Ferret mission

A Ferret mission is a covert aerial reconnaissance mission that detects the frequencies and strength of radar, in other countries. The name originates from the methodology of how ferrets attempt to seek out habitats of other animals.

History
The first ferret mission occurred in December 1942 in Cambridgeshire.

The pilot of the RAF aircraft was Sergeant Paulton, with radio frequency operator Flight Sergeant Harold Jordan; all of the aircrew except him were Canadian. He sustained damage to his head, and the aircraft was attacked eleven times at about 5am on 3 December 1942. The aircraft reached the English coast at 7:20am. The radio operator Flight Sergeant William Bigoray was severely injured in the legs, and it was thought that he would not live, so flying over Kent, he was parachuted out of the aircraft, with his technical documents inserted safely into his clothing, in case he died; he landed safely and later made a recovery. The aircraft ditched near Walmer at around 8:24am.

The first US ferret mission was on 6 March 1943 over Kiska, in a B-24. On 21 April 1943, the 16th Reconnaissance Squadron (now the 16th Electronic Warfare Squadron) formed at Foch Field in Tunisia.

Over ten years in the 1960s, almost 100 aircrew died, or are unaccounted for, flying ferret missions.

Missile technology
In the 1991 Iraq War, missile technology had advanced, whereby much of the searching for enemy air defence radar frequencies could be automated. The resulting system, known as Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses was carried out by British forces with the ALARM missile, carried by the Panavia Tornado, and by the US with the AGM-88 HARM missile.

US
The USAF operated its early ferret missions out of Forbes Air Force Base in Kansas (now called Topeka Regional Airport). European ferret missions were carried out by the 7499th Support Group in Germany, and out of Yokota Air Base in Japan.

The 4200th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing was formed in January 1965, and its main aircraft, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, first flew out of Beale Air Force Base, in northern California, in January 1966. This aircraft could fly at 90,000ft and at over 2,000mph.

Currently, the US operates its ferret missions out of Offutt Air Force Base, south of Omaha, Nebraska, conducted by 45th Reconnaissance Squadron of the 55th Wing.

UK
In the 1960s, and early 1970s, the RAF flew ferret missions with 543 Sqn, out of RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire on the Handley Page Victor aircraft. To this day, RAF Wyton is the home of the RAF's reconnaissance. 51 Sqn, with the Comet, moved to Wyton in 1963, flying ferret missions over the Barents Sea, changing to the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod in 1974. The RAF ferret missions with the Nimrod lasted until 2011.

RAF Sculthorpe operated ferret missions for the USAF in the 1950s with the 322nd, 323nd, and the 324th reconnaissance squadrons, and the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing.

Project HOMERUN ferret missions took off from England in April 1954.

Currently the USAF 95th Reconnaissance Squadron operates, regularly, out of Suffolk.

Russia
The Soviet Union would probe air defence radar with their Long-Range Aviation Myasishchev M-4 (Bison) and Tupolev Tu-95 (Bear) aircraft.

Shoot-down incidents of ferret aircraft

 * 8 April 1950, Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer commanded by Lt John Fette, flying from West Germany, intercepted by four Soviet Lavochkin La-11 fighters near Liepāja in Soviet Latvia; ten US aircrew killed.