The ‘return to power’ of Jaguar GR1A XX741 at the Bentwaters Cold War Museum
The afterburners on two Rolls-Royce Adour 104 engines ignite, powering a SEPECAT Jaguar down the runway of an East Anglian airfield.
In the Anglo-French strike aircraft’s RAF heyday, this was nothing out of the ordinary. Today it most certainly is, making the achievement in getting XX741 back to fast taxiing condition at the Bentwaters Cold War Museum all the more satisfying.
This was the 38th example of the Jaguar GR1 to be produced. First flown in March 1974 and delivered to the RAF at Lossiemouth on 18 November that year, it was assigned to No 226 Operational Conversion Unit before being transferred to No 54(F) Squadron at Coltishall and coded EM. XX741 was operated by 54 until it underwent major maintenance at Abingdon, completed in October 1984. On returning to service it was allocated to No 6 Squadron, with codes EJ. Modification to GR1A standard, involving replacement of the NAVWASS (navigation and weapon aiming sub-system) with the Ferranti FIN 1064 system and other modifications, took place during early 1986. XX741 was one of the first 12 Jaguars to deploy to Thumrait, Oman as part of Operation ‘Granby’, the British …
