RAF Phantoms East of Suez

[uk 75]

If the UK had remained East of Suez there were plans to deploy the new Phantom and Harrier squadrons in the Gulf and at Singapore replacing Hunters. I am not sure of the details, but maybe others here know more. The F111K squadron(s) would have replaced Canberras/Vulcans/Victors.

 

[CJGibson]

They would've been based on the mounting bases like Gan and Diego Garcia.

Chris

 

[JFC Fuller]

RAF 1960 planning was for twelve Lightning squadrons, 8 based in the UK and 4 overseas, by 1962 this had fallen to 10 squadrons. I guess that with 12 Squadrons it would have been one in FEAF (Tengah/Kai Tak as needed), one in NEAF (Akrotiri/Khormaksar as needed) and 2 in RAF Germany. I have also seen reference to a plan in 1960 for 2 Bloodhound units in Akrotiri, 2 at Tengah and 1 at Butterworth (Malaya) cut in 1962 to 1 each in Cyprus, Singapore and Malaya. Khormaksar would ultimately become unusable and Masirah may have been the intended replacement.

It was planned to have Phantoms in both the Middle and Far East. The Middle Eastern Phantoms were to have been on rotation from Coningsby. My understanding was that the Far East Phantoms were to have been based in Singapore where they could share facilities with some RN Phantoms that were also to have been permanently based in Singapore. The initial RAF Phantom plan seems to have been a simple replacement of the P.1154 plan for two squadrons each in the UK, Germany, Middle and Far East.

The F-111 plan was for two-thirds of them to be based at Honington and the rest in the Far East with Singapore being the main base.

 

[Mike Pryce]

IIRC Harriers were initially intended for Germany and UK only, not East of Suez.

 

[uk 75]

I must wade through my cuttings and books.

I am pretty certain that in 1965 or 1966 there was some blurb (probably in Air Pictorial or similar) that the 1127 RAF was intended to serve in the Gulf (Middle East not Near East) as well as Germany and UK.

The Phantoms of the newly created Air Support Command were based at Coningsby, but this had been intended as a TSR 2 base not an HS 1154 base. The Germany based Phantoms and Buccaneers were in lieu of UK-based TSR 2s. I am sure I read somewhere that Phantoms allocated to one of the three ASC Sqns were originally due to be permanently deployed in the Far East.

No 1 Sqn became the first P1127 RAF sqn. I am sure, but have no evidence to back this up, that No 1 Sqn was originally intended to be the first HS 1154 Sqn, presumably based at Wittering, though Colitishall might have been a better bet. I agree with Harrier that Germany was the logical place for the other P1127 RAFs but one of the first sqns was supposed to be in the Gulf (20 Sqn?).

To borrow from QI we just don't know!

 

[datafuser]

If the UK had remained East of Suez there were plans to deploy the new Phantom and Harrier squadrons in the Gulf and at Singapore replacing Hunters. I am not sure of the details, but maybe others here know more. The F111K squadron(s) would have replaced Canberras/Vulcans/Victors.

RAF Phantoms and Vulcans were deployed to Singapore in 1970 for the exercise Bersatu Padu.

 

[Thorvic]

It was planned to have Phantoms in both the Middle and Far East. The Middle Eastern Phantoms were to have been on rotation from Coningsby. My understanding was that the Far East Phantoms were to have been based in Singapore where they could share facilities with some RN Phantoms that were also to have been permanently based in Singapore. The initial RAF Phantom plan seems to have been a simple replacement of the P.1154 plan for two squadrons each in the UK, Germany, Middle and Far East.

The F-111 plan was for two-thirds of them to be based at Honington and the rest in the Far East with Singapore being the main base.

The F-111K plan was originally the other way round, OCU and 1 unit at Honington the rest East of Suez. The F-111 was really to replace the Carrier force, AFVG would have been the type used in NATO to replace Canberra, Vulcan ( instead of TSR2). They were actually planned to go to a new shared facility with the RAAF near Darwin, as Singapore was to become independent and couldn't be guaranteed as still being welcomed post independence.

 

[Thorvic]

The F-111 was not to replace the carrier force, the two EoS would have been complimentary just as the existing arrangement of FEAF and the carrier force was.

Yes it was, the carriers were to run on till the mounting bases were ready and then scrapped, thats why they canned CVA-01 leaving no replacement to the war built ships. It was the decision to still pull back EoS that canned the F-111K as that was its primary mission, as there was no point having to put up with the development delays and cost overruns if we no longer needed it as AFVG would do the same mission in northern europe.

 

[JFC Fuller]

F-111K was to run parallel with F-4K and Buccaneers on Eagle and Ark Royal to the mid-late 70s (a precise date wasn't given) when the carriers would go and crucially:

Senior British political figures, seemingly including Healey and Wilson had accepted by early 1966 that the EoS role was over. There is evidence that Healey may have been communicating this to MacNamara as early as that year, the government was essentially planning (even if it was communicating the opposite externally), that it would be pulling out from EoS by the mid-late 70s. F-111K was not a replacement for the carriers it was a replacement for the FEAF Canberra fleet and would have run parallel EoS with the carriers, it was a downsizing of the entire presence.

The only references in literature I have seen to planned F-111K deployment are garbled (Squadron numbers exceed airframes) probably due to misunderstandings about shadow squadrons (for the OCU) and the distinction between reinforcement and fixed location. The only one that makes sense is one OCU and two front-line squadrons in the UK and one in the Far East. If you have an archive document that shows planned deployment I would be fascinated to know.