Category: Flying stories
I took the Typhoon to war: Interview with RAF Wing Commander Mike Sutton
The Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 is the workhorse of the Royal Air Force’s air combat fleet, excelling in both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. Starting life in 2003 as a dedicated interceptor, the fighter has matured into a well-equipped multi-role combat aircraft. We spoke to Wing Commander Mike Sutton about the Typhoon and his experiences of taking the aircraft to war.
What is the best and the worst thing about the Typhoon?
The Typhoon has very few vices. I was a tactics instructor on the Jaguar previously, and even though everyone loved flying it, if you weren’t careful it had a very nasty bite. Of the two hundred Jags the RAF procured, sixty-nine were lost in accidents. The Typhoon is a generational leap. The thrust alone is insane. At 500 knots at low level it will accelerate while sustaining 9g. It’s a genuine multi-role platform. I’ve done the most challenging air-to-air sorties during RED FLAG, operational close air support, live quick reaction alert scrambles and air combat against modern fighters. It excels across the board. The four-nation programme is a blessing and a curse. Perhaps the most frustrating thing about the jet is the time it takes to get agreement from all the nations for development. But when everyone is on the same page, the combined expertise, industrial resource and multi-nation investment make it a powerful combination.
What was your role in developing new tactics and operating procedures for multi-role aircraft? What have you learnt about this?
I was lucky enough to be a weapons instructor on the first multi-role Typhoon Squadron as it formed. It was a hugely exciting time. There were experienced pilots from the Tornado F3, GR4, Harrier, Jags, Mirage 2000, F-15, F-16 and F/A-18 on the brand-new Force who all had extensive tactical experience. I needed an open mind as much as diplomacy and a thick skin, as a small team of us took the best ideas from everyone around and tried to forge a new way of operating. Out with the old and in with the new. Starting afresh also enabled us to throw away outdated ways of working and attitudes that had become entrenched over the years. We looked at it holistically – from how to brief and debrief, use of the simulators, best ways to teach and record tactical lessons, as well as how to fight the aircraft. It was an evolving process and as the months and years progressed we refined the tactics. New pilots had fresh ideas. You never stand still on a fighter squadron. As soon as you stop progressing, and you get complacent, you are in for a shock.
Is Typhoon’s mechanically scanning radar an issue when compared with more modern radars?
The CAPTOR has done a decent job, but the new AESA <due in service in the mid-20s> will be far better. Taking Beyond Visual Range missile shots is about far more than being able to see targets at long range on the radar. It’s about combat identification using all of the aircraft sensors – and fusing that data – as well as electronic warfare, datalinks, integration with other fighters, jamming, secure radios and missile performance. So it’s a system where all the components need to be operating seamlessly. The AESA will also bring enhanced capabilities with electronic attack and SAR, coordinate generation and surface target combat ID.
Is the voice control still used – and if so – is it useful?
I didn’t use the pilot voice control that much. I can generally only do one thing at a time and found it easier to just use the HOTAS. But other pilots used it quite a lot for controlling the radar modes, and like everything on the Typhoon the integration improves with software upgrades. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was used extensively in the years ahead.
Is a non-stealthy aircraft still survivable in your opinion?
A country can’t just build a modern fighter and then relax for thirty years under the umbrella of its protection. It’s a constant process of threat evolution, countermeasure development, and counter-counter measure. The very idea of stealth itself is probably a misnomer too. Low observable jets are undoubtedly harder to target, but still vulnerable to passive detection, low-band radars and heat-seeking sensors. They are also much more costly to build and maintain, and often may make design compromises as they are honed for a particular role, and are limited to internal stores when exploiting their stealth. To use a car analogy, low observable is a little like a Formula One car. Very fast around a racetrack, but a rally car is better off-road.
If you look at the USAF, USN carriers, Israeli and Australian Air Forces and the RAF, they all have a blend of low-observable and conventional platforms. The USAF is about to procure the F15EX. With a mix of conventional and low-observable you can generate mass and saturation, to enhance the low-observable platforms ability to get through to their targets.
How does the Typhoon perform in BFM/DACT exercises against the F-22? Is one superior in WVR combat in your opinion – and why?
The F-22 is the best air dominance fighter in the world (but it doesn’t have much of a strike capability). At slow speed in a turning fight, its thrust vectoring provides exceptional manoeuvrability, which means it can outperform any other fighter on the planet, including the Typhoon. During the initial merge, if both aircraft were fast, then they would turn fairly equally. If the fight was fleeting, the Typhoon would benefit from the Helmet Mounted Sight, which surprisingly the F-22 does not have in its inventory. But perhaps the key point here is that the RAF will never have to fight in anger against a USAF F-22. Their time together is much better spent integrating and developing joint tactics where you learn to exploit the combined firepower of both platforms to lethal effect. We practised this routinely during exercises.
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Combat pilots are far more interested in the capabilities of potential adversaries, so the real question is how does Typhoon perform against modern fighter threats? It is too early to make a judgement about the Su-57 as it is barely out of development. Regarding Flanker, that is precisely what the new AESA, the existing Defensive Aids System and PIRATE IR sensor are for. International training exercises against Indian or Malaysian Flankers were extremely useful, and fully tested the skills of the pilots using the helmet-mounted sight and ASRAAM heat-seeking missile.
Flanker versus Typhoon?
The jets are both very capable. I would say that, flown well, the Typhoon has an edge, but when you have two fighters that are similar in capability the outcome of air combat is more nuanced.
In reality, a simple top-trumps answer doesn’t cut it. It depends on so many different factors, such as radar tenacity, performance of the jet at different speeds (E-M diagrams), sensor integration with the helmet, the sensitivity of the missile seekers, the IR background, pilot training and currency, aircraft fit, environmentals, merge altitude, radar clutter, aircraft jammers, IR countermeasures, disposition pre-merge. There are probably more! That’s why the role of the Qualified Weapons Instructors is so crucial in shaping the tactical advice to their Squadrons, and it’s so important that pilots get to practise their core skills with live flying.
A Rafale pilot I interviewed said ‘Typhoon was a joke’ – what is your response to his view?
There’s nothing like the confidence of a French fighter pilot! The Rafale and Typhoon are from a similar era, but backed by four nations and with five export customers the Typhoon has better growth potential. As the Boss of 1 Squadron we always had a French Rafale pilot on exchange, so I had a real insight into both platforms. For the air-to-air missions, an AESA equipped Typhoon with METEOR, AMRAAM-D and ASRAAM packs a powerful punch with the Helmet Mounted Sight and IRST (called PIRATE).
The Typhoon Force has also received upgraded Paveway 4 (penetrating warhead and moving target capability), which is a great weapon for Close Air Support in combination with Brimstone, which can also be used against fast inshore attack craft. For longer-range strikes, Storm Shadow and SPEAR 3 (the small, long-range, cruise missile) offer significant stand-off, precision, low collateral damage and electronic warfare capabilities. The Litening 5 targeting pods will offer high-definition imagery and a reconnaissance capability. And of course, there is the 27-mm cannon that I have fired in anger. With that weapon load-out you can take on any mission set. So my response to the French pilot, is that given the choice I would take the Typhoon every time.
Would you rather have ASRAAM, IRIS-T or AIM-9X under your wing – and why?
The ASRAAM is a far more capable missile. It is extremely fast off the rail and has a much longer range. It also has a huge off-boresight capability and can lock-on after launch, as well as having advanced counter-counter measures. When paired with the helmet mounted sight in a close fight it is very effective, and at longer range it offers a great crossover with AMRAAM. You can get an ASRAAM to its target before the other aircraft can even launch their IR missile back at you.
An RAF Typhoon recently had its first a2a ‘kill’ – what are your thoughts on this? (I understand RSAF Typhoons have been doing this for a while)
Finding a small drone in a fighter and shooting it down using a heat-seeking missile is pretty impressive. It shows how the jet can roll quickly from supporting the troops one minute to engaging a tricky air-to-air target moments later. More broadly, the use of explosive drones is becoming more prevalent so from a control of the air point of view, I think more thought needs to go into countering these en-masse from western air forces.
How good is Meteor, and why?
I’ve personally never flown with Meteor, but talking to colleagues on the frontline they are very impressed. The layered capability with AMRAAM-D and ASRAAM offer lots of very robust all-weather targeting options and it is a great mixed load to carry.
Tell me something I don’t know about Typhoon
When you are landing the aircraft without engineering support there are often no staging or steps available to climb out of the cockpit. There is a puny little ladder that you can deploy which pops out from under the cockpit. So you can climb down. But there is no retract function, which is a pain in the ass when you want to get back in and take off again.
Operations
What was the hardest aspect psychologically?
Keeping a clear head when dealing with constant, changing pressures. In the book I’ve placed the reader in the cockpit so they are immersed in the action and experience the adrenalin. At one point was I was locked-up by a Russian SAM. A couple of weeks later in the dead of night, I almost had a mid-air collision over a city held by enemy troops. There was also the constant threat of hand-held surface to air missiles. I felt the most pressure when friendly troops called in urgent support from fast jets because their lives were in danger. We needed to act swiftly and accurately, and avoid any risk to civilians. Sometimes we would roll from one task to the next, heading to the air-to-air refuelling tanker, and striking targets until we had dropped all eight weapons. On one occasion during a particularly vicious firefight I had to conduct a strafe attack too.
How well suited is Typhoon to taskings in the Middle East? What improvements would you like to see?
Within forty-eight hours of leaving our base in the UK we were conducting around-the-clock close air support missions. The jets held up superbly, and over the five months we conducted well over three hundred strikes. All were direct hits and there were no civilian casualties. I was immensely proud of the team performance. We focus a lot on the aircraft, but it is the people on the Squadron that make it happen. Everyone has a key role to play. Often the most junior, newest members of the squadron have the best ideas. Creating an environment where the engineers, pilots, intelligence, operations and support staff could all communicate effectively and work in harmony was extremely important. At the time we had the Litening 3 targeting pod, which was good, but there were other systems available that could provide clearer imagery. The Force is about to get the Litening 5 pod, which will be a fantastic upgrade and provide much better optics.
What advice would you give to pilots coming to the Close Air Support mission?
One of the most challenging aspects was not knowing what the mission would involve until you were immersed in it. Often I would sit at the end of the runway on a moonless night, with the jet being rocked from side to side by the gusty wind from nearby thunderstorms and the red strobe light flashing against the glistening runway, pondering what the night ahead had in store. Reconnaissance in Syria? Rushing to a troops-in-contact near Mosul? Looking for snipers in Ramadi? Could I remember the Escape & Evasion plan? Would the tanker be in the right place? What if I was low on fuel and the refuelling probe failed? For all fast jet operations, much like sport, the foundations for success lay in the preparations. Striving for tactical excellence and holding yourselves to account during training. Communicating as a team and encouraging a culture of ruthless self-awareness. Always looking for the marginal gains. And creating a bond and strength as a unit so you can carry yourselves through the tough situations.
How do you feel about the current state of the nations you have been to war in?
Afghanistan is a very difficult situation, and my thoughts are with the families who have lost loved ones or seen family members suffer life-changing physical or psychological injuries. In Iraq, my thoughts are a little more positive. Towards the end of the operation, after months of fighting, I saw families return to their homes. Houses that had been abandoned breathed a new life, and this was incredibly heart-warming. It’s important to remember that we live in a liberal democracy, and it’s the politicians, not the pilots, that make the decisions about when to deploy and withdraw from conflicts. In the book I’ve explained what it is like to enact those decisions. To prepare to a level of high readiness, and then to receive the call to respond during a global crisis.
Human aspect
Something I found very interesting in your book was the reference to pilots liking certainty: care to expand on that?
Unpredictability as a pilot is not a great characteristic. A bold, flamboyant approach to flying is not encouraged as it is such a demanding and dangerous occupation. Much like brain surgery I suppose, you need dedication and discipline to learn the procedures. There is room for innovation and novelty – in fact it is essential to developing tactics – but in a controlled way. Finding the balance between the two mindsets isn’t always easy. Defining the best qualities for a fighter pilot is tricky. You need an almost obsessive drive and determination in the first place, the ability to learn fast, have good situational awareness, and to remain calm in the most dynamic situations where your life could be literally on the line. But there is an almost indefinable quality in the best pilots too. A quiet confidence, that learns from criticism and doesn’t take things personally, but strives to be the best; for yourself and your fellow pilots.
How well-supported are RAF veterans dealing with mental health issues in your opinion?
This is a question for Defence, not just the RAF. Things have improved since Afghanistan and Iraq in 2003, where the support was initially woeful. Charities like Help for Heroes and Combat Stress filled a void. Prince Harry once said leaving the military is like being on a bus with all of your mates, which pulls up at a deserted stop. You step off, the doors close and it drives away. You’re on your own. It’s a neat analogy. When you leave the military, you are thrown into the NHS system with support from your GP, who may know very little about operational stress. Particularly for veterans with limited social support and structures, I think significantly more could be done to support those suffering mental health challenges.
You had some very interesting points on the emotional impact of warfare on remote operators of unmanned aircraft, care to share your thoughts on this with our readers?
UAV pilots don’t live in conflict zones and the acute pressures of their work can therefore be overlooked. They could be conducting strikes for months or years on end, with the effect of their actions being played out on high-definition screens right before their eyes. The physical risk is much diminished, but perhaps less so the psychological impact. As the nature and methods of conducting warfare continue to evolve, we need fresh approaches to understanding where the mental pressure points may emerge.
What personality types struggle the most in war in your opinion?
I’m not a psychologist so will probably answer this imperfectly! I found that the trivia of military life was most irritating when it clashed with the pressures of high tempo operations. After landing from an eight-hour flight I often had to face what I considered to be fairly unimportant paperwork, such as overly complicated documents for squadron hire cars, or an overflowing inbox full of banal tasks that were fairly inconsequential yet demanded immediate attention. If the RAF could better prioritise the important from the irrelevant during operations that would be very welcome.
What should I have asked you – and what do you get asked the most?
When you come back from an operation people often ask ‘what was it like?’ My book is an insight into that hidden world. Not just what happened, but what goes through your mind before a strike and just after. A pilot’s concerns, fears and priorities. The conversations that happened on the ground as we were preparing to walk to an aircraft. The complexity of developing tactics and briefing hugely demanding sorties. The struggles to relate easily to domestic life at home with families and friends. And hopefully some analysis along the way!
– Mike Sutton is the author of Typhoon
Flying & Fighting in the Harrier: RAF pilot interview
Prior to flying the F-35B Lightning II, RAF Wing Commander James Schofield flew and fought in RAF Harriers. We interviewed him to find out more about mastering the immortal jump-jet.
What were your first impressions of the Harrier?
“Coming from the Hawk T.1 with its analogue dials and navigating by map and stopwatch, its one type of takeoff and three types of landing (normal, flapless and glide), on arriving at the Operational Conversion Unit in 2000 reading the Harrier GR.7 groundschool notes gave a good impression of the step increase in capability ahead! The systems included a GPS/INS, frequency-agile radios, colour moving map, Zeus electronic warfare (EW) system and infra-red camera both integrated into the head-up display, angle-rate bombing system with a TV/laser tracker… Then there were rockets, freefall bombs, retarded bombs, cluster bombs, practice bombs, laser guided bombs, infra-red guided Maverick missiles, Sidewinder air-to-air missiles… The laser could come from your aircraft (via the TIALD targeting pod), a wingman or a chap on the ground. There were manual releases, computed impact point releases, automatic releases, toss/loft releases. There was visual targeting, GPS/INS targeting, TV targeting, laser targeting. Also chaff, flares, night vision goggles. A lot to read up on!
But before you got to play with much of that you had to learn how to take off (conventional, short, strip, creeping vertical or vertical) and land (conventional, fixed-throttle variable-nozzle, slow, rolling vertical, creeping vertical, vertical). Additional variables were the use of auto flap or STOL flap, and the use of water injection to augment the thrust. You could land on normal runways, roads, grass, on perforated steel planking runways and aircraft carriers. Each of those combinations had a prescribed technique, often complicated and challenging, that you strayed from at your peril. Before every flight you put the aircraft tail number, temperature, pressure and stores configuration into a computer and it told you what nozzle angle to use for whichever flavour of takeoff you were going to attempt, and how much fuel/water you could hover or try a rolling vertical landing with.
Key indicators to watch like a hawk in order to make it to the bar that evening without an ejection and a trip to hospital were: the velocity vector in the HUD which became an inertial vertical speed indicator in the hover (watch out for any unwanted descent!), the “Billy Whizz” hexagon diagram in the HUD telling you how close you were to the most limiting engine parameter (be it RPM, jet pipe temperature or the non-dimensional fan speed), and the unique wind vane in front of the cockpit that enabled you to minimise potentially fatal crosswinds. Oh, and a vibrating rudder pedal that you had to stamp on at your soonest convenience if you ignored the vane.
Every aircraft has its challenges/foibles but I remember getting the books out and thinking “bugger me, there’s a lot here”! Looking back on it now, there was an awful lot to not get wrong but at the time we flew daily which made a big difference. I remember feeling rusty on a Monday morning having had a weekend off!
There were also a fearsome array of limitations to remember, both engine and airframe, which varied depending on aircraft build standard, load-out and speed.
Memories of flying the beast will always stay with me. A fantastic view from that big bubble canopy, a neat and well-laid out cockpit, on the ground the impingement of the jet efflux on the tailplane making it tremble like an attack dog straining to be released, massive air intakes right next to you with a loud whine at full power, brutal acceleration during takeoff, a very responsive aircraft to fly, a strange rumble at idle power as air spilled from those intakes, the laws of physics overpowering common sense as you decelerated towards the hover between swaying trees over some nondescript field in Rutland, cows looking on curiously, your throttle hand advancing all the time as wing lift receded, in your multi-million pound jet fighter. Halcyon days.
I don’t think I was alone, however, in spending most of each flight worrying about the landing – something the Harrier and the Pitts Special sports biplane have in common!”
What is the hardest thing about flying the Harrier?
“Not screwing up in the VSTOL regime.”
What was your most memorable Harrier mission or flight?
“There were hundreds of memorable moments, but I’ll pick my first takeoff from an aircraft carrier. You read the notes, you’re talked through the procedures by an instructor, then you walk out to the aircraft, fire her up and line up on the deck. Although the ski jump is only at an angle of 12 degrees, it looks like a vertical wall in front of you! Up to full power, release the brakes only when the tyres start to skid and you’re off. Screaming down the deck towards the ramp wondering idly if this is actually going to work or whether it’s all an incredibly elaborate wind-up! Up the ramp, lower the nozzles at the top, and you’re airborne. Ease the nozzles aft. Huh, it worked. Time to start worrying about the landing a mere hour away…
Rate the Harrier in the following:
A. Instantaneous turn rate.
“Good, particularly with Vectoring In Forward Flight (VIFF).”
B. Sustained turn rate.
“OK at low level, not much good at medium level.”
C. Climb rate.
“With a thrust to weight ratio of greater than 1:1 it went up very nicely!”
D. High AoA performance.
“Although there were no AoA limits in the earlier aircraft with small LERX (leading edge root extensions) – just handling limits, it wasn’t built for large angles. The larger LERX came with a 24 AoA limit so couldn’t quite match a Hornet (60 AoA) in a nose-pointing contest!”
E. Acceleration.
“Eye-watering going down the runway, disappointing at high speed (all that drag…).”
Did you fly the Harrier in combat? How combat effective was the type?
“Yes, over Iraq in 2003. It was very effective; flexible basing options, lots of hardpoints, a good all-rounder. Obviously combat missions come in a range of exciting flavours. In 2003 over Iraq ours involved both close air support (CAS) and strike missions.
The background to all of this starts back in the UK where we had the luxury of an extensive pre-deployment training period. This was interspersed with intelligence briefs so you’d know what the enemy order of battle was, location of units and so on. We were also very focused on understanding how all of the extra gear worked in the various pockets our jackets were festooned with – mostly survival gear – and what the plans were for egressing on foot if we had to.
In theatre, you’d have regular intelligence briefs to keep abreast of what was always a fluid situation on the ground. On the day, you’d have a weather brief and would then be allocated a piece of sky to hold in and wait for tasking (for CAS) or you’d be given target details (for strike). Significant planning was required to understand what was expected of us, particularly critical given that there would be myriad other air and ground assets in the area, all with their own missions. It was always obvious that we were just one part of a much larger war effort.
We were able to interview MiG-25, Mirage, Lightning, Tornado and B-52 pilots thanks to readers’ kind donations. Our site is absolutely free and we have no advertisements. If you’ve enjoyed an article you can donate here. In order to carry on we need donations— even £8 a month could do a lot of good.The missions themselves were fairly tense at the start of hostilities as each side assessed what was being brought to bear against them. As things progressed it was easier to get into a rhythm, whilst always trying to guard against complacency. There’s nothing like getting shot at over barren, hostile territory to focus the mind back on the task at hand! It’s difficult to convey how stressful releasing live ordnance over a battlefield is, particularly with CAS where friendlies are often perilously close. One incorrectly typed digit, or the slightest ambiguity on the radio leading to misidentification of the target area, could lead to disaster. Clearly, there were well-honed procedures to mitigate against these risks but when the chap on the ground is shouting at you to get the bomb off because he’s under attack – you need to be disciplined under pressure.
There’s always a sense of relief after a mission, but it may not be long until you’re off again…”
Are there any things a Harrier can do that a F-35B can’t?
“Not many – bow in the hover; operate from a grass runway; punish the pilot for careless handling. That’s your lot!”
Was the Harrier the most demanding aircraft you have flown?
“It’s certainly in the top three; take the rolling vertical landing (RVL) for instance. You’re on final approach to a 1000 foot long strip at night in rain: fore and aft on the stick initially controls flightpath as you’d expect. You then move the nozzle lever to the hover stop to decelerate at which point you use the stick to control pitch attitude. At 50 knots groundspeed you select a lesser nozzle angle to stop decelerating and the stick then controls groundspeed. Just prior to touchdown it reverts to pitch attitude. So four control strategies with just one of the three hand controllers (stick, throttle, nozzle lever) in under 30 seconds while trying to execute a precise landing with little margin for error – lots of armchair flying required for that one!
The up-and-away handling was occasionally a little tricky too. During an air-to-air refuelling test flight in a very aft CG configuration I was working so hard just to put the probe in the basket I lost the power of speech! Requiring full back stick around finals was common in the two-seater; if the nose carried on dropping the only way out was to add power, which was somewhat counter-intuitive.
It would potentially depart from controlled flight due to intake momentum drag if you let sideslip build up during the transition to or from the hover, with fatal consequences – hence the wind vane in front of the cockpit, and rudder pedal shakers if you didn’t notice the vane!
High speed departures were also not unheard of and could be violent, particularly if you exceeded the lateral stick limits and/or reversed the roll rate rapidly.
Flying at low level at night also had its moments, and no one enjoyed landing on the carrier at night!”
What were the best and worst things about the Harrier?
“The best things were its V/STOL capabilities and its ability to reliably project air power for a reasonable cost; it was ultimately a relatively simple aircraft which kept costs down and reliability up.
The worst things were the unforgiving handling (however, the satisfaction of successfully operating a challenging aircraft was half the appeal) and the V/STOL design compromises meaning we always got whooped during air combat training by F-15s / F-16s / F/A-18s.”
What equipment/weapons or sensors would have you liked to have seen added to the Harrier?
Easy – radar and AMRAAM. Having some Harrier II+ configured aircraft would have been fantastic.
What is the biggest myth about the aircraft?
“That the whining doesn’t stop when you turn off the engine! (The joke being that Harrier pilots whinge incessantly. I mean, have you ever met an F.3 pilot??)”
Is STOVL (short take-off and vertical landing) a good idea?
“If you’re confident that any conventional runways you may operate from – either at home or at a forward operating base – are invulnerable then you don’t need it. I would opine that such a stance would be foolhardy. Also, stopping then landing on a carrier will always be easier and cheaper than landing then stopping (acknowledging that this leads to design compromises, e.g. a single engine, large intakes or a lift fan).”
Was the absence of cannon and radar problematic?
“The lack of radar did get you looking out of the window a lot, and building a mental picture of the tactical situation from radio transmissions was a cherished skill. At times you did feel like you were stumbling around in the dark – the absolute opposite of the level of situational awareness that today’s F-35 brings. At least we had a very good EW system, the display for which was in the HUD, to let you know who was looking at you and from what angle.
As for the gun, it’s always nice to have a cheap forward-firing weapon but the attempts to fit a 25mm derivative of the Aden cannon failed and, anecdotally, at that point there was no money to buy the GAU-12 5-barrel cannon (drool).”
What advice would you give to Harrier pilots?
“To any US Marine Corps, Italian Navy or Spanish Navy Harrier pilots; I envy you – enjoy it while it lasts!
Which three words would you use to describe the Harrier?
“Best. Of. British. (Harrier GR.3 / FA.2)
Revolutionary, legendary, challenging!”
Do you think the British got rid of their fleet too early? And what do you think about what happened to the air frames?
“Absolutely, but as I understand it the MoD had to save a load of money and they couldn’t bin the Tornado GR.4 due to its unique (at the time) ability to carry Storm Shadow. We’d have much rather seen the airframes continue to fly than mothballed and used for spares, but the GR.9 was so different from the USMC’s aircraft that they would effectively have had two fleets, which wouldn’t have been a practical proposition.”
What should I have asked you?
“F-35 or Harrier? F-35 for everything bar the satisfaction of mastering the handling challenge of the Harrier.”
Would Vectoring in Forward Flight (VIFFing) have been useful in a dogfight?
“Using a smidge of nozzle at higher speeds was a valid proposition to gain a little more turn performance. Using a lot of nozzle at lower speeds gave a marked increase in turn rate, but physics being what it is the side-effect was a large reduction in energy which left you a sitting duck if your attempt to snap the nose around for a missile shot failed. I usually found that VIFFing worked quite well when pulling down from the vertical – people weren’t expecting a Hornet-like ability to nose-point – but if I was fighting in the horizontal the nozzle lever often led to disappointment! Putting the nozzles all the way forward in a “Braking Stop Spiral” manoeuvre meant you could descend vertically at a ridiculously low speed and often opponents couldn’t stay behind you. But you had to leave plenty of height to recover…”
How good was the GR9 at the time of its retirement?
“As with most aircraft when they’re retired, it had never been better and had an amazing future ahead of it! I started flying the GR.7 in 2000 and the GR.9/9A was retired in early 2011; by then it had been fitted with a larger engine (GR.9A) and some truly cutting-edge avionics, sensors and weapons: the excellent Sniper targeting pod, the TIEC datalink which went some way to offsetting the lack of radar, the Paveway 4 GPS/laser bomb with which we could simultaneously release six bombs against six different targets through cloud, the Brimstone anti-armour weapon, the ASRAAM air-to-air missile, encrypted radios…such a shame it went before its time.”
With which units did you fly the Harrier and what was your rank?
“I served on No 3 (Fighter) Squadron (2000-2003) at RAF Cottesmore, and the Fast Jet Test Squadron (2005-2006) at MoD Boscombe Down, both as a Flight Lieutenant.
(I joined the RAF in 1996 as a Pilot Officer and left as a Wing Commander in 2016.)”
Tell me something I don’t know about the Harrier
“Flying through hail would smash the EW “tusk” fairings under the nose. Ask me how I know…”
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Interview with a British F-35B Lightning II pilot: Semper Fidelis to Semper Paratus
RAF Wing Commander Scott Williams is currently flying the F-35B Lightning II, the world’s most advanced fighter, with the US Marine Corps. We interviewed him to find out more about what is also the world’s most controversial aircraft.
What were your first impressions of the F-35B? Technologically mind-blowing and a true engineering marvel. As a pilot it flies extremely smoothly and the handling is exceptional, especially when converting flight regimes to slow speed or jet-borne modes; that transition is almost imperceptibly smooth with no adverse characteristics. High angle-of-attack manoeuvring is very easy and forgiving, with excellent nose and flight control ‘authority’ throughout. Power is very apparent with impressive acceleration in dry power on take-off.
Which three words would you use to describe the F-35B? Lethal; Game-changing (I consider that one word!); Growth.
“‘…fighting the F-35 is like going into a boxing match and your opponent doesn’t even know you’re in the ring yet!’”
What are the greatest myths about the F-35B? That it isn’t operational; that stealth doesn’t ‘work’; that external stores on F-35 defeats the point of its design.
What are the best and worst things about the aircraft? The best thing is how quickly and effectively the F-35 allows the pilot to make decisions – fusing sensor and other data from onboard and off-board sources to display what’s out there and what’s going on. Worst thing? I’d like a bit more fuel but what pilot doesn’t?!
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Have you flown basic fighter manoeuvres against Typhoons (or any other types) if so, how did the aircraft do? I haven’t flown BFM in the F-35B against Typhoon or other types (yet!) but I’m sure I will soon.
Though the aircraft is not designed primarily as a WVR ‘dogfighting’ platform -and this may not be a desirable way to fight- how would it do in this respect? Pretty darn well, but there are so many factors that determine the outcome of a WVR fight; pilot proficiency, situational awareness, missile capabilities, countermeasures…every one of these things make a difference but if one were to postulate that in 1000 BVR engagements only a few would likely end up in a WVR fight, you need to ask yourself where you should invest the money, proportionally. Designing a lightweight dogfighter was arguably relevant in the 1970s as fly-by-wire tech gave birth to increasing (super)manoeuvrability; today it isn’t anywhere near as important but still cool for air shows.
Can the aircraft currently work communicate well with Typhoons, what are the considerations in working together? I won’t talk about what we do with Typhoon but the communications have been tested on trials and they work. I’d say a generic consideration for working latest generation fighters with legacy platforms is ensuring you understand their capabilities and limitations.
What is your most memorable mission in the F-35B? There are a few, but the one that stands out for me has to be my first STOVL flight. Comparing the aircraft to the Harrier first-hand was a unique privilege and genuinely brought a smile to my face. I think the UK and US teams who developed the STOVL Control Laws (CLAW), and the pioneering research from the VAAC Harrier and test pilots, were responsible for a huge triumph. Boscombe Down, take a bow!
What’s the best thing about the sensors? How they interact and complement each other with sensor fusion. For 15 years I’ve flown aircraft that need a targeting pod strapped on – these things were normally only bought in limited numbers so you’d get to use them on specific events. Having a targeting pod on every single F35 (the EOTS – Electro-Optical Targeting System) is hugely beneficial for training in all missions.
How good is the situational awareness compared to other aircraft you have flown and how does that change things? Nothing compares to it. Nothing. And information changes everything. When you look at Boyd’s well-known OODA loop, traditionally the hardest things are to answer ‘what’s out there’, ‘what’s it doing’, ‘what do I need to do’. That decision loop can cause paralysis which can lead to a quick demise in a combat fight. F-35 helps enormously in this regard and allows the pilot to act rather than react – reacting is what we’ll make the enemy do. Constantly.
When will the British have a combat capable F-35 force? The UK has a combat capable F-35 force today and declared Initial Operating Capability very recently, so are able to deploy on combat operations at any point from herein. The Block 3F capability is highly combat capable, despite what you may wish to believe or what is written by a number of prominent bloggers.
What would you change about the F-35B? Across all three variants the B does has the least fuel, but I believe it makes up for that with the ability to operate from the QE Carriers, bases with much shorter runways (~3000ft, predominantly for a re-supply tactical AT platform), or even other nations’ carriers when required.
How does its reliability and ease of maintenance compare with other aircraft you’ve flown? Most of the previously reported reliability issues have been software-related in my experience. Maintenance is logical and designed to be as straightforward as possible but the still maturing F-35 global sustainment enterprise results in delays in supplying spares to a high number of demanding customers and countries. With 8.6+ million lines of software code, this aircraft is many times more complex in how it operates compared to a Typhoon (or even an F-22 Raptor) but the latest software and hardware combinations in Block 3F have resulted in improved reliability for sure!
Will a F-35B fly the close support mission in a different way to a GR4 or Typhoon? F-35 will be able to fly the mission in a much more hostile and contested airspace than a GR4 and Typhoon by virtue of its low observable capabilities. However, the rudiments of how a pilot conducts CAS do not necessarily change that much but differences in platform sensor capabilities are an example. It’s well documented that F-35 does not currently have a CCD capability in the EOTS so we’re restricted to infra-red only. That’s something I’d like to see improved soon in impending upgrades and it’s ‘in the plan’ so to speak. Expanded weapons integration in future will also open the variety of effects that we can give the ground commander too.
Do you like the helmet system? The HMD is a truly incredible piece of kit because it really does bring a further dimension to the situational awareness for the pilot. If you then consider the built-in Night Vision Camera and ability to project full-coverage IR imagery of the outside world no matter where you point your head, the ability to point or cue a weapon quickly by day or by night is a great capability.
What should I have asked you? What’s it like working closely with the US Marines! It’s awesome – those guys and girls work like Trojans to achieve the mission and we have a close relationship building for cooperation in future.
Interview with an RAF Typhoon pilot here
How would you rate its BVR capabilities? Second to none really. First to see is first to shoot, is first to kill. I recently heard a comment from someone that ‘…fighting the F-35 is like going into a boxing match and your opponent doesn’t even know you’re in the ring yet!’ I like that comment because our lethality is enhanced by being able to deliver the killer or knock-out blow to our opponents before they get enough awareness on what’s going on to prepare or do something about it.
How would you rate its ground attack and recce abilities compared to the GR4 or Typhoon? We only have Paveway IV currently, however this will expand with SPEAR 3 and other weapons in future but the single weapon option is a bit of a limitation of sorts right now, even though PWIV is an excellent weapon that’s proven itself against our enemies time and again. There is also potential for UK to procure the GAU-22/A Gun Pod if needs be and the USMC have already employed it. The variety of recce options on F-35 are good – from EOTS (IR) to DAS, to Radar Mapping, we have a true all-weather and, in many cases, multi-spectral recce capability. However, F-35 isn’t a dedicated “recce” platform so you can perhaps understand why there’s no pod like the RAPTor on Tornado as an example.
Interview with a MiG-25 pilot here
Tell me something I don’t know about the F-35B. “I could tell you but I’d have to kill you”…
What is your rank and with which air arm do you serve? Wing Commander, Royal Air Force
What is your unit? Currently VMFAT-501 (USMC F-35B Fleet Replacement Squadron or FRS). However, this year all of my Royal Navy and Royal Air Force Instructor Pilots (IPs), Engineers and Mission Support staff will form the nucleus of 207 Squadron at RAF Marham on 1 July 2019, and we will also fly our aircraft back to the UK later that month.
Which types have you flown? Harrier GR7/GR9; Tornado GR4 (post-SDSR10, after Harrier was retired early) and I now fly the F-35B Lightning and instruct both US Marine and UK students on VMFAT-501.
Interview with a B-52 pilot here
Why was 207 Sqn chosen for the F-35B? Will the RAF and RN share F-35s? The choice was intentional — and was made due to the fact that 207 originated as 7 (Naval) Squadron, RNAS, in 1916. When the independent RAF was born on 1 April 1918 and subsumed RNAS and RFC squadrons, 7(N) re-badged to become 207 Sqn. So the number plate was purposefully chosen to have both Naval and Air Force lineage. We don’t ‘share’ the F-35B Lightning like one might share a car with a friend or partner. Instead the Lightning Force – and by that I specifically mean the aircraft, its personnel, equipment and support infrastructure – is all jointly-manned by serving Royal Navy and RAF personnel, including our vital civilian and reservist staff who make up what we call the ‘Whole Force’.
Have a look at this fab model here
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Loneliness at Mach 3: Interview with a MiG-25 Foxbat pilot
High-flying, insanely fast and untouchable, the MiG-25R Foxbat served the Indian Air Force with aplomb. We spoke to Air Marshal Sumit Mukerji about flying the world’s fastest operational aircraft.
What aircraft did you fly and how many hours do you have on type ?
“I retired 7 years ago at the age of 60, with over 3,400 hrs on jets. I had the distinction of Commanding three units. First, a MiG-29 Squadron, second a MiG-25R Squadron and lastly the Tactics and Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) – the ‘Top Gun’ school of the IAF – which had the MiG-21, MiG-23U and the MiG-27. So, as a historical landmark, I am the only pilot in the Indian Air Force (and probably the Russian Air Force ?) to have ‘Commanded’ units with the MiG-21, MiG-23U, MiG-25R, MiG-27, MiG-29.”
What were your first impressions of flying the MiG-25R ?
“A 20-ton aircraft that carries 20 tons of fuel, flies in the stratosphere, cruises at Mach 2.5 in minimum afterburner and exceeds Mach 3.0 with ease when required, what can one say ? It was an awesome aeroplane. The fact that the ventral fuel tank was one MiG-23 (equivalent in fuel) under the belly, speaks for itself.”
Which words best describe the MiG-25 ?
“Catch me if you can”
What is the cockpit like and how pilot-friendly is it ?
“Most Russian aircraft cockpits evoke a feeling of comfort and familiarity to a pilot who has flown Russian aircraft before. Coming from the MiG-21 to the MiG-25R was an easy transition. As one of our Air Chief’s remarked when the aircraft was demonstrated to him and he was stepping into the cockpit, “This is rather familiar. And dammit, it even smells the same!” The cockpit was a little more spacious than the MiG-21, thankfully so, because we operated wearing the pressure suit (which, incidentally, was the same as that worn by Yuri Gagarin – so much for Russian sustainability and dependability).
The two-seater (or Trainer version) was unique. It is the only aircraft I know (other than the Tiger Moth, I guess) where the trainee sits in the rear seat. The design, to my mind, was an aeronautical engineering masterpiece. To put it rather simplistically, the camera block was removed from a single-seater and a cockpit created in that space. The canopy, although the same as the other cockpit, appeared ‘flushed’ with the nose of the fuselage, as viewed from the rear cockpit. Thus the trainee felt he was sitting in a single-seater when in the trainer. The transition to going ‘solo’ was a piece of cake. With the nose-wheel located behind the rear cockpit, a 90 deg turn onto a taxi track entailed the front cockpit extending over onto the grass beyond the taxi track (at the ‘T’) before the turn was executed. A little unnerving initially for anyone (though airline pilots may not have felt uncomfortable).”
Read about flying and fighting in the MiG-27 here.
What can you say about the performance of the MiG-25 ?
“It was a beast with immense power. It has been described by some as ‘an engine with place for a pilot and some avionics’. The Tumansky R-15B engines each provided more than 10 tons of thrust to produce the desired performance. In almost all the other aircraft I have flown, a regular climb was executed at constant TAS (True Air Speed, the speed of the aircraft relative to the airmass in which it is flying) with a progressive reduction of IAS as the altitude increased. The Foxbat climbs at constant IAS with an increasing TAS, crossing abeam the take-off dumbbell (if a reciprocal turn were to be executed after take-off), at 30,000 ft and increasing! She would be crossing 20km (65,000 ft) in 6.5 minutes from wheels-roll, at a rate of climb (ROC) of 100 m/sec (almost 20,000 ft/min) ‘like a bat out of hell’, if you did not come back from the Max afterburner regime – In comparison, the ROC of a MiG-21 was 110 m/sec at sea-level. Now, that is sheer performance. Cruising at 20+ kms with minimum afterburner (which, incidentally, provided best specific fuel consumption) she could execute a 45-50 deg bank turn with just a wee bit of additional power. There was no loss of height. Her systems and auto-pilot were coupled to provide an optimised “Little m=1” (remember the formula for maximum range ?). So, as the fuel depleted she would keep climbing (cruise climb) and a mission commenced at (say) 19.5 kms altitude would terminate around 22 kms with no change of throttle position. The climb was so gradual over the period of time and distance that it did not affect the photography.”
What was the pilot workload ?
“With virtually a first generation inertial navigation system (coupled with the ground beacon RSBN), one could engage the auto-pilot at 50m (165 ft) after take-off and take your hands off the control column. The Foxbat would execute the complete mission, photography included, and return to base (or programmed airfield) descending to a height of 50m when the pilot needed to take control and flare out for a landing. All that the pilot was required to do through the entire mission was manipulate the throttle – From max afterburner at take-off, to min afterburner at about 60,000 ft, to idle throttle setting approximately 350 Kms from landing base (the MiG-25 would glide the distance), to 75% RPM on top of approach to landing. That’s it !”
Were you detectable by radar ? Were you susceptible to interception ?
“Certainly we were detectable by radar, provided you were expecting us. The Foxbat operated covertly, seen just as a blip on the radar amongst other flying aircraft, but one blip would suddenly disappear. In normal ground radar settings the Foxbat generally operates at the highest fringes of the radar lobe, with the ingress and egress (through the radar lobe) often allowing one or two blips for the radar controller to perceive. Low transition times (because of the high speed) did not provide adequate reaction time to scramble fighters; and other than a pure head-on interception with look-up / shoot-up capability (from, say, 40,000 ft), the Foxbat could survive any fighter interception.”
Read about flying and fighting in the MiG-21 here
What were the limitations of the aircraft ?
“The fuel quantity, I guess. The engines were gas guzzlers and 20 tons of fuel (including the ventral tank and fuel in the vertical fins) was just adequate. In the regional perspective of India and its neighbours it would suffice but we always returned for landing with 200-400 kg of fuel remainder (200-250 kgs was the fuel required to execute one circuit and landing). We operated on the fringe. The runway had to be kept clear at landing base (no other flying permitted for fear of runway blockage) once the MiG-25 commenced his descent. We needed to give only three R/T calls – one for take-off, one for commencing descent and one for landing (in operational missions just two). There was no need to give any other R/T calls because you operated unhindered in the stratosphere.”
What does operating in the stratosphere feel like?
“The subtle change in the colour of the sky starts around 16 kms (50,000 ft), I guess, as the suspended particles which reflect / refract the sunlight start getting dissipated. The sky turns a distinct grey as you cross 20 Kms (65,000 ft) and continues getting darker as you transcend into those dizzying altitudes of 90,000 ft and 100,000 ft. You fly with cockpit lighting ‘ON’ (as for night flying). It is a little eerie, one must admit. Not natural. The earth is round, a fact we could confirm (!) because you can see the curvature of the earth very clearly from those altitudes. The sun, moon, stars and the illuminated ground below, are all visible at the same time. A glorious feeling.”
What special clothing did you need and how effective was it ?
“As mentioned earlier, the pilots used the same pressure suit that Yuri Gagarin wore as the first man in space. The suit was the same that was supplied to MiG-21 and MiG-23MF pilots for their high altitude interception roles. It was not the most comfortable of suits but then pressure suits had a purpose. One needed to wear silk ‘inners’ (full sleeve top and ‘long-john’ lower pants) to allow the skin-tight suit to be put on. Needless to say, it required the help of another person (trained airman) to assist the pilot. Once zipped up (suggest one uses the washroom before donning the suit), there was further tightening of the suit by means of laces (on the chest, belly, back, legs, arms) to ensure the tightest fit without causing breathing discomfort. It was difficult to tie your own shoe laces. The neck-ring (on which the helmet would be put and locked – it weighed 2.5 Kgs) had this latex bladder which came over the head and distributed around the neck, not unlike a condom. Over the pressure suit the pilot would wear a loose flight suit to obviate the snagging of the pressure suit laces with switches / levers in the cockpit.”
“All this was fine in winters, but in summer, with the ambient temperature close to 40 deg C (104 deg F), the cockpit conditions with the canopy closed was a killer (start up time to take off approx 20 mts). Like other MiG aircraft, the heating system was brilliant, but the cooling system was designed to cut in only at 1 Km above ground level (and cut out at the same height during the return). Four layers of clothing – underwear, silk inners, pressure suit, flight suit – in those temperatures, meant you were soaked to the skin by the time you returned to the aircrew room. It needed an extra effort by the trained assistant to peel the wet pressure suit and wet inners off your body. Guess we got our share of sauna baths!”
What were your biggest fears in flying the MiG-25 or were there none?
“When you are flying a virtual fuel tank, the biggest fear is the illumination of the “Fire” warning lamp. This was more so at operating altitudes in the stratosphere. The ejection seat in the MiG-25 was the same as that in the later models of the MiG-21 and MiG-23. The ejection seat had two settings (3 Kms / 10,000 ft and 6 Kms / 20,000 ft), to be set depending upon the terrain one was operating over. We set ours to 6 Kms. But operating at (say) 20-22 Kms altitude, where the ambient temperatures are around minus 85 deg C, an ejection meant a free-fall of 15 Kms (50,000 ft) before the seat separated and activated the parachute. Would you hit terminal velocity ? I guess you would. It was not a happy thought.
The other fear was that, God forbid, one had to eject over enemy territory. On landing, how fast could one get out of the pressure suit (without external help) and be unbridled and unhampered to scramble for an escape ? We practiced and mastered the art in the squadron.”
What improvements would you have liked incorporated in the aircraft?
“An in-flight refuelling system (but in those days the IAF never had an AAR /FRA) to increase its potential. Digitisation of its photo and ELINT systems could have upgraded the aircraft and extended its life for another decade at least.”
Can you tell us of any specific reconnaissance mission which produced exceptional results ?
“Well, the photographs of the mountains and the terrain in the Kargil sector (15-18,000 ft) during the Indo-Pak Kargil conflict of 1999 are testimony to the photographic quality obtained from the MiG-25R. Every ridge, every crevasse, every approach and defile was clearly defined, all enemy positions and bunkers in the craggy and inhospitable mountain ranges lay exposed, providing immense information to the Indian Army and the IAF to conduct successful operations.”
Flying and fighting the MiG-19 here.
Can you describe any notable mission you have flown ?
“On 24 October 1995 the world witnessed a total solar eclipse and the path of the shadow traversed through North India. The Udaipur Solar Observatory requested the IAF to photograph the eclipse from the stratosphere, an exercise (to our knowledge) never done before. The purpose was twofold – to photograph the eclipse as it progressed, with a front looking camera in the cockpit and secondly, to photograph the traverse of the shadow over the surface of the earth, with the belly cameras. The high resolution, single-shot Hasselblad camera (20-25 frames/sec) provided for the front photography was a monster. It had to be fitted on top of the instrument panel and it blocked the forward visibility of the pilot. It was decided to use the two-seater and fit the camera in the front cockpit. The fitment, as any aviator would know, was a major task. Alignment with respect to the flight axis of the aircraft (angle of attack in flight) and the position of the sun was a major exercise. Scientists of astronomy from the Solar Observatory
The ’starburst’ as captured by the MiG-25. The aircraft has been superimposed go give the effect to the article publicising the event. It was discussed by Bhatnagar, A & Livingston, William Charles, in Fundamentals of Solar Astronomy (2005). World Scientific. p. 157. ISBN 9812382445.)
obtained charts from NASA (also) to determine the ambient conditions likely to prevail in the stratosphere at the appointed time and altitude. It was decided (scientifically) that an altitude of 24.5 Kms (80,000 ft) and a speed of 2.5M flown towards the sun (in the path of the shadow), would provide the desired results. After fitment of the camera, the aircraft had to be raised on jacks, wheels retracted to simulate flight conditions and a framework fabricated with a simulated sun erected in front at a prescribed distance to get the correct alignments. For eye protection it was necessary to fly with the seat fully lowered which posed a problem of tracking the sun accurately with respect to the camera. So we fabricated a “gun sight” for the rear cockpit. A small aluminium frame with a 2cm x 2cm window over which a graph paper was pasted constituted the gun sight. The centre of this graph paper (the point of origin) was where the sun had to be maintained. This point had to be ‘harmonised’ with the camera, a procedure familiar for fighter pilots of that generation. Special filters to protect us from the damaging rays of the sun had been obtained from Argentina and Mexico. These were pasted over the visor of the pressure helmet.
As luck would have it, the scientists discovered that about 8-10 days before D-Day, the moon was going to be in exactly the same position as the predicted sun position on the day of the total solar eclipse. It was an opportunity of a lifetime to get a practice mission, albeit at night. The time worked out by the scientists was 2335 hrs or so (if I remember right). The mission was flown and while the daylight camera could not provide the clarity, the alignments and the ‘gun sight’ were verified and fine tuned.
On the day of the eclipse, at the pre-determined time, two MiG-25s, the MiG-25UB (two-seater) and a MiG-25R (to photograph the shadow) took off with the MiG-25R trailing 2 minutes behind. Timings were critical and they were met. We fed into the predicted path of the eclipse and started our photography about two minutes before the total eclipse took place. While it was getting darker by the moment, when the total eclipse took place we were enveloped in absolute pitch black conditions and the stars had a clarity and luminosity not seen otherwise. Everything was as per plan. The “gun sight” worked ! While the total eclipse was viewed from the ground for 42 secs, flying at 2.5M towards the sun allowed us to view the total eclipse for 2 minutes and 25 seconds. The changes in the corona surrounding the sun in this period of the total eclipse were of immense value to the scientists, because with no suspended particles the clarity of the photographs was beyond their expectations. The “Diamond Ring” (the most popular photograph during an eclipse) was indeed delightful to see, but the ‘Piece de Resistance’ followed immediately afterwards – the “Starburst”, as the sun peeped through the ridges on the surface of the moon (the photograph is attached). An unusual mission but an experience of a lifetime.
Was the MiG-25 comfortable to fly after the MiG-21 ?
“A bullock cart, we would joke. She was heavy but responsive. Because of the weight there was a lot of inertia, requiring anticipation. To the ab-initio the aircraft would wallow on approach, if pilot anticipation and control input were not timely. She was steady as a rock during the climb and its stated mission profile. The two-seater was aerobatic and we did rolls, barrel rolls and rolls-off-the-top. The loop was prohibited because there was apparently inadequate elevator available to pull her through the manoeuvre. Ground handling was outstanding.”
Did you ever practice combat training – Practice Interceptions, etc ?
“The IAF MiG-25R was a purely reconnaissance version. PIs were conducted on us during various exercises. There were no successful interceptions to my knowledge.”
How difficult were the maintenance practices on the MiG-25R ?
“It was my first experience with (virtually) a modular concept of maintenance. Coming from the MiG-21 it was a pleasure to see the ease with which those massive engines of the Foxbat could be changed. The camera block lowered with winches and pulleys easily. The ELINT system was easily accessible. Because of its size, technicians could crawl in and out from access points for ease of maintenance.
Read about flying the B-52 here.
Sure, you can call it an ‘archaic, unsophisticated machine’. But then there was no other ‘sophisticated’ aircraft to either match its performance or shoot it down ! With a navigation accuracy of (max) 10 kms off track over 1000 kms (with a lateral photo swath of 90 kms), strategic targets were never missed. It was amazing for its role.
We had problems with the tyres and the fuel in the initial years. The Russians did not clear the Dunlop manufactured tyres nor the Indian Oil manufactured aviation fuel for quite some time. We remained dependent on the USSR for the supply of these two major items. The on-going Iran-Iraq war curtailed supply through the Suez Canal. So our fuel and tyres would come by ship, around the Cape of Good Hope. This led to restrictions in our quantum of flying. The aviation fuel, as you would expect, had to be different from the regular aviation fuel. Regular aircraft were using fuel K-50 (Nomenclature for aviation fuel with SG 0.77) while we required fuel K-60 (Nomenclature for aviation fuel with SG 0.84). The higher specific gravity was essential to raise the flashpoint of the fuel because skin temperatures on the aircraft would exceed 300 deg C (ambient temp minus 85 deg C).
The high temperatures also necessitated good cooling systems for the avionics and cameras. This was achieved by alcohol (98 proof !). The MiG-25 consumes almost 200 litres of alcohol per mission. Alcohol bowsers (tankers) were provided for replenishment which had a ‘tap’ provided at the rear (Aah ! Don’t you just love the Russians ?) – for purposes best left to your imagination! (venting, perhaps!).”
Read about Flying and fighting in the English Electric Lightning here
For an operational mission what would be the approximate timeframes from receipt of task to the completion of photo processing ?
“Well, the MiG-25R was designed to carry out strategic reconnaissance. Targets for such missions are not generally time constrained as in tactical scenarios. However, if it came to a pinch, it would take about two hours of manual panning (with necessary intelligence inputs) on maps, feeding the way-points in binary onto the plates and running it through the ground testing system to check the veracity. Pilot briefing is concurrent because there are other pilots assisting with the map planning. ELINT programming would also be concurrent. Then the plates are slotted into the aircraft and the inertial platform erected (energised). This would typically take about 30 mins in winter and 45 mins in summer. During this time the pilot would be assisted into his pressure suit and he would proceed to the aircraft. From start to take off we may consider 15 mins and a one hour mission thereafter. Once on ground, the camera spools would be off-loaded (simple procedure) and their analog processing in the dark room commenced. The specialist photo-interpreter would view the semi-dry negatives, identify the frames with the required targets and these would go into print positives. Thus the post flight procedure would also take roughly two hours. It would be safe to assume a mission, from start to finish would take about six hours. Add two more for delivery to the user. ELINT decoding would be simultaneous and coincidental to the photo processing.”
Were any special qualifications required to become a MiG-25 pilot ?
“Not really. However, all pilots had extensive experience on MiG-21s.”
After the MiG-25 how did it feel to fly any other fighter ?
“They were all sports models! Perhaps the greatest joy was to be able to throw the fighter around in the sky with gay abandon (which you missed when you flew the Foxbat), do aerobatics, fire weapons and the adrenalin of doing air combat. We missed the ‘G’ ! Also the sheer thrill of seeing another aircraft in the same sky!”
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Were you ever concerned about enemy defences ? What actions would be initiated if you were painted on enemy radar?
“It would be naïve of any warrior not to be concerned about his enemy. As I have mentioned before, missions were covert and silent. Just two R/T calls – for take-off and landing. There were no warning systems in the aircraft. The only warning that could be given was by our own ground radar picking up a possible interception. Depending upon the threat, it would entail moving the throttle up the quadrant and initiating a gentle climb. Secrecy, speed and altitude were our only weapons.”
Read about flying the Mirage 2000 here
Were there any aero-medical aspects that affected pilots flying aircraft such as these ?
“We were subjected to aero-medical scrutiny for the first year of operation of the aircraft. There were two issues of concern to the doctors. Firstly, the extent of exposure to UV Rays because of the clarity of the troposphere. We were made to carry dosimeters on our person. The results indicated there was no cause for concern. The second was the phenomena of possible ‘Disassociation’ (In psychology, ‘disassociation’ entails experiences from mild ‘detachment’ from immediate surroundings to more severe detachment from physical and emotional experiences – phenomena involves a detachment from reality —– Wikipedia). This came into consideration because of the rather lonely and silent missions in the troposphere, detached and distant from regular flight profiles. The issue was discounted because of the relative short duration of the missions – one hour at best.”
Some parting words?
“The MiG-25R was a superb flying machine, eminently suited to its task. It provided a feeling of immense power, invincibility and supreme confidence to the pilot in the execution of his mission.”
You may enjoy these articles:Interview with USAF spy pilot here
Top Combat Aircraft of 2030, The Ultimate World War I Fighters, Saab Draken: Swedish Stealth fighter?, Flying and fighting in the MiG-27: Interview with a MiG pilot, Project Tempest: Musings on Britain’s new superfighter project, Top 10 carrier fighters 2018, Ten most important fighter aircraft guns
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- Interviews with pilots of the F-14 Tomcat, Mirage, Typhoon, MiG-25, MiG-27, English Electric Lighting, Harrier, F-15, B-52 and many more.
- Engaging Top (and bottom) 10s including: Greatest fighter aircraft of World War II, Worst British aircraft, Worst Soviet aircraft and many more insanely specific ones.
- Expert analysis of weapons, tactics and technology.
- A look into art and culture’s love affair with the aeroplane.
- Bizarre moments in aviation history.
- Fascinating insights into exceptionally obscure warplanes.
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The book will be a stunning object: an essential addition to the library of anyone with even a passing interest in the high-flying world of warplanes, and featuring first-rate photography and a wealth of new world-class illustrations.
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Hunters over Peru!
Hawker test pilot DUNCAN SIMPSON recalls a posting to South America in 1956 to oversee the introduction of the Hunter Mk 52 into Peruvian Air Force service — “five of the most difficult months of my life . . .”
By late 1955 the first of the reconditioned ex-RAF Hunter F.4s purchased by Peru, designated Mk 52s, were ready to be delivered, so at the beginning of March 1956 I started preparing to depart for South America, where I was to oversee the assembly of the aircraft and train the pilots of the Peruvian Air Force to fly them.
By mid-April I was ready to begin the Hunters’ test-flying programme. It was a critical moment. Limatambo was essentially a civil airport and the loose gravel surface of the runways was hardly ideal for jet aircraft, although its length of 2,000yd (6,000ft — 2,200m) was adequate. Both runways were flanked on either side with a flourishing cotton crop, and the undershoot and overshoot areas had their share of obstructions, including a 10ft (3m)-high brick wall at one end.
I could afford to wait until the weather conditions were good to start the flying programme — which was just as well, as there were no navigation aids and no radar. Eventually, on April 18, 1956, I made the first flight of the first of the 16 Hunter Mk 52s, from Limatambo airport.
On May 22, Peruvian pilots made six flights in the new fighters, led by the Group Commander, Col Fernando Paraud, a likeable rogue who had previously flown a 20min sortie in a Hunter at Dunsfold. He and his colleagues, Mayor Leon Melgar and the Flight Commander and senior pilot, Capitán Alberto Thorndike, very soon completed the conversion course and later flew each aircraft on an official acceptance check. I had to do all the briefing; fortunately the standard of pilots, who were all trained in the USA, was high.
While supervising pilot conversion I continued to fly the aircraft after they were assembled. I did enjoy being let loose from the daily frustrations at Limatambo. I had to take infinite care over the test flying; the luxuries at Dunsfold just did not exist in this fascinating environment. Usually I would climb to 50,000ft to the south, with the Andes to my left and the Pacific Ocean to the right, ending up overhead the settlement of Pisco.
In the event of problems arising I had no emergency retreat, apart from returning to Limatambo. I usually took time off at the end of each test flight to fly out over the Andes, the massive mountains rising to 20,000ft. Unlike the Alps, the snow level was very high, so the mass of mountains appeared to be a variety of shades of brown rock stretching as far as the eye could see. Frequently I could see signs of human building in the most remote and inaccessible places — possibly Inca remains.
For the full previously unpublished story, illustrated with the author’s photographs, see Hunters Over the Andes in Issue No 2 of The Aviation Historian — www.theaviationhistorian.com.
Thank you for reading Hush-Kit. Our site is absolutely free and we have no advertisements. If you’ve enjoyed an article you can donate here. At the moment our contributors do not receive any payment but we’re hoping to reward them for their fascinating stories in the future.
Have a look at 10 worst British military aircraft, Su-35 versus Typhoon, 10 Best fighters of World War II , top WVR and BVR fighters of today, an interview with a Super Hornet pilot and a Pacifist’s Guide to Warplanes. Was the Spitfire overrated? Want something more bizarre? The Top Ten fictional aircraft is a fascinating read, as is The Strange Story and The Planet Satellite. The Fashion Versus Aircraft Camo is also a real cracker. Those interested in the Cold Way should read A pilot’s guide to flying and fighting in the Lightning. Those feeling less belligerent may enjoy A pilot’s farewell to the Airbus A340. Looking for something more humorous? Have a look at this F-35 satire and ‘Werner Herzog’s Guide to pusher bi-planes or the Ten most boring aircraft. In the mood for something more offensive? Try the NSFW 10 best looking American airplanes, or the same but for Canadians.
Why I was the Buzz Aldrin of Desert Shield
In 1990 the world watched as Saddam’s Iraq invaded Kuwait. Saudi Arabia feared further aggression, and the US rushed in to safeguard the centre of its oil supply. The first step in fortifying Saudi Arabia was to send in equipment to build an airbase big enough to house the strike force of the world’s most powerful super power. This vital first mission had to be carried out to perfection to demonstrate to Saudi the US’ commitment and strength. USAF made the questionable decision of entrusting the success of this mission to a hard-drinking, back-chatting navigator with a serious attitude problem. This is his story.
I made it to the squadron building with a minute to spare, the senior master sergeant shaking his head as I crossed the street, flicking away a cigarette butt and lazily saluting a passing airman. ‘Morning, Captain, if I was you I’d get your ass in the briefing room straight away.’
‘What’s the hurry, Master Sergeant? You make it sound like I’m heading off to war or something.’
He smiled and patted me on the back as we entered the building together. What I saw threw me. The entire squadron seemed to be huddled in every bit of space, with excited chitter-chatter causing a din. The common room, which was usually a very large open space where the odd crew member might spend some time shooting the shit or having a post-flight beer was now sealed off behind temporary walls covered with signs saying Top Secret – No Unauthorized Entry. ‘Christ!’ I said, ‘Who’d they hire as an interior decorator, the Pilot’s wife?’ The room burst into laughter, as my pilot’s wife actually was an interior decorator but her skills left something to be desired.
The senior master sergeant walked me straight into the briefing room, behind all the Top Secret signs. I didn’t understand – wasn’t the whole squadron being briefed? Why was everyone out there while I was being ushered in?
Don Brosnan was a KC-135A navigator and dedicated Guinness drinker.
When I entered the newly secure briefing room I could feel everyone looking at me and I slowed the chewing of my gum to a halt as I acknowledged the colonel with a ‘Good morning, sir’. My Pilot’s eyes were burning holes into me but I would not match his gaze instead catching the Co (co-pilot) and Boom (boom operator) stifling smiles, as it was apparent everyone had been waiting for me.
‘Let’s get started!’ growled the colonel and we did. The briefing took about an hour and a half. There were two flight crews present – my crew and one of the Standards and Evaluation (Stan Eval) crews, our squadron commander, his assistant, the squadron master sergeant, the schedulers and two admin staff.
Don Brosnan flew with the 97th Air Refueling Squadron. The Motto of the 97 ARS was Pro Potentia Inter Astra (‘For Strength Among the Stars’).
We were briefed and without spilling top-secret information, we were to be part of beginning of Operation Desert Shield – the protection of Saudi Arabia against possible attack from Iraq. Our job was to carry engineers and equipment to build a ‘tent city’ in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This would become the major operation base for our units in Saudi Arabia. We had wheels-up time of 12:00 noon and were to have crew briefings and hit the tarmac.
The two crews left the briefing room and our chests were a bit puffed out as we were walking on cloud nine. Of the fifteen or so crews in our squadron it was obvious one of the two Stan Eval crews would be picked but our crew was picked above all of the others. We were the first of the first going AND in about two hours. We had to get our shit together!
We briefed our flight, which would take us on a northerly route over the Atlantic. The route was the same one we always took, up the northeast of the United States and out over Nova Scotia where we would leave air-traffic control using celestial navigation. The route would fly us south of Iceland and over the top of Ireland bringing us across England to our destination in Suffolk, England, a stopover point before heading to Riyadh.
The Stan Eval crew took the honours of leading us across the pond and led the mission planning. Our job was to follow them and I was to also use celestial navigation to ensure the lead aircraft did not venture off course. The Stan Eval crew’s navigator had about ten years’ experience on me, but I assured them with a wink that I would keep an eye on him, making sure he didn’t get us lost.
After our briefing the Stan Eval nav and boom joined my boom and me for a cigarette. All of the squadron wanted to come over and join us but knew we’d be talking about our mission so let us be. Only once did I get to say, ‘If I told you I’d have to kill you’ and that was to this other navigator who I didn’t like and was a dick anyway so I was happy to tell him to get lost. We couldn’t help but feel lucky to be selected and we were the envy of everyone in the squadron. We had no idea what the future would hold but whatever it was we knew we weren’t going to miss it.
The next step was one of the most important in our departure plan – lunch! Lunch is an extremely underrated part of mission planning. When you are flying at 35,000 feet and you are hungry there is no place to go get a bite. Also, the chances of being held or diverted were regular occurrences and flying on an empty stomach usually led to air sickness. We were allowed to build our own special box lunches up to a certain value and the flight kitchen would prepare them and have them ready for us to collect prior to takeoff. We’d fill them with sandwiches, potato chips, soft drinks, chocolate bars – basically anything our mothers would never have put in a packed lunch. I was vegetarian at the time so was able to usually fit in more chocolate and chips than the others as my cheese sandwiches cost just a few cents.
We also gave our lunches names, mine was called the ‘Anti-airsickness’, the Co’s was called ‘The Gutbuster’ and for some unknown reason the Boom’s was called ‘Squirrel’ which he pronounced Sqwerl.
A place where airplanes tend to ‘breakdown’
When we hit the tarmac and caught sight of our plane I was happy, the tail number was a good one. We’d been assigned a dependable plane that had less of a chance of breaking down unless we decided to ‘break it’ ourselves in some exotic part of the world, like the time our plane broke in Hawaii and we had to spend a week there waiting for a part to arrive and be fitted.
Water injection!
Anyway, we completed our pre-flight checklist; engines started and were ready for takeoff. The tricky parts to flying were always takeoff and landing – or any place near the ground, I used to tell the pilots. Our KC-135 was an A model. This meant that the engines had water injection to create steam providing extra power to help us takeoff as we were usually very heavy in weight. Today was no exception as not only did we have fuel to refuel the four F-15s we were ferrying over to England but we were loaded down with tents and other supplies needed for the engineers in Riyadh. I don’t think we had ever been heavier, so the injection of water for 110 seconds was vital for our takeoff to be successful. These planes were built in the mid- to late 1950s and we were reliant on the technology of that age to take us to the newest of conflicts..
There were newer, more powerful KC-135 R models (no water injection) and also KC-10s (requiring no navigator) but we were selected ahead of them all and as we rumbled slowly onto the runway my eyes would dart between the pilot’s instruments and my stopwatch ready to inform the copilot when 110 seconds were complete and he could turn off the injection pump. Take-offs meant all eyes up front watching for anything that could cause us to abort a takeoff. Of course we were always briefed that we could call ‘abort, abort, abort’ anytime during a takeoff as the pilot obviously had a lot going on and if we felt the safety of the takeoff was being jeopardized to speak up without fear of repercussions. This last bit was added because if we did call for a takeoff to be aborted it would mean having to refill the plane with water and delay our takeoff time, thus delaying our arrival at the rendezvous point to provide fuel and possibly resulting in the cancellation of more than one mission. No pressure! So I always felt I had be pretty goddamned sure if I was going to abort a takeoff.
A view from the navigator’s position onboard a KC-135.
I did actually abort a takeoff once; I was flying with another crew as their navigator was off sick. Their pilot assured me, as they always do, that if I saw a safety risk I should abort the take-off and then after the pilot had cleaned up the plane we would discuss what had happened and address the situation. We were twenty seconds into the take-off and I spluttered over the intercom, ‘Abort! Abort! Abort!’ The pilot aborted, but not without darting a dirty look at me over his shoulder. We slowed and left the runway with seventy seconds’ worth of water pouring out of our engines on to the tarmac. The co-pilot immediately jumped on the radio trying to organize a water truck to fill us up and ensure the tower had a new takeoff slot ready for us when we were ready. I was already calculating how we could cut off time getting to the rendezvous point so as not to cancel the mission and still refuel our receivers.
‘Goddammit, Nav!’ suddenly burst in my headphones. ‘Why’d you abort that takeoff? Now we have to wait to refill with water! What were you thinking? Our whole mission could be jeopardized.’ I turned to see the pilot screaming at me, his face going red with anger. He had his intercom button pushed but didn’t need it as he was less than four feet away from me and yelling in my direction. ‘What possible reason could you possibly have for aborting?’ he shouted, not letting me get a word in and going against everything he had said in the briefing if we felt the need to call Abort. ‘Well?’
I narrowed my eyes and counted to three, then I shouted, ‘Close your fucking window Pilot!’
He quickly turned to his side window, which was wide open and slid it closed and locked. ‘Roger, thanks, Nav,’ he said over the intercom in his calm pilot voice.
‘Fuck you, Pilot!’ I shouted across the cockpit.
The danger of having the window open during takeoff was that it would add to the amount of drag on our aircraft, and at such a heavy weight would have caused us to crash and die when we made our first turn. I only flew with him once more and he almost hit a hot air balloon over Dallas / Fort Worth because he wouldn’t divert.
He ended up getting out of the air force and into the desirable job of flying with a major airline… I keep waiting to fly that airline and hear his voice come over the intercom. I would then ask one of the flight attendants to go tell the pilot to make sure his side window is closed. Dickhead…
This time, our takeoff and flight to England was flawless, no compass malfunctions like the last time I flew over the pond. Even though we were not the lead aircraft I still had to navigate as if we were and communicate any variance with the lead aircraft. I had no issues and in the post briefing we compared charts and found they were almost identical, which just went to show we knew our shit, and we agreed we were the reason why they selected our crew for this mission.
As we were closing in on England the crew was wide awake chirping how I had earned beers when we landed. I knew this meant I could get a draught pint of Guinness from a pub – a special treat for me as all I could get in America was the bottled Guinness, which a friend once described as tasting like ‘burnt grass’. I could taste my first pint and joked that we should actually have our debrief in the pub. Even the Pilot laughed at that. It’s always a good feeling to get over the Atlantic on time, on course and alive.
When we landed I quickly performed my shutdown checklist, then was down the ladder and fifty feet off the nose of the aircraft lighting up a cigarette. I could really taste the pint of Guinness hitting the back of my throat and going down smooth as chocolate milk.
The Boom joined me and I told him I couldn’t wait to get a few pints into me. He looked at me with a puzzled look that he sometimes got when his brain could not comprehend a situation he was in.
‘What?’ I snapped.
‘Well, Nav,’ he said quietly. ‘You keep going on about drinking but I don’t think the bars in England are open. It’s five a.m.’
Pause. Tick tock tick tock…
‘Goddammit!’ I shouted, and so loud, that both pilots looked up from their checklist out the front window of the cockpit to see what was up. I panicked for a minute and felt myself slide into depression. We were scheduled to do a twelve-hour turnaround meaning takeoff time would be around five in the afternoon with no drinking as of immediately.
‘Goddammit Boom, that means I don’t get a Guinness and then we go to fucking Saudi where it’s illegal to have alcohol,’ I said, hanging my head. I had not thought this through properly. I knew that drinking was not permitted in Saudi, but Jesus, I didn’t think my last drink would be the whisky from last night! ‘Goddammit!’ I said again, throwing my cigarette butt to the ground, burying it in the damp English grass with the toe of my boot. As I climbed into the plane I started to whine immediately, ‘It’s five o’clock in the goddammed morning which means I don’t get a fucking pint.’
‘War’s hell’ jibed the co-pilot.
‘Fuck you, Co.’ I said giving him the finger
The Pilot shook his head and said, ‘It’ll keep us razor sharp for the next leg of the mission, Nav. We need to be focused as we will be lead going into Riyadh.’
‘I don’t care about the next mission; I care about getting my pint of Guinness! Who the fuck scheduled us to land at 5:30 in the goddamned morning anyways? Dickheads!’
‘Easy, Nav,’ I heard the pilot start to say as I was already halfway down the ladder shouting that I was going for another cigarette. I made my way over to fifty feet off the nose of the Stan Eval’s aircraft where their navigator was having a cigarette.
‘Nice flight, Kurt,’ I said, shaking his hand.
‘Thanks. Glad to have had you backing me up,’ he quipped.
I immediately launched into a tirade about landing at ‘o’dark thirty’ and not being able to go for beer. He laughed. Kurt was from Tennessee and I knew he had a bottle of Bourbon in his bag that he would be sipping on once we were settled into our rooms. I could never understand that – why would anyone want to fly to the other side of the world and sit in their crummy billeted room drinking what they drank at home when we could go out into a new country, meet people and drink Guinness?
He looked at me blankly so I shook my head and retreated over to stand in front of my own plane to finish my cigarette.
All through debrief my mood was black as coal and, yes, in hindsight, I was probably acting like a child but I didn’t care. How hard was it to schedule a flight to land when the bars would be open?
We finished debrief and were on our way to billeting when we were reminded that we were on crew rest as of now and that we should get settled in and get some sleep. The Co and I were together in one room. The Co was your typical well-mannered, clean-cut American kid, the kind that makes parents proud. The Pilot and Boom shared another room. The main reason for this was because the Pilot and I did not see eye to eye. He was uptight and straight-laced, albeit a great pilot. He is similar to the Matthew Modine character in the film Memphis Belle. So, anyway, he and I didn’t room together and he didn’t want me corrupting the Boom, who was a nineteen-year-old from Alabama, already married with a kid. I liked the Boom a lot and felt sorry for him that he always got stuck with the Pilot.
Thank you for reading Hush-Kit. Our site is absolutely free and we have no advertisements. If you’ve enjoyed an article you can donate here. At the moment our contributors do not receive any payment but we’re hoping to reward them for their fascinating stories in the future.
Have a look at 10 worst British military aircraft, Su-35 versus Typhoon, 10 Best fighters of World War II , top WVR and BVR fighters of today, an interview with a Super Hornet pilot and a Pacifist’s Guide to Warplanes. Was the Spitfire overrated? Want something more bizarre? The Top Ten fictional aircraft is a fascinating read, as is The Strange Story and The Planet Satellite. The Fashion Versus Aircraft Camo is also a real cracker. Those interested in the Cold Way should read A pilot’s guide to flying and fighting in the Lightning. Those feeling less belligerent may enjoy A pilot’s farewell to the Airbus A340. Looking for something more humorous? Have a look at this F-35 satire and ‘Werner Herzog’s Guide to pusher bi-planes or the Ten most boring aircraft. In the mood for something more offensive? Try the NSFW 10 best looking American airplanes, or the same but for Canadians.
I couldn’t sleep and ended up staring at the television, which no matter what time of the day it was seemed only to have the options of parliament arguing about something or snooker. I always chose snooker, as I didn’t care about Britain’s politics. The Co slept soundly for a few hours and when he awoke we went to get some lunch before the bus arrived to take us for mission planning.
Don Brosnan: A vital cog in the US War Machine.
We hooked up with the Pilot, Boom and other crew over lunch and made our way over to the squadron where we were informed that the Stan Eval’s plane was broken and that they were working on fixing it. We were immediately put back on twelve hours’ of crew rest and set for a 5:00 am takeoff, although the crew chiefs were doubtful that they would have the plane fixed by then.
I maintained my composure as we collected our things and went back to billeting where we was assigned the same rooms and settled for the same roommates as before. We agreed to meet for dinner at 7:30 p.m. and then would all get some sleep before our early morning bus. Upon entering our rooms I immediately started jumping from one bed to the other, much to the Co’s displeasure due to my boots mucking up his bedspread.
‘What are you so happy about?’ he asked dumbfounded
‘Are you kidding me?’ I squealed, ‘Let’s go for some pints after dinner. We’ll act as if we’re coming back to sleep and then sneak out!’
‘You’re crazy,’ he said. ‘We’re on crew rest and I’m not sneaking out to drink before our flight.’
‘Pussy!’ I laughed. ‘C’mon, you can have one pint and then watch me have a few. We’ll be back in plenty of time to get some sleep before our bus comes to collect us.’
‘No fucking way, Nav! I am not going out,’ he said with determined finality.
‘Well I fucking am, and you better not tell on me either!’
He gave me that look that says ‘as if’ and I immediately regretted saying it.
Over dinner I scanned the faces of the others wondering if there was any way I could get the Boom to come out with me, or at least Kurt from the Stan Eval crew. I knew better than to ask though as the Boom was sharing with the Pilot so that was a no go and I didn’t want to take a chance on asking Kurt, who would be in his room anyway, sipping bourbon and watching snooker – which he also enjoyed. After dinner I gave an exaggerated yawn, to which the Co rolled his eyes, and suggested we hit the sack saying, ‘I don’t want to get us lost over Sweden tomorrow.’
‘But we’re not flying over Sweden,’ said the Stan Eval copilot.
I gave him the finger and called him a dickhead while everyone laughed, breaking the tension caused by the unknown we were about to face. He told me to fuck off, but since I outranked him I told him to fuck off and to give me fifty push-ups as well. He didn’t, I told him I’d have him court-martialled and we all went our separate ways to get some sleep.
‘C’mon, co,’ I begged, ‘Just one pint. We can’t have come all the way here and not have one drink to toast our successful flight. We always go for a drink… You’ll piss off the Flying Gods if you don’t pay them tribute by consuming vast quantities of alcohol after a successful flight!’
‘Yeah, but we’re not usually immediately put on crew rest, so it doesn’t matter that you want to go out like always and get really drunk and—’
‘And what?’ I cut him off. ‘You’re the one who got sick on the northernmost Denney’s in Alaska.’
‘Yeah, cause you asked the stripper missing a tooth to join us at our table!’ he retorted.
‘Wrong!’ I yelled pointing at him accusingly. ‘You were sick on the Denney’s sign as soon as we got out of the cab…’
‘The cab that I paid for…’
‘You were the drunkest so obviously you paid!’ I said, cutting the conversation short. ‘C’mon, it’ll be cool. We’ll meet some girls. They’re all easy in England cause they live on an island and are just waiting for a big hunky American from… Where are you from again?’
‘Indiana.’
‘From Indiana to come and sweep them off of their feet and show them that everything really is bigger and better in America!’
The best thing on British television
He laughed as he lay down on his bed, grabbing the remote control and turning the television on. There was nothing on two of the channels except a photo of a little girl and a clown – creepy. TV had gone to bed and so, it seemed, had the Co, as he changed the channel to the snooker.
I almost joined him to watch the snooker when I realised he wouldn’t budge because his Dudley Do Right persona had taken over, and he gave me his ‘I feel sorry for you’ shrug.
‘Fuck you, Co!’ I shouted, ‘I’m going to the pub and I don’t care if you come with me or not.’ I grabbed my copy of Catch 22, which was the book I had chosen to accompany me on this historic mission – in hindsight, quite an inspired choice.
I arrived at the nearest pub and the time was 9.20 p.m. but because England treats its citizens like children and tells them to go to bed at 11.00 p.m. I needed to get some serious drinking in. I walked straight to the bar without glancing left or right, trying to appear confident, showing that I always went into pubs, and in particular, this pub – which I had never set foot in.
‘Guinness, please’ I said to the little man behind the bar.
To which he replies, ‘Boint?’
I immediately lost my cool façade and said, ‘I beg your pardon?’
‘Boint?’ he said again, but a little bit louder, drawing the attention of some old men around the bar and more importantly two girls at the corner table.
I leant in and whispered, ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t understand that,’ hoping he would follow suit concerning the volume of our conversation.
He didn’t, of course, and instead of showing any form of decorum lifted a pint glass up in front of my eyes and said very slowly, ‘Would you like a “boint” of Guinness, sir?’
I nodded and crawled into my shell seeing as it was quite apparent I was not from round these parts. Then I grabbed a stool at the bar, catching the glance of one of the girls in the corner but ignoring her as I was now officially mortified.
‘Ther’ ya ar’, sir,’ said the barman as he set down one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in front of me. ‘That’ll be £1.19,’ he added.
I had no idea what the coins meant that I had drawn from my pocket, so asked him not to rip me off too much and stuck out my hand full of various coins for him to select the correct amount. I felt even more foolish but, as it would happen, the girls giggled and I immediately adopted the look of a lost orphan, and asked if I could join them.
It turned out that I was indeed in luck. The girls are called Vanessa and Karen. Vanessa’s Father owns the pub. I return to the bar to order drinks for the three of us and return with two pints of Guinness for myself.
‘Do you girls wanna see a magic trick?’ I ask downing one of the pints in one go.
They laugh and tell me there is no need to rush as Vanessa can get us a ‘lock-in’. When I ask what that means Vanessa informs me that a lock in is when we are allowed to carry on drinking after the pub is shut. Lock-in, as in literally locking the door to keep us in. I like the way the English use literal language to describe things. Way Out opposed to Exit or Lift opposed to Elevator. It keeps it simple and I can appreciate that.
It quickly became apparent that I have fallen head over heels in love with Vanessa and ask her to marry me, even though I was honestly still trying to figure out how to get both of them back to my room.
Vanessa laughs and says I only love her because her Father owns the pub, to which I reply, with the waggle of a finger, that that is a very true statement but quickly add that we shouldn’t quibble over the why of our love but embrace the what of our love. She asks me to define ‘the what’ of our love and I excuse myself to go to the restroom.
I return to a table full of a fresh round of drinks and we carry on drinking, laughing, joking, solving 3rd world nation problems, comparing musical taste and forgetting the outside world all together until Karen comes back from the bathroom and says she has just been sick and needs to go to bed. I look at my watch and it is after 2:30 in the morning and realise I am very drunk.
I say good night to the girls giving Vanessa a long, lingering kiss promising to come back to the pub to see her again. I pat Karen on the head giving her hair a little ruffle saying I hope she feels better and start to make my way back to the base.
I can feel myself swerve and stagger, watching my shadow do the same – never missing a beat, as I make my way down the road. The guards on the gate do not seem amused as I fumble for my ID card to gain access to the base.
‘Thank you Sir’ says the Airman popping a very crisp salute to which I can only respond with a half-cocked arm barely bringing my fingertips to my brow. I stagger through the gate and navigate my way back to my room trying to be as quiet as possible, which is extremely difficult to do when you are drunk.
I finally manage to get the room door open as I am starting to feel sick and wonder if I need to throw up before throwing myself onto the bed. I am very drunk and have not slept for over 24 hours. I need sleep very badly.
As I enter the room the bathroom light is on and I can hear running water. I open the door and see the Co shaving at the sink.
‘Jesus Christ Nav!’ he exclaims, ‘Where the fuck have you been?’
I mutter something as I make my way to the bed and flop on it.
‘You gotta get up Nav. Our bus is here in twenty minutes.’
‘I don’t care’ I snort my mouth and nose buried in my pillow. ‘Go without me.’
The Co later describes the following scene to me, as I have no recollection.
The Co lifts me from the bed and walks me into the bathroom telling me to splash cold water on my face while he starts the shower – a cold shower. He leaves me to get into the shower telling me I need to sober up and fast!
I know he is right and I start to freak out a bit knowing that I really fucked up here. I let the cold water of the shower stream onto my face and feel myself becoming rejuvenated but know this will only be a temporary measure.
I come out of the shower and pour myself into my flight suit and hurriedly pack my bag.
‘What are we gonna do Nav?’ asks the Co.
‘Tell ‘em I’m sick’ I slur.
‘Well, hopefully the plane is still broke and we can get you back here to bed. The crew chiefs said they didn’t think they’d be able to fix it. Jesus Nav, you really fucked up. What did you do? Where have you been all this time?’
I am drunk, yet sober with fear. The Pilot is going to fucking kill me and possibly court-martial me.
‘The Pilot can’t find out Co. Tell him I’m sick and I will sit in the back of the bus as far away from him as possible. Tell him I’ve been throwing up since we got back from dinner. Shit Co, you gotta help me.’
‘I will’ he says handing me a handful of tic tacs. ‘Just keep eating these, you smell like a brewery!’
Luckily we are first to the bus and I climb in settling into the very back. The Pilot will sit shotgun, as he is the mission commander.
I hear the Co telling the Pilot and Boom that I am sick and have been throwing up for hours. I feel like throwing up now but just shut my eyes and pray the plane is broken so I can get into bed and die.
The Stan Eval crew joins us and everyone clambers onto the bus the Co sitting next to me. Kurt, the Stan Eval nav is sitting in front of me and turns around asking me if I’m ok.
‘Ya alright Buddy?’ he asks and when I tell him I’ll be ok he backs away from me waving his hand in front of his nose ‘Jesus! You smell…’ he stops himself ‘pretty sick there… you gonna be ok?’
He alters his look from me to the Co lifting his hand to his mouth miming ‘drinking’. The Co nods his head and Kurt glares at me as I have now put the two of them in a very difficult position. They don’t want to tell on me so need to cover for me.
Kurt chimes in as we drive along. ‘He’s not looking too good back here. We’re gonna need to address the situation to see if he can fly.’
‘Should we pop by the hospital and get a Doc to look at him?’ asks the Stan Eval pilot.
‘No!’ Exclaim the three of in the back a little too eagerly.
‘I’ll be ok’, I say and the Co mentions that the plane may be broken still. They all agree that this could be true so we will wait until mission briefing to decide.
When we arrive at the squadron building I keep my distance between the Pilot and myself. I give him a ‘thumbs up’ when he looks in my direction and, luckily, he has other things to be getting on with but I can see the worry on his face wondering if I am going to screw up the mission.
My heart sinks when the crew chief gleefully informs us that he has fixed the plane and we are good to go. The hope of getting to bed has now evaporated in front of my very eyes. I will be stone cold sober by the time I see a bed. Journeying through drunkenness into the land of the hangover and ending up wanting another drink before I next sleep.
‘We gotta make a decision about your nav’ says the Stan Eval pilot. ‘As far as I see it we got two options here. We scrub the flight and get him to the Doc which could lead to him being DNIF (Duties Not Including Flying), which basically grounds your crew, or we take the lead to Riyadh and you guys follow us. We are flying over land most of the way, the weather looks good so your nav isn’t really necessary. He can just bunk out in the back and hopefully feel better. I feel option two is our best as we need to get the supplies out to Saudi ASAP and we are already twelve hours behind. I’m gonna call it.’
‘Wait’ screeches my pilot in a panicky high-pitched voice. ‘If our nav is too sick to navigate lets swap. We’ll take your nav and ours can fly with you. We’re supposed to lead this mission.’
The panic is apparent and it dawns on everyone in the room that we will be the first two planes to arrive ‘in country’ on this campaign. We have no idea if there is going to be a war or how long American troops will be in Saudi but this mission will be making history and nobody in the room wanted to be the Buzz Aldrin of Operation Desert Shield.
‘I’m sorry’ said the Stan Eval pilot. ‘I think it is best, for safety reasons, that we stick to our crews.’ Which is bullshit.
‘I’ve made my decision. Mission plan remains the same except Stan Eval crew will now take the lead’ and looking at my pilot, who was completed deflated and devastated, added ‘Keep your plane a mile back and a thousand feet above. We’ll see you in Saudi, let’s get to our planes.’
Kurt the Stan Eval nav patted me on the back as he walked past, ‘Tough luck kid, you could’ve made history.’ “
Over Libya at 30,000 ft
We saw the images on the television screens as we sat at the baklava café in Benghazi. The frenetic movements of the young men in half khaki suggested that some distant event was occurring, but we remained rooted in our casual conversations as we drank our macchiato and then the convoy departed to the airport. As the propellers beat and wheels came up, we were leaving far behind the displacement camps visited earlier that morning, where families conglomerated and sat ashen faced and introspective, having fled after the abuses perpetrated by their youth during the siege of Misrata. And soon land unfurls into the sea – the Bay of Sirte.
I sink against my seat, rest my head against the scratched window, and flick an antique, silver ashtray cover back and forth in time with my thoughts. The aeroplane is borne aloft into the cloudless blue sky, dangling from unseen strings, as the sun creeps along the length of the now gleaming wing, up and over the surf, the breakers and the rolling waves so very far below.
Time slows down, and the delegation is soon snoozing like tabby cats in the warmth from the windows and the soothing drub of the engines. I, the other hand, am impatiently awaiting for the nose to nod and signal our descent. But we do not go down when we are supposed to go down, and now our aircraft is spiralling up and round, and pointing back out to sea. One among us is wakened and called to the cockpit, returns shaking his head and with a puzzled air. “I am not sure it can be true, but they say that Gadhafi is dead. Tripoli is celebrating and shooting volleys in the sky. The brigade from Zintan is similarly marking the occasion at the airport and it is not safe to land.” Now the pilot’s voice trills in, passengers stir and whispers pass around the cabin – our diversion to a new destination is confirmed.
“If this were the way the world ended I couldn’t give a bean.”
Palpable excitement meets with frustration among our fellow travellers – they wish they could be in Libya now to revel in this moment. Others are worried; they lack the necessary papers for Europe. An unattended sense of distance overtakes me. If this were the way the world ended I couldn’t give a bean. I will go wherever this plane will take me. When the cliffs and castles of Malta loom into view against a swelling background field of blue, a feeling of happiness and sweetness washes over me. We land in Valetta in the middle of the afternoon, and all is well with the world.
HUSHKIT EXCLUSIVE: MY FIRST-HAND EXPERIENCE OF THE AFGHAN AIR WAR
Mark Townsend, war correspondent, describes the air war in Afghanistan from his first-hand experiences embedded with British forces. This is a Hush-Kit exclusive.
In a war where the most lethal threat is buried underground, Afghanistan’s airborne operations are often obscured behind the escalating roll call of IED victims.
Yet visitors to Helmand Province are quickly reminded that, like all modern campaigns, almost everything relies on what’s happening above.
To move safety across landmine sown terrain, to guarantee the outcome of skirmishes and acquire intelligence of enemy strongholds depends upon air supremacy. In fact, to get anywhere near the province you’ll need wings. The first aircraft you’re likely to experience is the C-130 Hercules, rumbling south from Kabul to the sprawling US base outside Kandahar or further on to the UK’s shrunken versions in Camp Bastionor Lashkar Gar.
Helmand is still several miles below when the flight crew gestures –despite ear plugs the engine noise is deafening – for all passengers to don flak jacket and helmet.
Now the descent. Hard and fast. Anti-missile devices on, the engine’s drone is higher now, the aircraft’s slumbering frame suddenly feels oddly nimble, its nose pointed at the ground at an angle civilian flight has never prepared you for.
But then most flight time above Afghanistan is akin to a roller-coaster. Although the Chinook is regarded as the aviation workhorse of the British army, its moth-like body churning furiously through the hot Helmand sky, I only remember it as a jittery fairground ride of never-ending dips and rolls.
The exception, perhaps, being the 20-minute hop from Camp Bastion to Lashkar Gar, often a smooth affair, its load sprinkled with stern and sensible-faced reconstruction officials and diplomats. But head north from Bastion to, say, Sangin and movement by Chinook becomes a very different prospect.
You already suspect as much before you’re on board. The helicopter’s landing gear has barely touched the tarmac when the command is issued to move forward, you stumble towards its ramp, suffocated by the eyebrow-singeing heat of its two side-mounted engines. Seasoned soldiers gasp for breath, bodies bent into the draught from its spinning rotors. You’ve hardly had time to wriggle into the delicate mesh seats when the rear gunner gives the thumbs up. Then you’re up,over the perimeter fence, above the first wadi, the first cluster of Afghan compounds. Goats stare up, kids wave and you can see their smile and you guess the helicopter is no higher than 300 feet before you start lowering. The Chinook banks hard to the left, then right,you lurch forward, suspended by the flimsy safety harness as the Chinnok follows a wadi north east to Sangin. By now, you’re no more than 50 feet above the surface, its desiccated banks in line with the helicopter’s belly.
You gasp as the Chinook banks furiously again, pushing you deep into the harness. You raise an eyebrow at the young soldiers sat opposite, to say ‘this is some ride,’ but there is no acknowledgement. No one is smiling. Some swallow hard and grasp their rifles, some stare at the receding desert flats out of the open rear, others through the dust-smeared viewing port-holes. You remember they are off to war and some must surely be worried they might not travel back alive, or otherwise on their back lying on the floor of the medevac Chinook,wired up to a saline drip as medics battle to keep them from slipping under. Some probably just hate flying. Others, too, would avoid the Big Dipper given the chance. Flight time is no more than 25 minutes of lurching forward and back, occasionally the helicopter interior filling with a backdraught of dust and fume-filled air.
And then the final approach. Suddenly, we’re climbing – below, the blue strip of the Helmand River – and then as quickly we’re dropping quickly through the “fire zone” where the enemy have recently aimed ground-to-air rockets at approaching choppers. The Hesco barrier marking the outer wall of the British army’s Sangin forward operating base, blurs past below. The soldiers opposite are all now gripping their SA80’s, eyes widened. The Chinook lands with a jolt, blades still whirling, helicopter trembling and we’re running out through the wall of heat and noise into a dust-storm. As the last boot leaps from the lamp, the Chinook is already rising, swinging around to the river.
There are other ways to ride a Chinook. Keep heading further north from Sangin to the remote base of Kajaki, submerged between jagged mountain ranges, and the journey changes. This time, the Chinook chugs slowly to 9,000 feet and for those prone to vertigo, the sight of endless peaks through the helicopter’s open rear presents a terrible urge to hurl oneself to the battlefield far below.
Again, as always, it is the descent that is most hairy. This time the helicopter weaves through a valley whose sides tower above. It is a vulnerable passage of flight. As the craft approaches the landing zone, it passes below the wreckage of another Chinook, struck weeks earlier by a Stinger missile. And again, the expressions of the soldiers opposite never change, fear is a redundant emotion for airborne ground troops.
Yet while Chinooks provide their safe passage, it is the sight of another helicopter in the cloudless Helmand skies that unfailingly lifts the spirit of NATO’s infantry. The AH-64 Apache is their saviour. Its appearance, like a fuming firefly, is invariably a sign that the fighting in question will come to an end, its mere appearance usually sufficient for the Taliban to retreat.
Those who have seen the Apache in action will testify its ability to hang in the air, clinically despatching laser-guided Hellfire missiles at pre-selected firing points.
It is a merciless machine. Within several days in Helmand it was evident that the Apache’s arrival always guaranteed victory or at least a successful retreat. And that’s Helmand: you spend the whole time worrying about what lies beneath while waiting for something to appear in the sky.
Award-winning journalist Mark Townsend is the author of the Point Man:
http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780571272426
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