RN Tomcat 'History'

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I'm working on a fictional 'Spey Mk301' (uprated engine with 13k lbs dry, an engine they were planning for the FGR2) 'Tomcat FR2.' Untill I get all the bugs ironed out, here is a bit of fictional writing of mine, a brief history of the 'Tommy' in Royal Navy service, Squadron numbers and ranks might be slightly incorrect, I am not intamently fermiliar with RN ranks and Squadrons:

 

In the mid seventies, with the new ?V? class carriers coming on line and conducting sea-cruises with Phantom FGR1, the Royal Navy came to the conclusion that the Phantom was not going to be able to keep abreast of current developments in Soviet bomber and missile technology. Thus, the developed a proposal for an Advanced Fleet Defense (ADF) fighter of advanced design that would replace the Phantom in that role aboard the V-class.

 

Originally the RN wanted to develop its own, ?home grown? fighter and had several promising designs in the early stages, including a heavily modified ?Sea Lightning? with a new front profile and side air intakes to make room for the larger, more powerful radar systems. However, the Ministry of Defense, still holding the RN in somewhat of a low standing because of their forcing the V-class through when the MoD was favoring unmanned missiles as the future of combat, ordered the RN to discontinue all development of new fleet defense aircraft, if the RN wanted a new jet, they would have to pick it up ?off the shelf? as Americans would say, the MoD had the reasoning that the RN would not be able to find an advanced aircraft to their specifications capable of carrier operations.

 

Luckily for the RN, and a bit of an annoyance to the MoD, during this time period the Grumman Aircraft Works was finishing development of their F-14 ?Tomcat? fighter for the United States Navy?s VFX program. At the request of the Royal Navy, several FAA pilots traveled to Patuxent River test facilities to fly the prototype F-14 in evaluation. Though concerned with the TF30?s low throttle response and high tendency towards compressor stalls during radical throttle movements, the British pilots were overjoyed with the Tomcat?s other handling qualities, and impressed with the capabilities of the aircraft?s weapons and sensors systems. They returned to Great Brittan; report in hand that the Tomcat would be the perfect solution for their ADF project, along with several recommendations to ?Anglocize? the Tomcat.

 

Chief among these recommendations was to re-engine the Tomcat with a British produced engine. The Royal Navy stood firm on its demand for the re-engine proposal when the MoD balked, stating that a reliable engine was an absolute must aboard the smaller Vindictive and Furious. Early and continued problems with the TF30 engines in USN Tomcats gave the Royal Navy enough ammunition to win its argument for new engines. Development was started on the Spey Mk301 turbo-fan, an improvement over the already successful Spey Mk201 of the Phantom FGR1. However, the Mk301s were not ready by the time of the first cruise aboard the Vindictive, and the first Tomcat FR1s of No892 Squadron flew with the troublesome early generation TF30s. Three Tomcat FR1s were lost during this period, one aboard the Vindictive and two others in the Home Islands. Luckily all aircrew survived, however the losses were traced directly to compressor stalls of their TF30 engines. All Tomcat FR1s were grounded once the Vindictive returned to Portsmouth till the new engine was ready.

 

Luckily, the Spey Mk301 was right on schedule (quite a rarity in engine development programs) and the Tomcats were grounded for a relatively short period of four months for trials. The newly re-engined aircraft, designated Tomcat FR2 were everything that the Royal Navy wanted in a fleet defense aircraft. The HMS Furious and the No883 Squadron went to sea in 1978 with their Tomcat FR2s. The high point for the Fleet Air Arm during this cruise was when the ?Tommies? of the Furious engaged the F-14As of the VF-2 ?Bounty Hunters? off the Virginia coast. The British pilots were able to use their aircrafts improved flight envelope over their TF30 engined brethren to consistently out maneuver the Americans. It was a stinging defeat for the Americans, and a great moral booster for the pilots of the No883 Squadron, which began calling themselves the ?Cat Killers? as a rub to their American counterparts. The event even caused the US Navy to seriously consider buying Spey Mk301 engines for their own Tomcats, unfortunately budgetary concerns and several congressional patrons of P&W shut down the deal.

 

And then came the Falklands. Argentina?s invasion of the islands caught the Royal Navy with its proverbial ?pants down? with the Vindictive just beginning preparations for its new cruise, and the Furious laid up at Newport News to install new catapults. The Argentineans were able to quickly secure the islands while the British government scrambled to get something together to retake their territories. On the 5th of April the Vindictive sailed as the core of the British response along side the old Hermes and the new ASW carrier HMS Invincible. The Tommies of 892 Squadron performed superbly downing several A-4Q and Mirage fighters before reaching the battlegroup, allowing the new Harrier FRS1 fighters to concentrate on CAS missions for the royal Marines. The only blotches on their records were the failure to prevent the loss of the Coventry and Sheffield due to deficiencies in flight directing and a short in the single Phoenix fired during the war to try to shoot down the Exocet that hit the Sheffield.

 

The Tomcat FR2s continued to serve with distinction throughout the eighties, including several deployments in ?joint? battlegroups with the USN. During Desert Strom, both Vindictive and Furious put to sea the Furious in the gulf, and the Vindictive in the Red Sea. Left-tenant Paul Myers and his RIO Left-tenant David Furrows of 883 Squadron ?Cat Killers? became the only Tomcat crew, USN or RN to shoot down an Iraqi aircraft when they intercepted a Iraqi MiG-29 as it tried to make a run for Iran.

 

Tomcat FR2s went through an upgrade cycle after the Gulf to bring the fighters to more modern standards. The FR2s were wired for newly acquired AIM-120 ?Slammer? missiles, having abandoned Sparrows long ago in favor of Skyflash missiles. Also the Tomies were equipped with new data-link technology, allowing higher level of coordination among the flights airborne, their AWACS coordinators, and the battlegroup itself based on USAF JTIDS technology. The Tomcat FR2s will continue on till 2007 when they are set to be replaced by the next gen ?heavy fighter? aboard the new HMS Hermes recently commissioned, it is expected that the new fighter will be a development of the American F/A-18E Super Hornet though no firm orders have been placed.