Daily Mirror - 19.08.2019

mirror.co.uk MONDAY 19.08.2019 DAILY MIRROR^29

DM1ST

ain’s real Top G uns

combine the stealth with all the sensors

and the radar that the aircraft has, you

get an awareness of the situation around

you that really is light years ahead of

anything I’ve ever flown and probably

anything that has existed before it,” says

Bally. “It’s absolutely breathtaking.”

His missions are top secret, but his

love of flying the fast jets is clear.

“Getting the opportunity to fly these

high performance aircraft and be at the

cutting edge of technology is a great

privilege that I’m really

energised by every day,

even after 10 years in

the RAF.”

■ Fighter Pilot: The Real

Top Gun starts on ITV,

tomorrow at 9pm.

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that. It’s a team effort, she’s hugely

supportive and thank goodness for her.”

Bally, who is based at RAF Marham in

Norfolk, completed his Lightning

training and is now flying the jets.

The Lightning has been described as

the best “eyes and ears” on the

front line. “When you

to reflect on those things and that you

come to terms with that.”

The front line isn’t the hard part, he

says, but being away from his wife and

two young children is tough.

“It really is painful being away from

them for so long at times. Being apart is

difficult and my wife bears the brunt of

we don’t make a mistake and don’t end

up affecting an unintended target.”

It’s not a job for the faint-hearted and

he says it’s important to deal with the

reality of war once he’s got two feet back

on the ground.

“You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t

think about it. It’s important to be able

d. The aircraft was inverted and

ing down into a valley over the ridge

were walking down. I looked up and

uld see the pilot looking down on me.

ought, ‘Wow I would love to do that’.”

efore flying the Lightning, Bally

ed in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria in

rnado fighter jet.

t can be hard,” he admits. “Flying on

is long sorties, punctuated by

ments of extreme adrenaline and a

uirement to be absolutely on top of

r game, which is really challenging

r a long period of flying.

n that moment, when you’re being

d to carry out ops, you’re focused on

ying it out to the best of your ability

doing it utterly professionally.

That is crucial. We need to make sure

RAF pilots get to grips with state-of-the-art

£100m Lightning stealth jet in documentary

she does not liken herself to

Maverick. She said: “I don’t see

myself as the stereotypical kind of

alpha-male fighter pilot. They’re

very confident and very outgoing.

That just hasn’t been me.”

Before training to fly the

Lightning, Danners, from the

Midlands, was a Flight Lieutenant in

the 815 Naval Air Squadron. She

decided to join the Navy after

having a flight in a glider on a

school trip. She says: “That’s

when the bug hit for me.”

One of few women training to join elite squad

THERE are only eight frontline

female fighter pilots in the UK.

Danielle, known as Danners, 35,

hopes to join the Lightning squad.

But first she has to pass a

gruelling course at the RAF’s

academy in North Wales. Like Bally,

AMBITION

Danners is

now training

STOVL

3-bearing

swivel

nozzle

STOVL

roll ducts

Weapons

bay door

In-flight refuelling probeuelling probeob

Electro-optical targeting laser

STOVL

lift fan

0 mph

Tom Cruise in the hit 1986 movie

RAF’s incredible F-35B Lightning

T

MAVERICK

THE PLANE

Ejection

seat

Cost: £100m

Weapons:

2 air-to-air missiles

2 1,000lb guided bombs

Speed: 1,200mph

Length: 15.6m

Height: 4.36m

Wingspan: 10.7m

Weight: 32,300lb

Max Altitude: 15,000m