Back in 1985, 74 had had a pretty successful APC in Cyprus and flown against the F-14`s of VF-41 and VF-84 who were in the Med at the time. Feeling pleased with itself, on returning to the UK, the Tigers issued a challenge to all Strike Command Squadrons. 74 would man a CAP off the east coast and the threat directions were given. Pretty much every squadron turned up to see if they could get past 74`s CAP including Jags, Tornado`s, Bucc`s and even Canberra`s from 360 sqn on a jamming sortie. A tanker was on hand to top anyone up and NATO E-3 was overhead viewing proceedings.
Overall, a very successful and interesting day. But the highlight of the day is the subject of this build. Paul Day of the BBMF was on a general handling flight in a Spitfire and cottoned on to what was going on. You can imagine the surprise of 74`s Boss when his back seater happened to look behind and point out that they had been bounced and possibly `shot down` by a Spit on their 7 o`clock.
Despite the `loss` of one F-4J to a Spitfire, 74 carried out a very successful defense of the UK`s east coast that day. Coupled with the high launch and serviceability rate, everyone knew 74 were back and their new `toy` was a very capable and potent fighter.
Aah, Gotchya..