aviation - the past, present and future of flight

The other Lightning tallied seven

intercepts and even the tanker managed

three.

The Soviets certainly put on a massive

maritime/air exercise, which marked the

100th anniversary of Lenin’s birth on April 22,

1970. In that month our squadron flew almost
      all its allotted hours on QRA.

SIGNING UP

I was 18 when I was accepted for RAF pilot

training. Sixty of us arrived at RAF South

Cerney, Gloucestershire, on September 1,

1965 as pilot officers to start our induction.

The training process took me through basic

officer training, followed by elementary flying

in the Chipmunk.

Then it was up to RAF Syerston,

Nottinghamshire, for the basic flying course

on the Jet Provost. On completion, I was

awarded my ‘wings’ and posted to the fighter

route for advanced flying on Gnats at RAF

Valley, Anglesey, followed by tactical flying

and weapons delivery on the Hunter at RAF

Chivenor, Devon.

The failure rate was about 10% on almost

every training course I went through. By

the time I went to the

Lightning Operational

Conversion Unit

(OCU), I was the only one to make it to that

aircraft from the initial 60. Mind you, it is

worth noting that a future BAE Systems chief

test pilot was also on my entry course, as

was a future Vulcan captain who flew the first

bombing mission during the Falklands War.

Two years and nine months after joining,

I arrived at the Lightning OCU at RAF

Coltishall, near Norwich.

What an awe-inspiring aircraft; so large,

so powerful compared with all that had gone

before. How could I, a 21-year-old, possibly

fly that? Yet, after three weeks of ground

school, simulator rides and four dual sorties

I was let loose. It was like stepping out of

a Ford Ka and into a Mercedes Formula 1

racing car.

OPERATIONAL

On November 4, 1968, I arrived at RAF

Leuchars near St Andrews, Fife, Scotland,

to join 11 Sqn, flying the Lightning F.6. Was

I welcomed with open arms? Well, no, not

really.

Barely two years earlier, a pilot had

required 1,000 hours’ experience to fly the

Lightning. I had barely 300 when I first sat

in one. Many of the squadron commanders

were against this dilution of experience,

doubting our ability to handle the complex

aircraft. I was told in no uncertain terms I

would be monitored very closely and get just

one chance to prove myself.

It was hard work in the early days, but

most rewarding, including a month’s squadron

detachment to Singapore, where I flew a few

work-up sorties.

At the beginning of June 1969, the boss

made me operational: I had made it. From

that day onwards, I became part of the

normal squadron routine. We shared QRA

with 23 Sqn on monthly rotation.

During the duty month, a first ‘tourist’ could

expect about seven stints of 24 hours’ duty

on ten minutes’ readiness. Two pilots and two

live-armed aircraft were always on standby

and there were scrambles every week.

During my time on the squadron I was

scrambled about 12 times; intercepted 22

Soviet bombers (including the ten mentioned

earlier) and saw around 50 more at a

distance.

Each pilot was allocated one missile

per tour to fire at the Missile Practice Camp

(MPC) at RAF Valley. Mine was the Red Top.

It was most satisfying seeing it home

onto the Jindivik-towed infrared (IR) flare –

bullseye! Detachments on a UK air defence

squadron at the time were few. Once in

the tour you could expect to go on a half-

squadron exchange within NATO. However,

towards the end of 1969, I was sent to 5 Sqn

to ferry one of its aircraft for its Singapore

detachment. I did the first leg, half at night,

from RAF Binbrook to Oman, an 8½-hour

sortie. It was my longest trip ever in a fighter.

The airframe I flew now stands on a plinth at

BAE Systems facility at Warton, Lancashire.

My final detachment was a month long to

Malta, then Cyprus where the squadron

provided air cover for the Royal Navy.

JAMMED CONTROLS

I never suffered an engine fire, all too

common in the Lightning. My ‘speciality’

was jammed controls. The first was when I

was about to release the brakes for take-off.

Then uncommanded and without warning the

control column went fully forward. With the

tailplane now in the down position ruling out

the possibility of taking off safely I reduced

the engine power and taxied back for the

aircraft to be inspected. I was extremely

lucky. They found a foreign object had

jammed a valve in the tailplane actuator.

Even luckier was the previous pilot. He had

just performed an aerobatics sequence over

the airfield.

As the flow of first tourists increased,

I was warned to expect a ground posting

for my second tour. So it was that in early

1971 I was posted to RAF Gütersloh in

West Germany as a simulator instructor on

the Lightning F.2A for 19 and 92 Sqns,

http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 43

Left: The author

flying past

Devils Tower in

Wyoming, instantly

recognisable from

the 1977 film Close

Encounters of the

Third Kind, in a

27 Sqn Tornado

GR1. This sortie

took place after he

had taken part in a

USAF Strategic Air

Command bombing

competition. H T

Cook

Above: Steve Gyles

in the cockpit of

a Tornado GR1

in 1985. Crown

copyright 1985

42-47_raf_close_encountersDC.mfDC.mf.mfDC.mf.indd 43 30/11/2017 13:41