildenrath phantom]

Thanks for the help my only query is that when my dad left the RAF they presented him with a phantom on a plynth that has a J on the tail. So for a long time I thought it may have been one of the 19 squadron phantoms with a J on the tail. But he also has a photo of a lightning (when he was squadron leader) which says the boss' aeroplane, and that has an A on the tail. so i think you may be right. If this is the case isnt that aircraft still preserved?

[Selwyn]

Hi guys

I am hoping to make a replica of an RAF Wildenrath phantom from 19 squadron. My dad was wing commander TJL Gauvain of 19 squadron from 1978-1980. I am enquiring here to see if anyone knows what the serial number of the aircraft he flew was. I'll see if i can find any of his old log books but if i can't i was wondering if any of you were based at Wildenrath at the time and may know? I have already bought the Air doc RAF phantoms of Germany decal sheet and have my fujimi phantom FGR.2 kit in the box.

Thank you, any help is greatly appreciated

By the term "his Aircraft I assume you mean the one with his name on it. In actual fact he would have flown all of the aircraft on the squadron at some time or the other.

Selwyn

[LG wildenrath phantom]

Yes, i mean the aircraft with his name and his navigator on the cockpits. I was told that being wing commander he would have had an aeroplane which he used the most often rather than scrambling to any aircraft on QRA alert. If he flew XV497 it would be brilliant beacause i think that it is preserved at waddington so i can visit it some day .

[ghb180658]

LG, at the time your Dad was Boss of 19 I was doing the OCU and then on 29 Sqn at Coningsby. Back then the aircraft were still in the green and grey camouflage (the occasional experimental grey one may have just been around then) and as I recall we didn't have names on the aircraft. We started doing it on 29 around 1982/83 post the Falklands and when I arrived on 92 in summer of 1983 we didn't have names on the jets and I'm pretty sure 19 were the same. I remember the debates about which names went on the aircraft because we always had more crews than jets but we did start putting names on during my tour which finished in 1986. Certainly in my 13 years on the mighty F4 you flew whichever jet was allocated on the programme even when they had names on them. If the Boss did have a particular jet the chap doing the programme might do a match up but no big deal unless it was a special sortie like a flypast.

So without a name which jet? Well any one that was on the Sqn at the time to be honest, it wasn't standard that "A" was the Boss's jet across the force but it may have been on 19. He will have flown them all and finding his log book would be perfect.

Hope that helps.

Geoff

[LG wildenrath phantom]

Thanks Geoff for clearing that up. I have some brilliant footage from a Man Alive documentary taken at Wildenrath at the time My dad was wing commander there, and i just think the camo schemes on the RAF phantom are so nice to look at. I've got a little book that was donated to me by the lovely people at squadron prints of 228 OCU at coningsby as well.

[Howard of Effingham]

i wonder if any of the modeldecal sheets that have covered the F-4 and RAF ones especially would be of help here to

get the basic decals right. someone should be able to give the numbers but 64 or 65 spring to mind.

one of these has a scheme for the silver jubliee marked a/c, but also has optional checker markings in light blue and white.

[LG wildenrath phantom]

i wonder if any of the modeldecal sheets that have covered the F-4 and RAF ones especially would be of help here to

get the basic decals right. someone should be able to give the numbers but 64 or 65 spring to mind.

one of these has a scheme for the silver jubliee marked a/c, but also has optional checker markings in light blue and white.

I've got the Airdoc RAF phantoms of Germany decal sheet so that shouldn't be a problem. It has nearly all the combinations for any phantom based in an RAF german base. Thanks for the help though