Todd immediately realised that this was an ambitious project.
‘There are a thousand and one things to do between now and next Saturday. I can’t be expected to run a flypast and organise an Operation Order for a move to Italy!’
OC 619 broke in.
‘We realise that. I have been tasked with organising the logistics and admin side of the move, so all you need to do is get the team to Brindisi after the flypast. I will hand over to you on your arrival. It’ll be hard work but it’s possible - just. We’ll get full co-operation from all agencies – this will be the number one project within the RAF for the next week. We can kill two birds with one stone, and with the least amount of disruption. What do you think, Todd?’
Todd’s mind was racing. At first glance it looked possible but he’d need a lot of help. However, the early promotion far outweighed any hassle he might encounter. He decided to be positive, resisting the temptation to identify any possible objections at this stage.
‘Well, sir, I’d better get started. I take it that the call-out is for all this?’
‘Yes, Todd, all units involved with the flypast have been called out this morning – nationwide - so that aircraft and personnel can be transported here by close of play tomorrow. All station personnel will be alerted to our plan by tannoy at 0600 hours – thirty-five minutes from now. The other stations involved in our formation – RAF Coningsby, Wyton, Lyneham and Brize Norton are all being briefed as I speak. Clearly, this is going to cause some inconvenience for their personnel, but I’m afraid that can’t be helped. The three other major formations are to work independently, and may well send elements to Dharan in due course – but they are not your problem. Just ensure that their formation leaders get the essence of the Flypast procedures and plan, and they will practice independently. Andy, can you arrange for your OC Ops to co-ordinate that aspect?’
Andy Millar nodded and Todd realised that the plan was a fait accompli, so he be well advised to just get on with it. Complaints would fall on deaf ears.
‘Right sir, I’ll need to go away and think about this for an hour or so, just to gather my thoughts and make a skeleton plan. We can add the bones as we go along. There’s a lot to think about.’
Todd got up to leave and then turned back to face his father.
‘I take it you’ll be here tonight, sir. If so, will you join us for supper? Fay will be delighted to see you.’
‘I’m not sure Todd; as you say there’s a lot to do, so I can’t be sure I’m free – but I’ll try my best.’
‘Fair enough – but if you can make it, let’s say 2030 hours.’
Todd replaced his cap, saluted and left the office almost at a run. He would need to think this one over for a while. It needed to be done properly. As he was about to close the door of OC 619’s office he heard the Wing Commander call him back.
‘Here, catch!’ smiled Andy Miller, ‘that promotion starts today.’
Todd nearly fumbled the catch but just managed to hold on to the two small blue objects flung across the room. He smirked as he realised what they were – a pair of Wing Commanders’ rank braids.
***
The next twenty-four hours were horrendous, yet exhilarating.
First of all, Todd went straight to the crewroom. All available squadron aircrew had now assembled as a result of the earlier call-out. The delicious and mouth-watering aroma of bacon sandwiches wafted down the corridor as Todd strode through the doorway. The Exec burst straight into the briefing.
‘Right, everybody stop what you’re doing and pay attention – the shit has hit the fucking fan – big time!’
He paused for dramatic effect and could see all the ‘thinks bubbles’ rising from his colleagues as they imagined everything from a no-notice Tactical Evaluation to World War III.
Todd continued. ‘I can now reveal the purpose of the call out. You can all relax – Armageddon is not here – but it's almost as bad. The flypast has been brought forward to this Saturday.’
A collective gasp followed by a hubbub of expletives rent the air.
‘And that’s not all. All personnel involved with the flypast will be proceeding direct to Brindisi to support what is now called Operation Endeavour – i.e. the renewed support of Kuwait.’
Further expletives – some truly heartfelt - followed this unexpected revelation.
‘Settle down, settle down! Now, I can tell that you’re all really glad you joined – so I can only advise you to sit back and let it happen. Nothing you can say will change anything. The more astute amongst you will have noticed my change of rank – I will be detachment commander at Brindisi.’
Stunned silence was followed by a polite but enthusiastic shouts of, ‘well done boss,’ and ‘congratulations – it's your round!’
‘Thank you all very much – the beers will be on me when we eventually reach a bar! However, the first thing we must do is to set a timetable running down to the flypast on Saturday. All those involved with the flypast move to the right hand side of the room, so that I can see who’s available for other tasks. Correct me if I’m wrong but none of the flypast crews are on leave – is that right?’
An almost pathetic voice spoke up from the back of the crowd.
‘That’s right sir’, said Mike Wiggins, a Flying Officer on his first tour. ‘But I’m getting married on Sunday and going on two weeks leave. You’ll recall you authorised my absence when the crews were selected.’
‘Sounds like a lucky escape to me,’ shot back one of Wiggins pals from the back of the room.
The crewroom filled with mock sympathy and guffaws. The only two men not smiling were Wiggins and the newly promoted Wing Commander.
‘Looks like you’re off the team Mike. Unless of course you want to save yourself at the last minute? No? Right then, volunteers to take Mike’s place.’
Quick as a flash the arm of Bill Earle shot straight up. It was the only one.
‘Thanks for your support lads – and thank you Bill, you’re on the team – and the rest of you - I don’t forget these things!’
Bill Earle was a hairy old specialist aircrew navigator on his last flying tour and was generally game for anything. If the truth were known he was not happy at being left out from the original flypast team. This opportunity was God sent – he had no family to worry about – so he could do as he pleased.
Todd resumed his brief.
‘Firstly, no-one leaves the squadron till I say so. And, no-one phones home. This plan is confidential until it is released to the Press at lunchtime. Do I make myself clear? Secondly, I want the three navigators, Jesse, Hoppy & Bill to ensure that the plan and brief for the flypast is ready for a rehearsal tomorrow – Sunday – take off at 1100.’
Silence.
‘Right, what are you waiting for – get on with it.’ At which the three navs filed out of the door ahead of Todd.
‘Next, I want all four pilots and Frank Field in my office in one hour – that’s at 0700 – for a brainstorming session. We need to knock any bugs out of this plan. You’ll all be glad to know that all other participating stations are being similarly briefed as I speak. They will all launch this afternoon and land here before 1700 hours. And this is where they’ll stay till we depart on Saturday next. So just think yourselves lucky – you get to see your families until Saturday morning!’
The adjutant, Patsy Jackson, chose that moment to walk into the crewroom. She soon wished she hadn’t.
‘Good afternoon Patsy, nice of you to join us.’ The sarcasm wasn’t lost on her and if looks could kill, Todd would have been stone dead.
She attempted to start an explanation but Todd cut her off.
‘No-time for lame excuses now, we’ve got work to do – and you can start by arranging accommodation for the visiting crews arriving today. All of their personal details are in the Operation Order. Also, I’ll want you to take minutes at the 0700 meeting in my office. Right, off you go.’
Todd then turned to the three other fl
ight commanders, all squadron leaders, and gave them tasks to be getting on with. The Operations Desk needed manning, engineers needed briefing and a thousand other things needed doing. They were all experienced men and didn’t really need to be told twice.
‘Finally,’ Todd reinforced, ‘we’ve got a million things to do and only seven days in which to do them – so it's time for all of you to earn your pay. So no back-sliding or skiving off, I’m relying on you all.’
And with that, he wheeled around and marched out of the door. The crewroom burst into a cacophony of moans, groans and laughter. Most of the aircrew had been through short notice deployments before, so they know roughly what to expect. However, it didn’t make it any easier to know that they were off on an open-ended visit to Italy – although it could have been a much less exotic location! The only person actually looking pleased was Mike Wiggins.
For him the war was over!
***
Todd returned to his office and sat behind his oversized desk. He rubbed his eyes, stretched and started on the mammoth task. First of all he needed to clarify in his mind who was in the flypast and who, if anyone, required to be added to the list for the deployment. He stood up and walked over to the whiteboard on the far wall, picked up a marker pen and began writing:
IDS - 619 Squadron
Flt Lt Stumpy Stokes / Wing Commander Todd Morrissey – Purple Lead Red 1
Major Klaus Jung / Flt Lt Jesse Green Red 2
Fg Off Moose Davis / Fg Off Hoppy Harris Red 3
K Kapitan Anton Fischer / Flt Lt Bill Earle Red 4
Even though Klaus was Dutch and Anton a German, they were permitted to go to Brindisi under NATO rules.
Air Defence Tornados (ADV) – XXX Squadron
Wing Commander Barclay Hunt / Flt Lt Ed Brown Blue 1
Squadron Leader John Hortin / Flt Lt Jon Holliday Blue 2
Capt Pat Proby USAF / Squadron Leader Rick Hill Blue 3
Flt Lt Dave Stewart / Fg Off Rocky Darren Blue 4
Reconnaissance Tornados (Recce) – XIII (PR) Squadron
Squadron Leader Al McDonald / Flt Lt Anwar Salim Green 1
Flt Lt Harry South / Fg Off Bob Walters Green 2
Canberra PR9 – Reconnaissance 39 (PR) Squadron
Squadron Leader Al Norman / Flt Lt Steve Hicks Yellow 1
Squadron Leader Phil Merry / Squadron Ldr Al Gibson Yellow 2
Canberra ECM (Electronic Counter Measures)360 Squadron
Fg Off Glen Friedman / Lt Mike Scarffe RN / Flt Lt Andy Gabriel
Yellow 3
VC-10 Tanker 10 Squadron
Squadron Leader Andy Faithfull / Fg Off Bob Garrett / Squadron Leader Nigel Howard / Squadron Leader Norman King / Flt Lt Ranjit Singh Yellow 4
C-130 Hercules Transport 47 Squadron
Flt Lt Phil Woods / Squadron Leader Julie Grant / Fg Off Dave Sussex / Flt Sergeant Don St John / Sgt Sol Cole Yellow 5
These were the basic crews that had been practising the flypast for the past few weeks. They were the certainties. But who else would need to be aboard for the flight to Brindisi. Todd had been requested to make sure that he got all of the support team on board the Hercules, as other transport could not be guaranteed. Therefore, he made a provisional list of extra personnel to be airborne on the flypast:
Engineers: 1 x IDS officer
1 x ADV officer
1 x Canberra officer
1 x ATC officer
1 x Fighter Controller
20 x Tornado groundcrew minimum.
10 x Canberra groundcrew
Admin: 1 x Officer – Adjutant – Patsy?
1 x Junior NCO admin.
1 x Met Man
That should do it. Reinforcements could follow later, as and when Strike Command decided. Also, the C-130 Hercules would need to carry all of the equipment required for the first few days. Engineers for the other aircraft types could make their own arrangements for the time being. Todd would have to inform these people ASAP, and this he would do after the meeting with his four pilots at 0700. As this thought crossed his mind there came a knock on the door. Time was certainly flying by – it was his 0700 meeting waiting to come in.
8
Wednesday 30 March 1992
‘Tower, Purple Formation – Line Up?’
Todd and Stumpy’s Tornado sat at the entrance to the runway at Marham. The weather was perfect – light winds and blue sky – just right for this final practice for the Royal Flypast on Saturday. All of the other aircraft in the formation – three other Tornado bombers, four Air Defence Tornados, two Recce Tornados, the Canberras, VC-10 and Hercules – were lined up behind the lead Tornado. There seemed to be no technical problems except for one of the Recce jets. The crew had had to change aircraft into the spare due to a failed engine start. However, they had caught up, and had assumed their proper place in the formation. The callsign, ‘Purple,’ had been assigned by the brass as all Royal Flights flew in ‘Purple Airspace.’ Even though the Flypast aircraft had no royalty on board it had seemed appropriate to allocate this ‘royal’ colour. The sub formations were also given colours to identify themselves.
The four bombers were RED, the four fighters were BLUE, the two Recce jets GREEN, and the Canberras, VC-10 and Hercules were YELLOW. This system enabled each formation leader to check in his own team without jamming out the frequency that Todd would be using to co-ordinate the formation.
‘Marham Tower, Purple Formation – line up?’ Stumpy repeated with some irritation.
‘Roger, Purple, Clear line up, Surface wind two five zero / five knots,’ came back Roger’s voice from the Air Traffic tower.
‘Roger tower, Purple Line up – Purple Check.’
‘Red; Blue; Green; Yellow;’ responded the four sub-formation leaders, letting Stumpy know that they were all listening in.
The first four aircraft slowly edged onto the main runway and when in position Stumpy made his take off call.
‘Red Take-off’
‘Red, Clear take off, turn right and switch to Radar frequency on 366.9.’
Stumpy repeated the clearance and immediately started to run up his engines – as did the three other aircraft surrounding him on the runway. After completing checks on the engine and checking verbally with Todd, Stumpy called,
‘Red, rolling,’ and released the brakes.
Todd’s main job for the next thirty seconds was to monitor the aircraft take-off sequence. All thoughts of the formation practice went temporarily from his mind.
‘Sixty knots, ’ reported Todd . ‘One hundred knots’, then ‘EMBS!’
EMBS or Emergency Maximum Braking Speed was a speed beyond which the crew would not be able to safely stop the aircraft before crashing into the barrier at the end of the runway.
‘One-forty, one-sixty, one-seven-three knots!’
At which Stumpy gently eased the nosewheel of the ground and the Tornado began its climb into the blue. At this point Todd called,
‘Safely airborne, my radio,’ and called ATC. ‘Red One airborne, to approach.’
Todd swiftly prepared to change the radio frequency whilst monitoring the rest of the take-off sequence.
‘Gear, flaps, wings’, were all standard reminders to the pilot to raise the undercarriage and flaps, followed by sweeping the wings before exceeding the stress limiting speeds.
Todd then looked over his right shoulder as Stumpy started to turn right at one thousand feet. He could see the other three aircraft rolling down the runway and the next four Tornados lining up as briefed. As the fourth bomber lifted off the pilot called,
‘Red Four up,’ and Todd immediately responded with:
‘Roger; Tower, Red airborne - to Radar, good-day; Red 366.9 – go.’
This was the signal for Red formation to switch their individual radios to 366.9MHz. Todd gave them five seconds and then checked them in.
‘Red check,’
‘Two, three, four,’ came the reply almost instantly. Stumpy would now remain at two hundred an
d fifty knots downwind in order to let the other aircraft catch up. It wasn’t comfortable at that speed but they had no alternative.
About three minutes later Todd got the confirmation he was waiting for.
‘Yellow’s up.’
JET LAG! Page 5
