1982 Royal Air Force Jaguar shootdown incident

Royal Air Force friendly fire incident

1982 Royal Air Force Jaguar shootdown

Jaguar GR1, identical to the aircraft lost

Shootdown
Date| 25 May 1982 (1982-05-25)
Summary| Shot down in friendly fire incident
Site| 35 miles NE of RAF Brüggen
Aircraft
Aircraft type| SEPECAT Jaguar GR1
Operator| Royal Air Force
Registration| XX963
Flight origin| RAF Brüggen
Crew| 1
Survivors| 1

On 25 May 1982, a Royal Air Force SEPECAT Jaguar of 14 Squadron, while returning to its base at RAF Brüggen in Germany following a training mission, was accidentally hit by an air-to-air missile fired by another Royal Air Force aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas Phantom. As a result, the Jaguar crashed in farmland approximately 35 miles from its base, although the pilot was able to eject safely.

## Background

[edit]

In 1982, the Royal Air Force (RAF) maintained a substantial presence in West Germany under the command of a formation named RAF Germany. RAF Germany's primary focus was the provision of combat aircraft to the Second Allied Tactical Air Force, a NATO formation tasked with the aerial defence of Western Europe.[1] This overall command formation contained a total of 14 individual squadrons across four bases.[2] Included among this list was five squadrons operating the SEPECAT Jaguar, a single seat aircraft utilised in both the strike and tactical reconnaissance roles, and two squadrons using the McDonnell Douglas Phantom, which, at the time, was the RAF's primary air defence interceptor.[2]

## Incident

[edit]

A Phantom FGR2 identical to the one involved in the incident The missile used was an AIM-9G Sidewinder, a variant of the original Sidewinder missile that was developed for use by the US Navy.[3]

On 25 May 1982, a pair of Jaguar GR1s from 14 Squadron, having undertaken a training mission, were en route back to their base at RAF Brüggen. At the same time, RAF Wildenrath was in the middle of a station air defence exercise, which would see the station's force of Phantoms, armed with inert training missiles, scrambled by fighter controllers to "intercept" other RAF Germany aircraft operating in the area.[4] At approximately 1240 hours, Phantom FGR2 XV422, operated by 92 Squadron, and crewed by Flt Lt Roy Lawrence (pilot) and Flt Lt Alistair Inverarity (navigator), was scrambled to intercept the incoming pair of Jaguars.[4][5] Having located the Jaguar pair, the Phantom proceeded to make the intercept; the Jaguars however did not undertake any defensive maneuvering, owing to their fuel situation.[6] So, the Phantom crew proceeded with their standard procedure on such a training flight, setting up for a simulated attack using their training round. But, upon the pilot pressing the missile release, an AIM-9G Sidewinder missile was launched, hitting Jaguar XX963, flown by Flt Lt Steve Griggs. The Jaguar's tail section was destroyed, with the remaining section of the aircraft entering into a flat spin. The Jaguar crashed in open farmland. Griggs was able to eject successfully, and landed in a field approximately 35 miles from Brüggen,[6] where he was assisted by the farm owner and his daughter.[7]

## Investigation

[edit]

The incident led to the setting up of a board of Inquiry to investigate. This found that there had been a chain of events at Wildenrath leading to the Phantom crew firing a live missile at the Jaguar. The crew had missed the beginning of the air defence exercise, which caused their mission briefing to be hurried, while the aircraft that they had been allocated, although ostensibly assigned to the exercise, was one that had been fitted with live missiles due to it also being one of the assigned Quick Reaction Alert aircraft that day.[4] Additionally, the master arm switch in the Phantom's cockpit, a switch designed to make live weapons safe, should have been secured in the safe position, to prevent any accidental launch of the aircraft's weapons. This would also have indicated that the aircraft was armed.[8] A redundancy should have been in place by the pulling of a circuit breaker located in the Phantom's rear cockpit, which would have made the weapons safe, which Flt Lt Inverarity, the Phantom's navigator, insisted he had pulled. But, during investigation of the aircraft following the incident, it was found that it required only a slight inward pressure on the circuit breaker switch to establish a contact, making the weapons live. The possibility was raised that, while the aircraft was operating under high-g, the navigator accidentally hit the circuit breaker switch with his leg.[6] Finally, neither the operations officer at Wildenrath, nor the fighter controller responsible for the Phantom during its mission, had been informed that the Phantom was armed; had the fighter controller known, one of the checks that would have been passed to the crew was "check switches safe".[4]

## Aftermath

[edit]

Despite the evidence of a breakdown in the chain between the Phantom being set up and the crew firing the missile, the Board of Inquiry laid the blame for the incident squarely on the shoulders of the Phantom crew, given that they had seemingly forgotten that their aircraft was armed with live weapons.[6] As a result, the crew were sent for court martial. Although they were found guilty of negligence, the two officers were given a severe reprimand, the lightest possible sentence that could be given.[4][9]

Five months after he ejected from the damaged Jaguar in the shootdown incident, Flt Lt Steve Griggs was forced to eject a second time when, on 10 September, while leading a training sortie from RAF Lossiemouth, he suffered a major fuselage fire, with his Jaguar crashing in a peat bog.[10]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Peach, Stuart (1999). "A Continental Commitment". In Wilson, Andrew (ed.). Royal Air Force in Germany 1945-1993 (PDF). Royal Air Force Historical Society. pp. 17–35.
2. ^ a b Jackson, Paul (1981). "Royal Air Force Germany". Royal Air Force Yearbook. London: Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund. pp. 3–14.
3. ^ Kopp, Carlo (April 1994). "The Sidewinder Story: The Evolution of the AIM-9 Missile". Australian Aviation. 1994 (April). Retrieved 31 January 2022.
4. ^ a b c d e Leone, Dario (12 October 2018). "Former RAF Jaguar pilot tells the story of when he was shot down by a RAF Phantom interceptor". The Aviation Geek Club. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
5. ^ Robinson, Black (2020). Fighters in the Blood: The Story of a Spitfire Pilot - And the Son Who Followed in His Footsteps. Barnsley: Pen & Sword. p. 152\. ISBN 978-1-52678-486-5.
6. ^ a b c d "When RAF Phantom shot down RAF Jaguar". Fighter Jets World. 27 April 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
7. ^ Napier, Michael (2015-01-15). Blue Diamonds: The Exploits of 14 Squadron RAF 1945-2015. Pen and Sword. p. 173\. ISBN 978-1-4738-2327-3.
8. ^ Ferguson, Norman (2013). The Little Book of Aviation. Stroud: The History Press. p. 15\. ISBN 978-0-75249-285-8.
9. ^ "British pilots reprimanded". upi.com. United Press International. 15 January 1983. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
10. ^ ""Sorry Boss – This Was One We Could Not Fix"". Tangmere Military Aviation Museum. May 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2022.

* v
* t
* e

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1982 (1982)

Jan 13

Air Florida Flight 90

Jan 18

Thunderbirds Indian Springs diamond crash

Jan 23

World Airways Flight 30

Feb 6

Korean Air Force C-123 crash

Feb 9

Japan Air Lines Flight 350

Feb 21

Pilgrim Airlines Flight 458

Mar 11

Widerøe Flight 933

Mar 20

Garuda Fokker F28 crash

Mar 26

Aeropesca Colombia Flight 217

Apr 26

CAAC Flight 3303

May 25

RAF Jaguar shootdown incident

Jun 6

British Army Gazelle friendly fire incident

Jun 8

VASP Flight 168

Jun 12

TABA Fairchild FH-227 accident

Jun 21

Air India Flight 403

Jun 24

British Airways Flight 009

Jun 28

Aeroflot Flight 8641

Jul 6

Aeroflot Flight 411

Jul 9

Pan Am Flight 759

Jul 23

Twilight Zone accident

Aug 11

Pan Am Flight 830

Aug 14

Sukhumi Dranda Airport runway collision

Aug 26

Southwest Air Lines Flight 611

Sep 1

Aerocondor DHC-4 Caribou accident

Sep 13

Spantax Flight 995

Sep 13

Bristow Helicopters Bell 212 accident

Sep 17

Japan Airlines Flight 792

Sep 29

Aeroflot Flight 343

Dec 9

Aeronor Flight 304

Dec 24

CAAC Flight 2311

1981  ◄ ► 1983

* v
* t
* e

Aviation accidents and incidents in Germany

German Empire
(1871-1918)|

* Otto Lilienthal (August 1896)
* Erbslöh (July 1910)
* Helgoland Island air disaster (September 1913)
* Johannisthal air disaster (October 1913)

Nazi Germany
(1933-1945)|

* Swissair Tuttlingen accident (July 1934)
* Deutsche Lufthansa Ju 90 crash (November 1940)

Occupied Germany
(1945-1949)|

* Gatow air disaster (April 1948)

West Germany
and West Berlin
(1949-1991)|

* KLM Flight 592 (March 1952)
* Sabena Convair Crash (October 1953)
* Altensteig mid-air collision (August 1955)
* Munich air disaster (February 1958)
* template
* Munich C-131 crash (December 1960)
* ČSA Flight 511 (March 1961)
* Lufthansa Flight 005 (January 1966)
* Pan Am Flight 708 (November 1966)
* Paninternational Flight 112 (September 1971)
* LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 hijacking (August 1978)
* Royal Air Force Jaguar shootdown incident (May 1982)
* Rhein-Main Starfighter crash (May 1983)
* Nürnberger Flugdienst Flight 108 (February 1988)
* Ramstein air show disaster (August 1988)
* Remscheid A-10 crash (December 1988)
* 1989 Germany mid-air collision (January 1989)

East Germany
(1949-1991)|

* F-84 Thunderstreak incident (September 1961)
* T-39 shootdown incident (January 1964)
* Königs Wusterhausen air disaster (August 1972)
* Interflug Flight 1107 (September 1975)
* Aeroflot Flight 892 (December 1986)
* Interflug Flight 102 (June 1989)

Germany
(1991-)|

* Überlingen mid-air collision (July 2002)
* Swiss International Air Lines Flight 850 (July 2002)

Includes both the former East Germany and West Germany
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