TORNADO TRIBUTE //dumb bombs. The Harriers from Gioia were
dropping 1,000-pounders and BL755.” Laser
guidance demanded a line of sight to the
target for successful mission prosecution.
“If the weather was poor, and it often was
at that time of the year, you couldn’t drop.”
The Tornado’s targets were all static,
known military installations, including
bridges, barracks and weapons
supplies. Only a few were in Kosovo,
the vast majority being in Serbia.
The ALARM missile, which had been
debuted in Operation Granby, was also
used to attack Serbian air defence sites.
“We [No IX(B) Squadron] had the option
to fire ALARM but didn’t. Thirty-one
fired a couple towards the end against
some of the target threats.” At least one
of these anti-radiation missiles failed to
detonate and was later put on display at
the Museum of Aviation in Belgrade.
Regarding the Serbian air defences, Bagwell
confirmed “there was always nervousness
about whether they had been given new
systems. The operators became pretty
canny at setting traps and decoys. The
SA-6 was probably the most potent threat,
at the height we were flying, but it was
well understood, and the aircraft had well-
practised and well-developed counters. I
wouldn’t say we ever came very close, but
we were fired at and there was the odd hairy
moment. One of my guys was on a mission
when all these weapons started firing in
amongst the formation. He rather calmly
said across the radio, ‘busy tonight’, as the
rockets were shooting past their ears.”
As the campaign drew to a close, it was
decided to forward-base a Tornado force
closer to the Balkans theatre, and a 12-jet
detachment was established at Solenzara
air base on the French island of Corsica.
“It was my squadron that deployed to
Corsica, but the war finished within about
two weeks of us arriving,” said Bagwell.
“We only ever flew two missions out of
Solenzara because the war was coming
to an end and they were running out of
targets. I remember being cancelled twice.
We got to the tanker and both times were
turned back at the very last minute. I
think it’s fair to say that, had it carried
on, we would have upped the tempo.”
On June 10, 1999, after an air campaign
lasting 77 days, NATO Secretary General
Javier Solana announced he had instructed
General Wesley Clark, Supreme Allied
Commander Europe, to temporarily suspend
NATO air operations against Serbia. This
decision was taken after confirmation
from Gen Clark that the full withdrawal of
Serbian forces from Kosovo had begun.57Brüggen on call
The three Tornado units at RAF Brüggen were
Nos IX(B), 14 and 31 squadrons. It was decided
to conduct Engadine as a wing, but since No
14 Squadron personnel were the designated
Thermal Imaging Airborne Laser Designator
(TIALD) experts, they were given the lead.
“The Harriers were closer [to the
Balkans] and they were being employed
more regularly, doing 24/7 operations,”
Bagwell remembered. “They wanted to
increase the number of missions, but they
didn’t have the ‘real estate’ to deploy the
Tornados closer. A deployment would
have cost time and money.” For the first
three months of the campaign, the Tornado
flew all its missions from Germany.
When Tornado GR1s launched from RAF
Brüggen for long-range strikes against Serbian
targets, it was the first time since the Second
World War that the RAF had flown combat
missions from bases in Germany. Aerial
refuelling support for the gruelling sorties
was provided by RAF VC10 tankers.
The biggest challenge was the distance.
Because of the Tornado’s night capability
and the fact that the Harrier was primarily
being used against targets in daytime, it
was decided the Brüggen Wing would strike
under cover of darkness to ‘fill the gap’.
Bagwell continued: “It was a roughly eight-
hour round trip, sometimes nine hours,
that would take off at roughly midnight,
strike at four in the morning and land
back at Brüggen at eight in the morning.
“It was night-tanking with up to two tankers,
probably three ‘brackets’, one on the way
down through France, one over the Adriatic
and then one on the way home. We used to
have tankers from Brüggen escorting us all
the way down and all the way back with two,
sometimes six, Tornados in a formation.”
In retrospect, Bagwell judged the missions
as “pretty brutal” for those that flew them.
“The sheer physical effects were quite
demanding: tanking all that way and staying
in formation in the dark. And, of course, we
were flying from home base. They’d count
you all off and they’d count you all back
in at eight o’clock in the morning. You’d
arrive back and walk into your home or
the mess for breakfast having just dropped
bombs on Serbia. It was a bit surreal.”Simultaneous ops
The Kosovo campaign placed a significant
strain on the Tornado GR1 Force, which
was meanwhile busy with air policing
the northern and southern no-fly zones
over Iraq. Bagwell recalled: “By this time,
we were already permanently deployed
at Ali al Salem in Kuwait. I was boss
of IX(B) Squadron and at this time at
Brüggen we had 17 Squadron disbanding,
so if you like it was the beginning of
the drawdown of the Tornado Force.”
In terms of weapons employed, “it was
very much the full gamut of laser-guided
bombs: Paveway II and III were the primary
weapons in Kosovo. We did have dumb
bombs, but I cannot think of a mission
where the Brüggen Tornados went withOne of six Tornado GR1s gets airborne from RAF Brüggen for the type’s fi rst Operation Allied Force
mission on April 4/5, 1999. The seven-hour mission was supported by three VC10 tankers.Above: The 1,000lb Paveway II laser-guided bomb
was one of the weapons of choice for the Brüggen
Tornados during the Kosovo confl ict. Poor weather
meant the jets often returned to base without
having dropped their Paveways.A Tornado GR1 fi tted with a TIALD laser designator pod at RAF Brüggen during the Kosovo campaign.
As the recognised TIALD specialists, No 14 Squadron took the lead in Engadine.AFM