Staff at York museum reunited with Cold War nuclear jet they flew 40 years ago

Kevin Glenton
·2-min read
Gary and Derek in front of XZ383 <i>(Image: Yorkshire Aire Museum)</i>
Gary and Derek in front of XZ383 (Image: Yorkshire Aire Museum)

Two volunteer guides at the Yorkshire Air Museum have been reunited with the Cold War supersonic aircraft they both flew during their time as Royal Air Force (RAF) fast jet pilots.

‘Sepecat Jaguar XZ383’ has gone on display at the museum in Halifax Lane after being donated by the RAF.

The very same aircraft features in the RAF pilot’s logbook of museum guide Gary Fairhurst, who flew it nearly forty years ago.

Read next:

Arrests made in North Yorkshire knife crime incidents

North Yorkshire care home worker's 24-hour bike ride for good causes

Village hall in North Yorkshire broken into and ‘ransacked’

Gary said: “In June 1983, after 38 months of flying training, I was selected to fly the single seat ground attack aircraft that was the Jaguar GR1.

“In November of 1985 my squadron deployed to Sardinia to undertake intensive air combat training.

“My logbook shows that on November 15th and 18th I flew XZ383, or "Alpha Fox" as it was known.

“Fast forward almost 38 years and that very same aircraft arrives at the Yorkshire Air Museum where I act as a volunteer guide, to be the latest addition to a growing and fabulous collection of aircraft.”

Fellow Yorkshire Air Museum guide Derek Earp accumulated more than 2,000 hours flying not only RAF Jaguars but Omani and Ecuadorian versions as well.

York Press: Derek Earp (l), pictured here during his career as an RAF pilot
York Press: Derek Earp (l), pictured here during his career as an RAF pilot

Derek Earp (l), pictured here during his career as an RAF pilot (Image: Yorkshire Air Museum)

Derek said: “I first flew XZ383 (AF) in March 1984 whilst serving on 14 Squadron at RAF Bruggen in Germany.

“During the following two years I flew the aircraft on numerous occasions.

"In September and October 1986 I was reunited with XZ383 when my unit swapped some of their Jaguar Mk1A aircraft for some older RAF Coltishall Mk1 aircraft.

“XZ 383 was one of these older aircraft.

“I then flew XZ383 on a detachment to Sardinia.

“Now to be reunited with an airframe that I actually flew brings back many memories, mostly good ones!”

Yorkshire Air Museum’s aviation conservation manager, Gary Hancock said: “‘Jaguar XZ383 is a great addition to our collection and one we’ve been after for around 15 years.

“We are particularly delighted to have volunteers who have flown it, as that adds to the story.

“Also, it’s almost 100 per cent complete, minus the bits the RAF had to remove, and that makes a huge difference.

“With this, our Cold War jet collection goes from strength to strength."

 

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest stories

  • One-Two Punch From the Skies Is a Massive Blow to Putin

    Ukraine’s military has spent the last two years chronically short of planes. Its prewar stocks were already small in number and mostly dated from the Soviet era. When NATO and other countries sent help, they focused on either sending the same older models or keeping existing aircraft in the air through maintenance and spare parts. Russia, meanwhile, has a larger and often more advanced air force.However, new planes are on the way to help Ukraine. For nearly a year, countries like the Netherlands

  • Russian troops surrender to an elite brigade as the Kharkiv front holds, Ukraine says

    In a video released by Ukraine's 3rd Assault Brigade, Russian troops can be seen surrendering in Vovchansk.

  • Ukraine proves it can target the Russian air force's weakest link

    Ukraine appears to have hit on a strategy to strike back at the Russian jets lobbing glide bombs at its defenses.

  • How Ukraine’s surplus Western missiles humbled Putin’s billion dollar Crimea defences

    The night sky over Crimea flashed with explosions and tracer fire as the barrage of American-made missiles arrived and found their targets.

  • The number of powerful Russian glide bombs hitting Ukraine's Dnipro salient falls from 80 a day to 4 thanks to US aid, officer says

    Over the last six months, Russia has continually pounded Ukrainian targets with glide bombs — some weighing more than 3,000 pounds.

  • Shunned by West, Russian army deserters live in fear

    Russian officer Farkhad Ziganshin had prepared himself for a life of military service since a young age.- 'Live with dignity' -  Ziganshin went to a military boarding school at the age of 10 and graduated from a military academy that prepares Russian tank commanders. 

  • Ukrainian forces strike Russian airbase with at least 70 drones, targeting Su-34 jets used to drop glide bombs

    Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, confirmed the attack to The War Zone.

  • New US weapons narrow gap between Ukraine and Russian forces

    US military artillery shells have reached frontline Ukrainian units and have started to break Russian battlefield momentum.

  • Gaza aid pier removed, satellite images show

    STORY: :: Satellite images show that the U.S. military pieron Gaza's coast has been removed:: Maxar Technologies:: June 12, 2024:: June 15, 2024:: An anonymous U.S. official said the militarywas moving it due to anticipated sea conditions:: and that it would likely be moved to the Israeli portof Ashdod until sea conditions improve:: June 12, 2024:: Humanitarian aid had just resumedentering the enclave via the pierThe floating U.S. military pier had just resumed bringing humanitarian aid into the enclave after being suspended over the weekend.

  • The US has supplied Ukraine with over 4 million shells, as well as tanks and helicopters of Russian origin

    Check out the vast range of military hardware, including weapons of Russian origin, the US has supplied Ukraine, according to the State Department.

  • Listen: The terrifying sounds of modern warfare in Ukraine

    Soldiers near the front quickly learn to tell the drones apart by their sound alone.

  • Benjamin Netanyahu dissolves war cabinet amid row with Army

    Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved Israel’s war cabinet after opposition leader Benny Gantz resigned.

  • Carnage and Contradiction: Examining a Deadly Strike in Rafah

    Fear plagued Saleh Mohammed al-Hila, 37, on that Sunday. “I was lying on the ground of the tent and told my son, ‘May God save us from this night,’” he recalled. Hamas had launched rockets at central Israel hours earlier, setting off air-raid sirens in the Tel Aviv area for the first time in months. Israel’s military said the barrage had been fired from Rafah — the city in the southern Gaza Strip where Israeli forces were advancing and al-Hila was sheltering with his family in a camp for displac

  • Why Russia’s Bond With North Korea Is a Danger to the World

    (Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing to make his first trip to North Korea in 24 years to warm up a newfound bond with its leader, Kim Jong Un, that has helped boost Russia’s firepower in its grinding war on Ukraine. As the US and its partners have tried to put Russia and North Korea deeper into isolation, the two countries have stepped up their trade in commodities and arms. Russia’s forces have been able to blast thousands of artillery shells a day at Ukraine thanks to

  • The Korean loudspeaker war: does it really work?

    STORY: At the heart of a recent spat between North and South Korea were these loudspeakers - designed to blare K-pop music and political messages into the reclusive North. But the South's speakers have faced audits and legal battles over claims that they're actually too quiet, raising questions over just how effective this attempt at psychological warfare is.South Korea resumed loudspeaker broadcasts aimed at the North on June 9 for the first time since a now-defunct inter-Korean deal banned them in 2018.The current sound systems were among dozens bought in 2016, after a dispute over the broadcasts led the two sides to exchange fire.The military said they were meant to be heard more than 6 miles away, enough to reach the 200,000 residents in the nearby city of Kaesong.But Reuters has now seen audit reports released at the time, which showed the new speakers did not have that range.Former navy officer Kim Young-su heads up an ombudsman agency that helped investigate the issues and raise them to the authorities.“There are fixed and vehicle-mounted types. The fixed type is closer to North Korea, with more amplifiers installed. With the fixed type, I was told it can reach around 3 to four-and-a-half miles."Kim said experts found that the vehicle-mounted type was even less effective.The South's defense ministry tried to sue the manufacturer, but a court dismissed the case, saying that too many environmental factors could affect the performance.Meanwhile, according to the audit and Kim, tests in 2017 showed that messages or songs could not be understood further than 4.4 miles, and more often closer to 3.So even if the broadcasts reached Kaesong, people there would only hear muddled sound.The ministry told Reuters in a statement, it did not consider the loudspeakers' performance to be restricted.It said how they do depends on conditions like temperature, humidity, and terrain. According to North Korean defector Kim Sung-min, the border terrain is mountainous, which adds to the challenge for the speakers.He said the North also blares its own loudspeakers to try and drown out the South's broadcasts.Still, Kim thinks the music and messages can still have a major psychological impact for those who do hear it.He now runs a radio station in Seoul that broadcasts news into the North. "Not many people have actually defected directly after listening to broadcasts. However, these broadcasts play a role in instilling a yearning for the outside world, or in making them realize that the textbooks they have been taught from are incorrect."Officials told South Korean media in 2017 that at least two soldiers from the North's frontlines defected after hearing the broadcasts.Other observers also point out Pyongyang's angry reactions to the broadcasts suggest they strike a nerve with the authoritarian country and likely do have some effect on the people there.

  • For Ukrainians in Canada, new conscription rules increase pressure to fight

    Dmytro lives a simple life in Winnipeg — baking bread at a supermarket or playing volleyball with fellow Ukrainians. Dmytro, who is non-binary and uses the pronoun they, says they feel safe in a country that accepts them as they are. But they know it's different in Ukraine. "You're going to be looked upon as a person who is weak, a person who is afraid, the person who is working [for] their enemy," said Dmytro, a tall, slim 20-something with a mop of brown hair. They didn't want their age or ful

  • Beards on parade at Trooping the Colour after Army rule change

    Soldiers marching in Trooping the Colour were allowed to wear beards for the first time in more than 100 years.

  • Germany marks veterans’ day for first time since end of Second World War

    Germany’s retired soldiers marked Saturday with their first Veterans’ Day since the end of the Second World War, breaking the country’s decades-old taboo over celebrating its armed forces.

  • ‘I’m not willing to be occupied’: How a Ukrainian priest led a resistance behind enemy lines

    From the very beginning, Father Andriy’s faith has included a large streak of resistance.

  • US forces destroy Houthi radars in Yemen that allowed Iranian-backed group to target commercial ships, CENTCOM says

    A civilian mariner remains missing in the Red Sea, two days after the crew of a cargo carrier struck by Houthi militants abandoned ship, US Central Command said Friday.