Patrolling the Cold War Skies: Reheat Sunset by Philip Keeble

Author:Philip Keeble [Keeble, Philip]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781781555965
Publisher: Fonthill Media
Published: 2017-05-29T04:00:00+00:00

Phantom F4—Missile Firing

It’s not Rocket Science—Well, Actually, Maybe It Is

Log Book:

1983/Phantom FG1/590/Self/F.L. H*****/MPC AP10/Skyflash Firing/0:50

The Skyflash air-to-air missile was a development of the American AIM-7 Sparrow, modified by British Aerospace in collaboration with the Swedes. A number of countries carried them on a variety of jets; it was an excellent piece of kit.

For the technical bit—it was a medium-range, semi-active, radar homing missile. It had a range of about 25–30 miles and carried an extremely lethal warhead. Weighing over 400 lb, it was 12 feet long, and had a claimed top speed of nearly Mach 4. It cost about £150,000 a pop at 1990 rates: not cheap, but an outstandingly good weapon. We called it a ‘Mach 3 Telegraph Pole’, and were required to fire one at least once in our careers.

Alongside the Skyflash, we also carried the shorter-range, infrared-guided Sidewinder missile, the AIM 9L. This was just under half the weight of a Skyflash, had a speed of about Mach 2, a range of 20 miles, and a length of 10 feet. I cannot remember the Sidewinder cost, but I fully expect someone to contact me and put me straight on every point above.

Well, whatever the figures were, we carried four of each missile on both the Phantom F4 and the Tornado F3. The four Skyflash recessed underneath the fuselage and the Sidewinders on launchers, two under each wing. While, for short-range combat, we had the deadly Gatling gun.

All in all, it was an awesome package to carry. We were ‘44+8’ (explanation later).

Oh yes, nearly forgot. Just in case things got really bad and I had to shoot my navigator, I had a Browning 9mm sidearm, later replaced by the Walther PPK.

I always liked the first gun I ever came across in the service—the Smith and Wesson Model 10, a .38 six shot revolver. Simple yet effective. The 9 mm Browning was good for an automatic, but the 7.65 mm Walther PPK, or PP, was not to my taste. It might have been the weapons of choice for a certain Mr Bond and Herr Adolf Hitler—who apparently shot himself with one in the Führerbunker—but it seemed a bit too lightweight to me.

Technical bit over. Eventually came the day when it was my turn to fire a missile. I had been missile chase and the backup jet on a few previous occasions; I had once even got two seconds away from firing a Sidewinder, when the target telemetry went down and we had to cease and desist. Stepping away from the trigger at that late stage showed an awful lot of self-control that I did not know I had.

Finally came the big day. ‘Missile number two please!’ Steve and I flew down to RAF Valley in North Wales, where the Missile Practice Camp (MPC) was held. We had been briefed as to the procedures and, come the time, we were ready and raring to go. Steve was a laconic and laid back sort of chap—just the sort of navigator that I needed in a tense situation.

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