OPERATION WARDEN
Tim’s first thought was: “How do I turn
this around? I wanted to get us away from
Coltishall for a while. By summer 1991, the
Kurdish humanitarian crisis in northern Iraq
had deteriorated significantly and I was told
54 Sqn would be sent to join a French and
US coalition to enforce the UN-designated
northern ‘No Fly Zone’ over Iraq, codenamed
Operation Warden. Suddenly, the squadron
had a job to focus on.
“We deployed on September 4, with tanker
support, to Incirlik in Turkey. The initial role
was reconnaissance and, within 36 hours,
we were producing imagery. One example of
the Jaguar force’s flexibility was that during
the Gulf War it had been commanded in
an attack role by Wg Cdr Bill Pixton, the
reconnaissance squadron commander. Here
was I, commander of an attack squadron,
mainly leading reconnaissance missions. The
Jaguar force came out of it all extremely well;
our pilots able to perform both roles to a very
high standard.
“Initially, there were multiple challenges.
Our tankers were based in Cyprus and had
to get airborne and clear of Greek airspace
to meet us over Turkey, flying parallel to
the Syrian/Turkish border as we headed
eastwards. Our air-to-air refuelling area was
over high ground, generating unwelcome
turbulence and cloud. The aircraft were
fully laden with reconnaissance cameras,
ECM pods, fuel tanks and AIM-9 Sidewinder
missiles mounted on overwing stations which
compounded handling difficulties behind the
tanker and when plugged in.
“Refuelling was quite hazardous and
those who had not done much before found it
difficult. Refuelling completed, we descended
to low level entering Northern Iraq for about
25 minutes before climbing clear of Iraqi
airspace and returning to Incirlik.
“We were supplying photographic imagery
to the Americans within 45 to 60 minutesafter flying over Iraq. The US had a gap in
its reconnaissance capability, having moved
from aircraft-mounted, wet film cameras to a
dependence on satellites; great in theory, but
their slow response times made it a strategic
asset and no use in our tactical scenario. So,
together with the French and their Mirages,
we provided reconnaissance coverage for
them, doing a very good job.
“We favoured early morning sorties when
cooler temperatures improved our take-off
performance. There were occasional smallarms shots fired and anti-radar missiles
launched by the USAF if a tracking threat
was evident. While we were not targeted
all the time, it remained a potentially hostile
operating environment.”
Tim flew 82 low-level Operation Warden
missions into northern Iraq. “We regularly
overflew Mosul, although restricted to a
minimum 2,000ft. Once, when we had just
landed, one of our photographic interpreters
wanted me to look at the imagery we had just
taken. There were pictures of SA-2 andhttp://www.aviation-news.co.uk 33A SAM missile site being erected in Northern Iraq with the silhouette of the Jaguar which took
the photo visible on the ground.The Jaguars of 54 Sqn played a key role in Operation Warden when they were based at Incirlik in Turkey. Tim flew 82 low-level missions into
Northern Iraq. All photographs Crown Copyright, unless stated.28-34_jaguarDC.mfDC.mfDC.indd 33 05/01/2018 15:28