Originally Posted by
just another jocky
Hi EXFIN. Assuming you don’t want home-based ac sorties (I did AFT at Valley on the Hawk 84/85), here are the details from my logbook of flights to/from or PD to VY:
27 Aug 86, TTTE, Tornado, G4306 (GAF), COT-COT LL Nav/GH PD VY
21 Mar 88, 17(F) Sqn, Torn GR1, ZA370, Hi-Lo Bruggen to VY, LAYD Donna
22 Mar 88, 17 (F) Sqn, Torn GR1, ZA370, RTB Night TFR, LAYD Wain
16 Jul 90, 617 Sqn, Torn GR1, ZA613, MAR – VY
17 Jul 90, 617 Sqn, Torn GR1, ZA561, MPC Chase
18 Jul 90, 617 Sqn, Torn GR1, ZA609, MPC 1 x AIM 9G, RTB MAR
7 Apr 97, TTTE, Torn, G4305 (GAF), COT to VY
8 Apr 97, TTTE, Torn, G4305 (GAF), VY to COT
30 Jun 04, XIII Sqn, Torn GR4A, ZE116, 2v1 LL bounce trip, MAR to VY
30 Jun 04, XIII Sqn, Torn GR4A, ZE116, 2v1 LL bounce trip, VY to MAR
The first sortie, 27 Aug 86, was my first solo in the Tornado with my Luftwaffe student navigator, Lt Mueller in a Luftwaffe Tornado from the Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment (TTTE) based at Cottesmore (for those that didn’t know). We flew low level out to Cheshire and we clearly became a little disoriented because we completed a couple of 360’s around the castle at Beeston in Cheshire. Following the PD to Valley, we landed back at Cottesmore to discover that my parents, grandparents and sister had all been stood atop the castle at the time we became lost. Such a coincidence!
My first missile firing I can remember vividly as the most nerve-wracking 2 minutes of my entire career, far worse than being shot at in GW1 or the nerves as we tipped in to strafe some bad guys in AFG who were <300m from friendlies. The process of calling "firing - firing - now" and squeezing the trigger, all in concert with each other, had to be very pedantic following stories of pilots mistakenly squeezing the trigger first. That MPC we were briefed after we arrived that the next crew to shoot down the Jindy would be drummed out of the air force unceremoniously. I think it was IX Sqn that had shot down 2 in the previous MPC and it was an ex-IX Sqn pilot now running STCAAME. Fortunately, the firing went well.
The 2 sorties 7/8 Apr 97 were flown with Flt Lt Greg Hurst, another Instructor Pilot from TTTE who was tragically killed in Jan 99 when his Tornado was involved in a mid-air with a GA plane near Gamston/Retford.
My 2nd MPC sortie, successfully firing an AIM 9L from low level, was flown from/to MAR. I think STCAAME had closed down by then, but I’m not sure.
If you want photos of the logbook pages, please let me know.