Wednesday, 16 May 2007

Corgi SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1A, XX970/EH, No.6 Squadron, RAF Coltishall, Norfolk, 1990

Corgi SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1A, XX970/EH, No.6 Squadron, RAF Coltishall, Norfolk, 1990

REF: AA35401 Wingspan 120mm New Tooling

The Jaguar is a collaborative venture between the British Aircraft Corporation and Dassault/Breguet who formed the international company, SEPECAT to manufacture 400 Jaguars, 200 for the RAF and 200 for the French Air Force. It was also sold to the air forces of India, Ecuador, Nigeria and Oman.

The Royal Air Force received 165 Jaguar GR.1s and 35 Jaguar T.2 two-seat advanced operational trainers. The first French-built Jaguar flew in September 1968 and the first British Jaguar in October 1969. The first Jaguars were delivered to No.226 Operational Conversion Unit at Lossiemouth in September 1973 and the first operational squadron was No.54, which became fully operational at RAF Coltishall on 9th August 1974, closely followed by No.6 Squadron on 6th November 1974.
Jaguars replaced Phantoms with several RAF squadrons, including in Germany and have enjoyed much success. No.6 Squadron is one of the RAF’s oldest squadrons, being formed by the Royal Flying Corps on 31 January 1914. It adopted the unofficial ‘Flying Can-Opener’ badge during WW2 whilst operating Hurricanes, destroying 32 tanks in three hours on 22 March 1943.
It retains this name and motif to this day, throughout many equipment changes, finally from Phantoms to its present mount of Jaguars on 1st October 1974।It is based at RAF Coltishall, Norfolk, and remained there until 2006 when the Jaguar was retired from RAF service.

For more information on this amazing model visit the die-cast-collector.co.uk website.

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