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JAGUAR GR.1
Image: MARK J. CAIRNS
The history of the SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1 jet
The SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1 was a powerful, very fast and intimidating aircraft resulting from the cooperation between France and England in the Cold War era.
From being a shared jet trainer with limited ground attack capability in its original form, the project’s requirements changed significantly.
The introduction of the Jaguar marked an important milestone in military aviation as it represented among the earliest, significant, Anglo-French cooperative military programmes for aircraft since the Second World War.
Image: MARK J. CAIRNS
The SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1, born out of that Anglo-French collaboration to counter the Cold War, proved to be a challenging fast jet.
It started off as a joint training fighter, plus light ground attack aircraft, but later changed into something else. By the 1970s – when it went operational – the Jaguar GR.1 had moulded into a supersonic strike bomber, able to perform close air support and even tactical nuclear strike missions.
SEPECAT built it with Breguet and British Aircraft Corporation being involved in its manufacture.The prototype's first flight was on September 8, 1968, entering active just five years later in 1973.
The design was incredible, and both nations' experienced aircraft engineers took advantage of this. With sleek lines cutting through the air, two Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour turbine engines were housed in slender nacelles.
The turbines were powerful yet frugal, allowing for speeds of over Mach 1.6.
Image: MARK J. CAIRNS
The Royal Air Force (RAF) played a great part in its history, as the GR.1 variant was a modification specifically meant for the RAF and included several changes to boost its attack role' performance.
The GR.1's airframe was reinforced to carry an extended range of weapon systems such as bombs, rockets and air-to-surface missiles.
Additionally, a lot of development money had been invested in the avionics suite which ensured that navigation, target acquisition and weapon delivery were much more accurate than any aircraft before it.
These developments made the Jaguar GR.1 a highly flexible and formidable attack platform.
Jags served extensively throughout the latter decades of the 20th Century, with their operational debut commencing in March 1974 at the height of Cold War, during which they replaced all RAF Phantoms' ground-attack duties.
It has flown on many active missions including campaigns in Iraq, where it gained special praise for reliability and effectiveness in such harsh conditions.
Image: MARK J. CAIRNS
Beyond the Gulf War: Jaguar GR.1's Legacy
It’s worth noting that even after the Persian Gulf war, the Jaguar GR.1 was still in service with the RAF. They supported NATO airspace throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
Their quick response and exceptional ability to turn sharply made them good for deterring Soviet Russian planes flying across Europe’s most vulnerable air corridors, or just travelling along them on a regular basis as part of the normal Nato patrolling process.
Jaguar GR.1 served with the RAF until 2007 when it was retired; replaced by Eurofighter Typhoons.
Image: EDGAR ENGLAND
History of the UAS' Jaguar GR.1 XZ389
Delivered to the RAF in 1977, XZ389 carried out its first flight on 7th May, 1977.
After retiring from active service, it was used for training RAF apprentices at the School of Technical Training at Halton, and later at RAF Cosford.
During the latter part of 2023, an unknown buyer acquired the airframe, and so work began to dismantle the aircraft. However, during the process the buyer decided they no longer wanted the jet, and so work ceased.
The UAS was originally successful in acquiring Jaguar XX967, but since XZ389 was already party dismantled, RAF Cosford offered it to the UAS instead of XX967.
So JARTS continued to dismantle the wings and tailplane of XZ389 to transport it to Northern Ireland.
In mid-November 2023, Jaguar XZ 389 was generously Gifted by the RAF to the Ulster Aviation Society (which we're immensely grateful for).
UAS Volunteers quickly reassembled it over winter 2024 for display alongside the other fast jets within our Heritage collection.
Photographic study of Jaguar GR.1 XZ 389
