SEPECAT Jaguar - Survivor XX956 (8950M)
GR.1 XX956 - Spey Bay Salvage, near Nether Dallachy, Moray, Scotland
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Jaguar GR.1 XX956 at Gibraltar, 1st January 2020; Damien Burke
First flown on 26th September 1975 and delivered to the RAF on 22nd October 1976, XX956 spent most of her flying career in RAF Germany with 14, 17 and 31 Squadrons. She was retired to ground instructional duties at No.1 SoTT, RAF Halton in 1988 as 8950M, later moving to No.2 SoTT at RAF Cosford. Jaguars were fairly regular visitors to Gibraltar, particularly when the Spanish needed to be reminded to wind their necks in a bit, so it was appropriate that XX956 was preserved there, having been transported there in early 2009.
She was prepared for display duties during 2009/10, ending up in a somewhat inappropriate and inaccurate all-over grey scheme (she finished her flying career in the green/grey wraparound scheme). She retained her BE tail code from her previous paint scheme though. Sadly in January 2020, by which time she was pretty faded but otherwise appearing in pretty solid shape, it was announced that she would be 'dismantled' and returned to the UK as supposedly she was in poor structural condition. As she'd spent a decade in the open air with apparently no efforts to look after her, the tatty appearance was no surprise but it seems unlikely that she'd became actively unsafe.
Regardless, by March 2020 she had been cut up and stuffed into some shipping containers, and as of October 2021 has re-appeared at Boscombe Down, and was then put up for sale. Sadly she has had her wings, nose and tail cut off rather than correctly dismantled, so in reality she's little more than a good cockpit project at this point. She has since turned up at a scrapyard at the former RAF Dallachy in Scotland.
She was prepared for display duties during 2009/10, ending up in a somewhat inappropriate and inaccurate all-over grey scheme (she finished her flying career in the green/grey wraparound scheme). She retained her BE tail code from her previous paint scheme though. Sadly in January 2020, by which time she was pretty faded but otherwise appearing in pretty solid shape, it was announced that she would be 'dismantled' and returned to the UK as supposedly she was in poor structural condition. As she'd spent a decade in the open air with apparently no efforts to look after her, the tatty appearance was no surprise but it seems unlikely that she'd became actively unsafe.
Regardless, by March 2020 she had been cut up and stuffed into some shipping containers, and as of October 2021 has re-appeared at Boscombe Down, and was then put up for sale. Sadly she has had her wings, nose and tail cut off rather than correctly dismantled, so in reality she's little more than a good cockpit project at this point. She has since turned up at a scrapyard at the former RAF Dallachy in Scotland.
Information on this page current as of 11/03/2024, last updated by Damien |
Find other photos of XX956 on the following sites:
Air-Britain - Airliners.net - Airplane-Pictures.net - flickr.com - WorldAirPics.com - JetPhotos.net - PlanePictures.net