Airforces Tornado tribute

TORNADO TRIBUTE // 61

date. The SA-6 was probably the biggest
threat, but they had SA-8 and Roland as
well. In reality, what happened was that
in the first few days of the conflict, the
IADS was targeted so effectively that the air
threat – other than in some specific regions
of Baghdad – was fairly contained.”

Sensitive target
While missions flown by the TGRF changed
as the campaign developed and the Iraqi
military was progressively degraded,
practically every day brought a different
assignment, as Beilby explained: “My first
Telic mission was right at the beginning,
when we changed overnight from Resinate
to Telic. It was classic air interdiction,
long-range strike. It was right up in the
northwestern desert, and a target out there
that was pretty sensitive. It was essentially

a command and control/leadership target –

an individual that they wanted to target.

“We were just one element of a huge

package that had to refuel before pushing

northwest. The weather was terrible. We

pressed towards the target area and there

was a fair amount of confliction in terms

of other assets. We were part of a four-ship

and we stripped out the second pair which

went back, and only two pressed on. That

was an Enhanced Paveway mission.

“The next day we went and did ‘kill box’

interdiction, which meant not knowing where

you were going until you got airborne. We

were sent down towards Basra and were

tasked with close air support of US Marines

on the ground who were up against some

tanks in some berms. We dropped on those

using TIALD to laser designate Paveway. We

had only worked with US troops in a training

environment and I hadn’t yet done a Red Flag.”

Pete Beilby had only joined the ‘Goldstars’

some 18 months before Telic, and the majority

of his training was at low level, mainly as

pairs and four-ships, plus a heavy weapons

detachment at Tucson, Arizona. “The

proportion was perhaps 80% low level,

20% medium level,” he added. “And then

out on Telic, because of the air situation,

we did at least 90% medium level.”

Deconfl iction

As well as deconfliction from other coalition

air assets, the proliferation of unmanned aerial

vehicles (UAVs) in the skies over Iraq presented

another challenge. “It was the first time I’d

ever operated with them – we had never done

that during training. Because of the GR4’s

performance, the hard deck was something like

19,000ft; you wouldn’t generally go below that

because of the threat from surface-to-air missiles

or triple-A. The Predators [UAVs] would be

at 19,000 or lower, and then you’d have the

GR4s at 20,000, with everyone else up above.

Our performance when we were fully loaded

meant we couldn’t elevate much above that.

We were probably the lowest of the stack!”

There were other hazards in the air, too, as

Beilby recalled of a mission in which he was

tasked against a tank storage facility up around

Baghdad: “A US armoured division was going

to do a strike against that and we were to

advance and take out some of the armour. It

was pre-planned, so we knew where they

were, and it was co-ordinated on quite a close

timeline for the US armoured team going in

there. By the time we got airborne they had

brought their timings forward, so we had to

be in the areas as they launched their tactical

artillery, which was pretty... interesting. This

was GPS-guided artillery that went up into

the high 30s, so it went through our airspace.

“One of the most challenging things was the

complexity of what was going on in the air

environment. The number of things going on

up there all the time was pretty staggering.” For

Tornado crews used to flying in the UK, seeing

two tankers on a towline was the norm. “[On

Telic] you’d go to the tanker towlines to refuel

and there’d be four racetracks of tankers each

stacked with four tankers and a continuous

stream of assets through those. Imagine what

that looks like at night on ‘gogs’ [NVGs] – just

a serious amount of hardware in the air.”

The busy fl ight line at Al Udeid. The base was

home to RAF Tornado GR4s as well as the Royal

Australian Air Force Hornets and the USAF 379th

Air Expeditionary Wing. No 12(B) Squadron

Above right: Preparing for the fi rst Storm Shadow
mission, a GR4 crew from No 617 Squadron
checks the weapon prior to departing Ali al
Salem. Crown Copyright
Left: The transit north into Iraqi airspace involved
regular support from RAF VC10s. This GR4
crewed by No 617 Squadron ‘Dambusters’ carries
a pair of Enhanced Paveway IIs. No 617 Squadron

AFM