Winged Warriors: Memoirs of a Canberra and Tornado Pilot by Thomas Paul McDonald

Author:Thomas Paul McDonald
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bisac Code 1: HIS027140: HISTORY / Military / Aviation
ISBN: eBook ISBN: 9781783378685
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2013-01-19T05:00:00+00:00

In February 1988, about half of the squadron deployed to Decimomannu for air combat practice in support of 4 Squadron, a Harrier squadron based at RAF Gutersloh. The aim was for each squadron to practice dissimilar air combat.

Hannah gave me one of her toys to take with me: Snoopy fully decked out with goggles, scarf and leather helmet, and I was under strict instructions that he must fly in a Tornado. The opportunity came over the weekend during the middle of the detachment when I lead two other aircraft to Naples. The other two pilots were Mike Smith and Steve Wright; both were very capable and experienced pilots.

We left Decimomannu late Friday afternoon and flew across the Mediterranean at low-level. My navigator for this sortie, Terry Mitchell, took a series of photographs commemorating Snoopy’s adventure. Over the Mediterranean, one photograph shows Mike Smith, looking behind him to the rear cockpit which is empty, the second shows Mike’s navigator looking at an empty front cockpit! The third shows both cockpits empty, apart from Snoopy! Thank goodness for autopilots. It was a memorable weekend made more so by the hospitality of Bruggen’s former accounts officer, a bachelor who had just arrived on posting to the NATO HQ in Naples. I often think back to that weekend. Within a year I would be the only surviving pilot.

The final day of our Decci detachment was to involve air combat between the RAF and the USAF, with two Harriers and two Tornados being pitted against two F15 Eagles – a 2+2v2. This would be a challenge as the F15 was a very capable fighter with very good air-to-air radar and it could take a head-on missile shot, a Fox 1, from about fifteen miles. We had little chance to counter such a shot and needed to try and get in close, within visual range, to have any chance of success. But at least the Tornado had two sets of eyes and two brains, so we talked about tactics with the Harrier pilots well into the evening. The best that we could come up with was what we referred to as ‘the F15 wall’. We would run in at the F15s in line abreast, about two miles between each of our aircraft but with all our aircraft at different heights. At about twenty miles we would perform what is called a ‘shackle’, during which we would swop places with the aircraft next to us, but also change heights significantly. This hopefully would confuse the F15 pilots, who would be trying to interpret their radar picture, and maybe it might delay them from taking a Fox 1; this might give us a slim chance of getting in close.

The next morning dawned dull and grey with lots of layered cloud. It soon became clear that all our talk about tactics would mean little: one Harrier went ‘u/s’ and so did one Tornado. Both F15s were serviceable. My aircraft was fine and the remaining Harrier was flown by 4 Squadron’s Exec.

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