Phantom in the Cold War: RAF Wildenrath 1977 - 1992 by David Gledhill

Author:David Gledhill [Gledhill, David]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2017-06-30T04:00:00+00:00

Being based in continental Europe, the squadrons were better able to liaise with NATO counterparts and visits to the F-104 base at Aalborg, the Mirage III base at Dijon and the F-5 base at Gilze Rijen provided new and unusual opponents against which to develop tactics.

By June 1977 the Squadron was at full strength with its full complement of fifteen pilots and fifteen navigators, although pilot numbers would fluctuate over the coming years. Morale was high and, on an average day, seven serviceable Phantoms were available to fly, the remainder being unserviceable with more complex snags or undergoing extended servicing. With a realisation that normal operations on low level CAPs would take the crews very close to air combat scenarios, another air combat phase was scheduled using the restricted training airspace, or TRAs, around Gütersloh which was less densely populated than the skies in the local area at Wildenrath.

Celebrations were rife and three aircraft detached to take part in the Royal Review in the UK plus a celebratory formation flypast was mounted for the new Commander-In-Chief, RAF Germany, in which two Phantoms, two Jaguars, two Buccaneers and two Harriers flew over the Joint Headquarters at Rheindahlen. As with many such events, once the flypast was over and, having a captive audience, a training mission was conducted generating an interesting mix of opponents for the Phantom crews.

Although the Phantom had retired from the reconnaissance role and had been replaced by the Jaguar, limitations on the maximum weight the Jaguar could carry meant its replacement pod was less capable than the Thorn/EMI pod previously fitted to the Phantom. A trial was conducted at Laarbruch to assess the residual capability available should the Phantom be tasked in a secondary reconnaissance role. Fortuitously, many of the 92 Squadron crews had flown operationally in the role on both 2 Squadron and 41 Squadron flying the Phantom. Using infra-red and optical sensors, flying both during the day and at night around the “Charlie” night routes, the crews demonstrated a credible capability, hitting many targets with unexpected precision given their lack of currency in the role. Concurrently, with a Red Flag exercise scheduled for the Buccaneers, the deployed jets offered work-up training for the Buccaneer crews at Laarbruch allowing the bomber crews to practise anti-fighter tactics prior to arriving at Nellis Air Force Base for the keynote exercise.

Exercise Cold Fire was to be one of the first keynote NATO exercises in which the Phantoms would take part. An annual event, the British contribution to Cold Fire was coordinated by the Joint Headquarters at Rheindahlen and involved the British Army of the Rhine as well as the flying units and missile squadrons of RAF Germany. Simulating a Soviet penetration through the Fulda Gap, a scenario which often opened NATO exercises, ground attack squadrons were tasked to hit targets along the forward edge of the battle area, known as the FEBA. Normally, an anticlockwise pattern was flown through the exercise area with aircraft departing from the Clutch airfields and routing out through low flying area 3 towards the Inner German Border.

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