The SEPECAT Jaguar prototype made its maiden flight on 8 September 1968 — the start of a career that would see it fly frontline strike and reconnaissance missions for over three decades.
Formed as an Anglo-French joint venture in 1966, the Jaguar entered RAF service in 1973/74. It first equipped squadrons at RAF Bruggen in Germany before the RAF’s Jaguar force concentrated at RAF Coltishall in Norfolk with Nos. 6, 41 and 54 Squadrons, alongside the Operational Conversion Unit, No. 16 (Reserve) Squadron.
Its defining moment came during the 1991 Gulf War, when 12 RAF Jaguars flew more than 600 combat sorties against Iraqi artillery and missile positions — without losing a single aircraft. It went on to fly over the Balkans and patrol Iraqi no-fly zones through the 1990s, receiving major upgrades along the way, before finally retiring from RAF service on 30 April 2007 — with 41 Squadron’s numberplate carrying on today as the Typhoon Test & Evaluation Squadron at RAF Coningsby.
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