Napier - Gloster Javelin

First published in 2015 by

Pen and Sword Aviation

An imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS

Copyright Michael John William Napier 2015

ISBN: 9781473848818
PDF ISBN: 9781473848849
EPUB ISBN: 9781473848825
PRC ISBN: 9781473848832

The right of Michael John William Napier to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library

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Editor: Jasper Spencer-Smith
Design and artwork: Nigel Pell
Proof reader: Martin Derry

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Contents

FOREWORD

by
Air Marshal Sir F. B.
Sowrey, KCB, CBE, AFC

Officer Commanding, 46 Squadron
Javelin FAW 2, 1958-1960

This book about the Javelin is based on the experiences of those who operated it, both in the air and on the ground. The authors own background as a fast jet pilot in the Royal Air Force gives him a unique insight into the flying characteristics of the aircraft and the part it played at the leading edge of development of tactics for the higher-performance fighters that followed.

In the 1950s, the operational need was for a high-performance fighter that could intercept incoming raids by day or night, in all weathers and under conditions of massive jamming of air-defence radars. Supersonic (in a very steep dive) and fitted with an effective air-intercept radar, the Javelin met this requirement admirably. Through the late 1950s and into the early 1960s, the Javelin formed the frontline of our air defences, and with successive improvement, ultimately it became the first aircraft in RAF service to be missile armed. Later, the ability to make long-range overseas deployments was greatly enhanced by the fitting of an air-refuelling probe on the Javelin the first RAF fighter to have this capability which acted not only as a distance improver but also a force multiplier.

Flying the Javelin fostered a close working understanding between pilot and nav/rad to achieve the best results. That experience was to lay the foundations of the crew cooperation that was needed to operate the more sophisticated two-seat aircraft that followed, such as Phantom, Buccaneer and Tornado. The crews who operated the Javelin showed the highest levels of professional competence they were ready able and willing to fight if necessary and they played their part in showing the Wests determination to deter aggression during the Cold War.

INTRODUCTION
&
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Often overlooked by aviation historians and enthusiasts alike in favour of its more glamorous single-seat contemporaries, the Gloster Javelin was a remarkable aircraft which occupies a unique place in the post-war history of the RAF. It was the first complex fast-jet aeroplane to enter service with the RAF: a high performance two-engined, two-crew, radar-equipped fighter, the services first aeroplane to have been designed from the very outset to be a night/all-weather fighter, the first front-line type to be armed with air-to-air missiles and the first of the RAFs tactical aircraft to be capable of routine air-to-air refuelling. I hope that by describing the work of Javelin squadrons through the late 1950s and early 1960s my book will restore the Gloster Javelin to its rightful place in the operational history of the RAF and that in future, aviation historians will give the type the recognition it truly deserves as one of the pivotal types operated by the service.

Although this is an operational history of a remarkable aircraft, it is more properly the operational history of the remarkable men who flew and serviced the Javelin. That story could not have been told without the active support of a number of Javelin Veterans who have encouraged me with great modesty and humour to tell their story. They have helped me to do so by sharing their recollections and answering my questions, often with great patience. Although their number is quite small, they represent a good cross section of aircrew and groundcrew, from squadron commanders to junior first-tourists, senior officers to NCO aircrew, from engine technicians to instrument fitters. I am deeply indebted to the following Javelin Men without whose generous support I could not have completed this book: Malcolm Adamson (85 Sqn), Brian Bullock (141, 41, 11, 25 and 29 Sqns), Jack Broughton (89, 85, 11 Sqns), Richard Carrey (87 Sqn), Peter Day (60 Sqn), Ed Durham (85 Sqn), Trevor Evans (64 Sqn), Roy Evans (25, 11 Sqns), Keith Fitchew (5, 64, 60 Sqns), Don Headley (64 Sqn), Sir Richard Johns (64 Sqn), Peter Masterman (29 Sqn), Mike Miller (JMTU, 23, 60 Sqns), Forbes Pearson (85, 29 Sqns), John Roberts (85 Sqn), Sir Freddie Sowrey (46 Sqn), Roy Smith (23, 11 Sqns), Gordon Wheeler (FCIRS, 85 Sqn), Alan Wright (46 Sqn).

I am very grateful to Judy Abell who kindly loaned her late husband Johns logbook and superb 35mm slides to me and to Judy Cowper who generously gave me full access to her late husband Chris extensive photograph collection and also loaned his log-book to me. Thank-you, too, to Alison Donovan for her kindness in lending me her late husband CJs photographs, and arranging via son Chris access to CJs log-book. This was particularly poignant for me, as CJ was my navigator on Tornado GR1s some 25 years after he flew Javelins.

I have tried to illustrate this book with operational photographs that is images showing aircrew and groundcrew doing their job, rather than simply those of static aircraft at air shows. Many of the photographs have not been previously published and I am extremely grateful to the following who have helped me in my research: Richard Gardner (FAST), Mike Smith (Newark Air Museum), Peter Elliott, Ian Alder, Belinda Day (all RAF Museum), Lee Barton (Air Historical Branch), Tim Kershaw (Jet Age Museum, Gloucester) all of whom have helped me to find suitable photographs. Also many thanks to Tony OToole for his ever enthusiastic support and for sharing his collection of Javelin photographs. I am particularly indebted to Graham Pitchfork for his great help and support not only for introducing me to his Javelin contacts, but also for access to his own collection of photographs.

Another invaluable source of material has been the crew-room diaries of the current RAF squadrons that once flew Javelins. I am very grateful to the following squadron members who made me welcome in those crew rooms: Simon Devenish (3 Sqn), Andy Paul (5 Sqn), James Pearce (11 Sqn), Richard Watts (29 Sqn), Steve Mills (33 Sqn), Steve Beardmore (41 Sqn), and Nick Graham (72 Sqn) (via e-mail).

Thanks are due to the following fellow writers and researchers: Tom Docherty (72 Sqn Historian), Roger Lindsay (whose work on individual aircraft histories has been a great help) and Guy Ellis (who generously shared his research on the Zambia detachment in 1966).