In 1969, Project Blue Book concluded that the UFO phenomenon did indeed indicate hostile visitors from outer space, and recommended the creation of a multi-national military force to provide a defence from Earth. Plans were drawn up to create SHADO, a project that was expected to take at least 12 years – and in the meantime, a civilian security agency, SPECTRUM, would gather intelligence and start to develop defences against the alien visitors.
Four lines of defence were envisioned: moon-based interceptors, ground-based interceptors, sea-based interceptors, and ground units. Current aircraft evaluated for the role of land-based interceptor – the F-104 Starfighter, the EE Lightning, the Mirage III, and the Mig-21 – were all considered inadequate; while the Lightning and F-104 had the desired climb rate, speed and ceiling, they lacked the manoeuvrability necessary to track the highly agile UFOs, and lacked sufficient ground attack capability to support SHADO ground forces.
Under the cover of the USAF’s Lightweight Fighter (LWF) proposal, six designs were developed, and the General Dynamics YF-16 and BAC/Lockheed YF-13 were selected for evaluation. However, the LWF study converged with the NATO “Multinational Fighter Program Group” (MFPG) and the Navy Air Combat Fighter (NACF) program, and it was decided that a “conventional” version of the YF-13 would be developed for military use in the US, and a specialised version developed in Britain specifically for SHADOs needs – this later became the “Angel”.
In 1974 the sham LWF program was abandoned in favour of a new Air Combat Fighter (ACF) competition. Further competitors intent on securing what was touted at the time as “the arms deal of the century” joined the competition; Dassault-Breguet’s Mirage F1, the SEPECAT Jaguar, the Saab 37 Viggen, while Northrop re-entered with the P-530 Cobra, which was very similar to its original YF-17. On 13 January 1975, Secretary of the Air Force John L. McLucas announced that the YF-13 had been selected as the winner of the ACF competition and the initial production-standard F-13A flew for the first time on 7 August 1978. The F-13 was given its formal nickname of “Viper” on 21 July 1980, entering USAF operational service with the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing at Hill AFB on 1 October 1980.
From it’s origins as a lightweight, daytime interceptor, the BAC/Lockheed F-13 Viper has developed into a successful multirole aircraft. Over 7,000 aircraft have been built since production was approved in 1976, giving it the nick-name of the “World Air Force Fighter”. In addition to US Air Force, Naval and Marine squadrons, F-13 was also selected to serve in the air forces of 42 other nations. The US’s NATO allies purchased the aircraft in large numbers, including Britain, where is was selected over the “manifestly stupid” idea of developing a fighter version of the Tornado strike aircraft.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34860818@N06/5386486099/#in/photostream/lightbox/http://www.flickr.com/photos/34860818@N06/5386485311/#in/photostream/lightbox/Meanwhile, the Land Based Interceptor first flew in the UK in 1973, and by 1976 the first examples entered service with SPECTRUM. Unable to recruit fully trained military pilots, SPECTRUM’s commander, Col. White, made the inspired decision to seek out female pilots who were, at that stage, barred from front line duties in most national air forces. The all-female recruits adopted the nickname “angels”, and moniker stuck, to the point that their distinctive all-white jets became universally known as the “Angel Interceptors.”
The Angel differed from the Viper in that the inability to track the UFOs meant there was no point in equipping them with guided missiles – instead the Angels were armed with an internal 30mm cannon, and 8 internally mounted unguided rockets. Although popular with it’s pilots, without a reliable method of tracking UFOs it was next to impossible for the widely dispersed, short-range Angles to achieve interception, and no SPECTRUM Angel ever shot down a UFO, though several were destroyed on the ground with strafing attacks.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34860818@N06/6966405917/#in/photostream/lightbox/http://www.flickr.com/photos/34860818@N06/6820286354/#in/photostream/lightbox/When SHADO finally came on-line in 1980, they took delivery of Mk.2 Angels for land-based air defence duties. By now, there was a limited ability to track the UFOs, and SHADO Angels were armed modified with a wing-mounted multi-spectrum tracking pod with which to illuminate incoming UFOs, and a single hypersonic area-effect guided missile, based on the French AS-30.
SHADO Angels initially achieved a number of successful interceptions, but became victims of their own success – the UFOs soon learned to avoid the relatively short-range interceptors but entering Earth’s atmosphere over the ocean, away from land, where they had only to deal with the occasional, lower performance Sky Divers.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34860818@N06/6820278400/#in/photostream/lightbox/http://www.flickr.com/photos/34860818@N06/6820279048/#in/photostream/lightbox/http://www.flickr.com/photos/34860818@N06/6820279888/#in/photostream/lightbox/http://www.flickr.com/photos/34860818@N06/6820280658/#in/photostream/lightbox/http://www.flickr.com/photos/34860818@N06/6966407491/#in/photostream/lightbox/With the election or Ronald Reagan in 1984, SHADO received a massive injection of funds under the guise of the “Star Wars” program. Among the new, improved equipment was the F21 Archangel. Although outwardly similar to the Angel, the Archangel was in fact an entirely new aircraft, 25% bigger with increased fuel capacity and in-flight refuelling capability, and a much improved weapons load of 4 independently-guided Super Phoenix missiles. The Archangel was not, however, designed as a direct replacement for the Angel (that would have to wait until the White Falcon), but to bridge the defence gap between Moon Base and Earth’s atmosphere, by carrying a nose-mounted area-effect nuclear missile, similar to that carried by Moon based interceptors. SHADO Archangels were extremely successful in their highly specialised role, and more than any other weapon system can be credited with ending the alien menace.
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