FighterControl

There probably never was a better time to visit RAF Valley than the summer of 1995, particularly as regards diversity of colour schemes and markings on display. The closure of Chivenor the previous year meant that all the RAF Hawks were concentrated @ Valley except for those of 100 Sqn and the Red Arrows. Those of 19 Sqn. were still in evidence but its long time sister squadron no. 92 had suffered disbandment altho' its red and yellow colours were still in evidence on a number of 74 Sqn. jets. Add in the change of colour scheme from air defence grey and trng. raspberry ripple to gloss black and there was a right mix on view. Rarely were the jets lined up for paired take-offs in the same scheme. Then there were assorted odds and sods like a visiting DERA jet with interesting photo sync tail marking and an all blue display jet from the previous season plus the current display jet. I only discovered the slides taken the other day and thought that with the recent retirement of the legacy Hawk what better time to look back at the peak of its service.

Hawks - XX323 TD 74 Sqn. Valley '95 (40%) by Michael Britton, on Flickr

Hawks - XX179 E Valley '95 (40%) by Michael Britton, on Flickr

Hawks - XX278 19 Sqn. Valley '95 (50%) by Michael Britton, on Flickr

Hawks - XX231 19 Sqn. '94 Display Jet Valley '95 by Michael Britton, on Flickr

Hawks - XX224 PM 19 Sqn. by Michael Britton, on Flickr

Hawks - XX160 Valley '95 by Michael Britton, on Flickr

Hawks - XX235 Display Jet Valley '95 by Michael Britton, on Flickr

Hawks - XX221 DG 208 Sqn. Valley '95 by Michael Britton, on Flickr

Hawks - 208 Sqn. flightline Valley '95 by Michael Britton, on Flickr

What a great selection of shots F3! Paid my first visit to Valley (for an airshow) in 1978 and it was all red and white in those days. Nostalgic pictures such as these make me want to go and look through the boxes of photo's I took (starting back in 1977). The Hawk must have carried the most varied colour schemes combined with multiple squadron marks of all RAF aircraft types. I well remember the set of black Hawks that appeared at Farnborough one year where each bore the name of the overseas users of the type. Heady days! It will be a sad day when the last one retires.

Some great colour schemes there, sadly all way after my time.

Sad to see 74 ending up flying Hawks, but I guess it's better than what they are flying now - i.e. nothing!
Shameful that the RAF doesn't have a Tiger squadron IMHO.

cheers

dennis

Great set. XX160 is interesting with the larger photo calibration marking, haven't seen a shot of that before

bigcrow wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 06, 2022 2:08 pm

Great set. XX160 is interesting with the larger photo calibration marking, haven't seen a shot of that before

It is the only a/c I've ever seen carrying such a marking and I think the picture shows how effective it is.

Hi Mick

Top set there

Thanks for posting

Paddyboy

Fascinating set of photos Michael, thankyou. It was a significant time of change in the Hawk fleet, with consolidation of the flying to Valley (& Leeming) and the Mod.2010 program (new centre & rear fuselage) was about to kick off. This redistributed the fleet, also standardised the Black colour scheme as they came off major servicing.

I am officially OLD
Great to see some old airframes that I've worked on having started my airforce carreer at Vally after training and watching the Hawk fleet build up from the start in 1977 as they replaced the Folland Gnat.

Thanks for all that have shared pictures of the old birds . . . but most of them were new numbers to me - 1st jet at Valley was XX161 if my ageing memory serves me correctly, with the 200 series number just coming in as we started a 3rd Hawk line just as I left in '79.

Steve T

dennis273 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 06, 2022 1:09 pm

EDITED
Shameful that the RAF doesn't have a Tiger squadron IMHO.
cheers
dennis

Certainly a shame the RAF don't have a Fast-jet Tiger Squadron, but they do have an actual 'Tiger' Squadron flying a 'Puma'!
https://www.raf.mod.uk/our-organisation ... -squadron/
Great set of pix btw. A time of change & the start of a major decline in assets.

Supra wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 08, 2022 9:32 am

dennis273 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 06, 2022 1:09 pm

EDITED
Shameful that the RAF doesn't have a Tiger squadron IMHO.
cheers
dennis

Certainly a shame the RAF don't have a Fast-jet Tiger Squadron, but they do have an actual 'Tiger' Squadron flying a 'Puma'!
https://www.raf.mod.uk/our-organisation ... -squadron/
Great set of pix btw. A time of change & the start of a major decline in assets.

I was at Beja when the Portuguese F16 was hit by one of their Hawks - the following enquiry slammed the squadron bosses. I wonder if this was the final straw along with the commitment to the effort to keep up with the other air forces (special colour schemes, attendance at gatherings etc.) that keeps them grounded?