Flying the Nuclear Tornado GR1 | Terry Cook (In-Person Part 2)

if you enjoy the channel and our video content or would like to support us you can do this in a couple of ways you can sign up to our patreon site which is a monthly subscription to one of our four tiers each giving you something different from Early Access interviews up to exclusive unseen footage there's also the option of a one-off donation via Paypal which allows you the option to donate an amount of your choice both options really help to keep this channel going and to continue putting out regular content for you good folk so please take a look at air current review. tv/ donate and I thank you in advance thank you and [Music] enjoy um i' done my two tours on uh on the buccaneer the tornada was due to come into service it was obviously the the you know the step to take you want to go onto the next shop shiny new airplane um but I was actually posted to the nav training school and I really didn't want to do that so I I prevailed upon my flight Commander to make representations uh so the posting was then changed to go on to uh the third tornado Squadron back in 1982 nice so what were your first thoughts on the tornado it is a goodlooking j after to say uh it was a bit short I thought um it looked a bit stubby uh but it did did look nice and certainly the cockpit looked it looked modern it looked electric electronic um it looked like it could do the job uh and indeed it could so what yeah what was the role of the tornado when it ended the service uh when it came in it was exactly the same as a Buccaneer it was uh strike attack so nuclear and conventional Weaponry but day and night all weather the buccaneer really had a very limited all weather role it was nuclear only where as we could take conventional bombs and deliver them accurately brilliant stuff so can you talk us through some of your ground and flying training on the tornado yeah I went through the the Triple T at cottis Moore I think I went through on the German Squadron and I and I flew with an Italian pilot it was great it was it was a more relaxed environment than an an rafo cuu uh more uh structured if you went in in the morning and you were due to fly at 8:00 as I remember on several occasions I was and the weather wasn't suitable that was it you wouldn't fly for the day whereas on an rafu they would jiggle things around a little bit so it was a bit more relaxed but lots of fun and nice working with the other two Nations yeah how did you get on like with Nations was there like a cultural kind of divide there uh not really there was a bit of a language barrier um German guys generally spoke really good English some of the Italians had done a relatively limited English language course and had just finished their training um but no we we worked together well and we we mixed together well MH I haven't kept in touch with any of them but I have nothing but good memories of my time there yeah why was it based on the UK and not Italy or Germany for some sort of political decision I don't know right yeah how how many jets was there it must have been a fair few I think there were probably around 30 I would guess we had about 10 on each Squadron there was a British and Italian and a German Squadron pretty cool yeah so can you talk us through the cockpit of the tornado and was it anything similar to the buccaneer no not really it was uh it was well laid out uh certainly for the start it was dominated by a a moving map and radar display a big round display and that was great and then two TV displays which are a bit high I would have preferred those lower only so that the forward view would have been a bit better did all the systems work like pretty well from back in the day for new technology um our usual raft of teething troubles and a bit of a shortage of spares at times uh airanes were coming into service faster than the the spares uh Supply system would uh would deliver them um but when it worked it worked really well and I mean really well I did a a a green flag exercise at Nellis Air Force Base and the system would would show accuracy to 60 ft and after an hour and a half I landed back at Nellis and it was 60 ft out wow and I'd not touched it it was phenomenal when it when it worked yeah it was really good before we move on cuz you mentioned green flag there can you talk us about this cuz I think you won the first tornado uh flag weren't you yes yeah green flag was a sort of electronic version of red flag um and of course the the tornado had a really Comprehensive electronic warfare Suite we had a a a big capable jamming pod and a big I think it was a Swedish chaff and flare pod I think we could dump as much chaff as any airplane except the B52 um and we were cleared to to use it and we had a a good radar warning receiver uh so the idea was we were supposed to go there and fly moderately high for a lowlevel airplane I think they wanted us to fly 750 ft we didn't um cuz part of our rationale was the lower you were the less chance you were that you had of being detected we want to be detected cuz the electronics wouldn't work all the time necessarily um you know frequency agility and things is often difficult to keep up with yeah yeah and did you what aircraft were there on that flag and did you work with the F1 111s or anything like that yeah we did know there were big packages we had everything from F5s to f-18s and the packages would be would be mixed um you'd have wild weasel support so they would go go in ahead uh Fighters overhead to counter the red air uh and that happened that happened every day apart from one and on one day the weather was poor so that's it they said right we're not flying and our boss must excuse me yeah we can TFR so off we went on our own into the range Auto TFR and again there were no confirmed kills against us really yeah it was really satisfying to be the only ones out there I think we flew a six that day and to be the only ones out there out in the range and have all of the threats uh against you and still to come back knowing we delivered the weapons on target cuz that's all filmed and uh and i' landed back largely unscathed that's amazing I think you sent me a picture did you win a a bombing competition or something like that that was a little bit later about a year later yeah and that was um uh against the usaf's Strategic Air Command it was there they have this annual competition uh it's bad improving their ability to deliver nuclear weapons and the RAF had been invited the year before with the tornado and had gone over and won it and uh I think took the Americans a bit by surprise they invited the RAF a second time and 27 Squadron uh was tasked to go over there I don't think the Americans were quite as accommodating as they had been the first time um well just because you WN the first time I think yeah I think it was a a bit of a shock but they they lost our flight plans we had I mean one of my best memories is a a very attractive young lady turned up I was on my own in the planning room and she turned up with this plate of Home baked cookies and she had on a flying suit with a zip and down and she wanted some basic information yes I didn't fall for that yeah I did take the cookies and I kept her talking for a few minutes before sending her on her way and we enjoyed the cookies very much yeah yeah how long would your over there for oh we were over there for must have been two or more months and were you on base or were you living yeah we were on an Air Force Base living off in a hotel but uh but working on the base it was quite a an intense time 6 days a week and the the sorties were 6 and a half hours long so we had a number of practice sorties obviously we had to get used to the operating area uh then a number of practice sorties and then the competition sorties themselves and it was day and night flying so you didn't really get time for yourself oh we got a little bit yeah we got a little bit you can't you can't work for that length of time 6 days a week not not to maintain a level of performance which is what we had to do so yeah we did get time to look around and take it easy uh and the guys who weren't competition Crews so were four and two Reserve competition Crews uh they had a you know a little bit more time to to go around and see things he stuff so getting back to talking a bit more about the tornado could you feel the power with the reheat coming from the book or was there no differ there oh no there was there was a lot of power with the reheat you really could feel it um dry power it it just didn't feel right but you you know you get a real kick up the backside with the rehea in um and uh you know even with stuff hanging on it it was noticeable when it was clean it was absolutely superb but because it burned a lot of fuel did it really even with like more modern engines oh yeah yeah I mean these are developed in the 1970s I'm sure they you know they were better when the tornado went out of service in eight whatever it was 2019 um but yeah you could really feel it and if you needed it it was great to have that power mhm I could imagine so what were the strengths and weaknesses of the tornado oh the the kit the kit the ability to accurately bomb a a point on the ground something you couldn't see with your eye or on the radar and to bomb it with you you know accuracies of of feet and I don't mean 10t I mean zero feet and time uh and then to be able to do that in any weather that Leap Forward oh it was it was it was huge it just didn't have the range of the buccaneer it just didn't have the the fuel which is a shame all right but you know there are swings and roundabouts absolutely did you ever conduct DCT in the tornado I know it's an ATR platform did you get bounced by other we always get bounced um and uh it was it was part of operating in both the UK and in Germany you know if you were a fighter you were on the lookout for a Target and uh if if you were that prospective Target you were always eyes out looking for the fighters and uh you know it was a matter of personal Pride not to get bounced unseen yeah um you know I'm sure we all did um but in I I even remember bouncing an F-16 in a a Buccaneer really and he didn't see us and I was with our station Commander at the time wow that's incredible yeah so what would you fly he the tornado because I know like the ma Loop's famous now was it still back then when the M wasn't called the M Loop but yeah there were there were places you would go but yeah wherever the weather was decent we weren't allowed to do much um IMC lowlevel in uh uh in peace time it was always difficult we had to go elsewhere for that so it was wherever the weather was uh was suitable uh up into the islands Scotland into Wales you know wherever around the UK and based at maram as 27 Squadron was we had ready access to tankers yeah of course so we could uh we could top up on the way there all the way back it was good training for them and us so you all saw a held the nuk roll with a tornado can you tell us about this and was it different from the book was there different procedures there no the procedures are exactly the same what was interesting and and challenging uh on the tornado was because it was a new new airplane we had guys who came to the airplane with no nuclear experience whatsoever guys came from air defense Phantoms Lightnings uh UK Jaguars harriers training um so probably half of the Squadron had got no nuclear experience at all the other half people like me off the buccaneer we had people off the the Vulcan uh the Germany Jaguars we had nuclear experience so the the trick was to marry the the non-experienced with the experience and try and get everybody up to speed as quick as possible was that difficult like if people didn't have that experience beforehand not really it the the processes were were there they were well laid out we spent a lot of time on the training I actually ran the training program to get us a strike uh qualified as a squadron uh everybody knew it was our primary role everybody knew it was incredibly serious and everybody knew that you got one chance and you got it right or that was it um and should a squadron ever have failed its its evaluation I suspect the squadron commander would have been fired on the spot really it was that serious and and we all took it that serious yeah absolutely so how many squadrons uh held a nuclear Q uh in the end on the tornado there were four Bugan I think three at larbrook um but then there were other NATO squadrons around um I'm not sure if the Canadians did the Americans obviously did the Dutch the Germans um the belgians so they there were a fair few airplanes on qra at any one time I think they say they were the best part of a 100 that's probably about right and did you ever meet up with other nations to discuss like the nuclear role or did you just get on with your own thing uh we did meet them we didn't really discuss it it was all fairly highly classified there was a lot you weren't allowed to discuss y right U there was a lot you weren't allowed to discuss in the Squadron you weren't allowed to discuss your own Target we were you know we were allocated targets not every crew but if you were one of the uh the the if you like the select Crews you were allocated a Target and you studied that Target you certainly couldn't discuss it with anyone else MH um but what would happen is during an evaluation a NATO evaluation the evaluators would come in and uh they were cleared obvious ly they would ask you about your target they they would ask you about your weapons your weapon delivery and you had to know this thing almost uh from memory uh you weren't allowed to consult the map you had to know how long it took you from take off to dropping the weapon you know what the final Waypoint was what the two or three key features on that final runin from the way the final Waypoint to the Target what your Escape heading was wow and what the weapon settings were all that had to come from memory and I think if I uh remember rightly someone said like during a test you had to get 100% oh yes yes there's not not even 1% margin there and the and the test was really extensive they would uh they would test you on a a rig a ground rig it was done by different groups but the ultimate test was the test of qra itself and NATO would come in and they would say Okay I want that crew to cockpit redness so you would get into the cockpit and they would time you uh to getting in the cockpit and you would check in you'd then be stood down and what would happen then is another airplane with weapons and crew would be generated and they would be allocated to the Q role right you and your airplane then would have the weapons taken off and practice weapons put on you would plan what was called an equivalent route um so a peacetime Route Around Germany or perhaps around the UK but the same sort of length as uh the real route and the same sort of Target and then you'd have to fly it and what would happen is you'd start in the cockpit and they would launch you using nuclear procedures and they would chase you they would follow you with another aircraft usually one of your own um but sometimes another NATO nation's aircraft and they would check that you didn't deviate from the route that you did attack the target successfully and the whole thing would culminate with dropping a practice bomb on the Range because that would use the aircraft nuclear circuitry and that would demonstrate that you could meet the what's called standards the Allied command Europe standards for both weapon delivery in terms of distance and time and you had to achieve those there wasn't any close oh yeah yeah it was quite a stressful time I can imagine did you practice the conventional role as well or were you strictly nuclear oh no we practiced a conventional role and there was a lot of similarity um the way we attacked targets was very similar there were either level or lofty deliveries the difference was that the nuclear role you were on your own uh you you would get airborne as a singlet turnon you might get airborne as one of a stream but you were all going very quickly your own way to your own Target whereas in the conventional role there would be two four six eight airplanes all going off to a Target together so a fair amount of mutual protection did Jag hold their nuclear all was I believe the Jags did at down at buan yes yeah right so what was life like on 27 Squadron it was a lot of fun uh brand new airplane we were uh to some extent developing how best to use it uh a lot of visitors a lot of people wanted to come and see the airplane which distracted from uh getting ourselves operational uh and developing the operating procedures um but a good bunch of guys yeah we had a few uh new guys first tourists but generally you know an Eclectic background or backgrounds um but a good bunch of guys a lot of fun MH so just talking a bit about the tornado itself um did you I mean obviously you in the back cockpit but could you feel the wing sweep going back and forth you could feel that right yeah you could you could and and just occasionally you need to remind the guy in the front that actually WIS at this speed we ought to have the wings all the way back and again I remember flying with OC Ops on on one sorty I said oh 67 Wings oh yeah it would just be a bit uncomfortable flashing around really fast with the wings still sitting at 45 yeah so with on 27 did you always fly with tanks on cuz I know the tte um didn't they fly yeah we flew them we flew them clean at codmore but yes always with tanks on uh always with tanks and always with the outboard store so the jamming pod the sky Shadow jamming pod on one side and the boss chaff and flare on the other side right did you ever get to flight clean on 27 only uh no actually I didn't on 27 I did on on my last quadron 14 I delivered an airplane back to Wharton for some work and and uh and it was clean so we actually got to do a supersonic run over the the Irish sea lucky Boog see talking about 14 there was there a big difference coming from 27 uh or did you just fit straight in uh straight in I actually came I I went from 27 to the tornado operational evaluation unit uh and then on to 14 but I I knew most of the guys on 14 certainly most of the senior guys yeah cuz I always think like it would turn up into a squadron it must be like your first year at school you're a bit nervous and was it like that for you no not really because you you do know them and of course on any strike Squadron they welcome you with open arms because the sooner your strike qualified the sooner you take a bit of the load particularly those bases at Hell q m cuz until you're strike qualified you can't do qra and that means everybody else is doing a bit more yeah so that you know they want you in and strike qualified so somebody like me coming from the strike role in Germany uh you know it was great for them cuz they could get me up to speed very quickly and get me into qra so again you probably have many here Terry but can you share a few stories from your time on the tornado that stick out um oh yeah there's I mean there are so many coming out of the Mist at HMS Invincible but I'm sure they thought there was nobody going to be able to attack them had in the North Sea somewhere it was an exercise uh again the tornado was so good for that um and I I I'm convinced to this day that they thought we would just you know try to pull the wall over their eyes with our radio calls and then we came out of the Mist at low level and and flew by um yeah on the bombing competition I think my last uh the last competition sorty um was into the Nellis ranges to drop practice Bombs all the targets were what would called no show they were G Geographic points nothing to mark them and as we ran in uh I was marking a Hilltop and what we did is we measured the if you like the range and bearing to put it simply of the hilltop from the Target and the system you mark the hilltop the system would point at the Target it's a bit more complicated in that but that's a simple explanation and as we ran in Mal my pilot we're getting close and he said he said there's something there I said I can't but we'll keep going and uh as we as we released we then turned and we did a a turn not to too far a turn uh and a climb we were climbing up to uh meet the tanker and then go back to base and I looked over my shoulder and the point the aiming point was marked with a series of white sticks they were probably about a meter high and they were smoked from our bomb right in the middle of the white sticks and I was absolutely convinced that we got a direct it and indeed we had we uh we saw it a bit later that's incredible a few weeks later to be honest but yeah no that was really good um yeah things like that but one of the other memories again not that trip but very similar one and it's not my memory when you joined up with the tanker the tanker took over the the responsibility for navigation and timing and we were really critical on timing and of course the tanker the Victor had no kit at all right uh we had time I show you to plus or minus one second and the tanker took over responsibility and all the way down uh through wherever it was we were going and the tanker we were sitting there with my time early late just clicking back and forth between 1 early one late and it was a navigator in the tanker working a circular Dalton computer yeah to keep the timing accurate and he dropped us off at the at the release Point uh bang on time uh absolutely phenomenal piece of airmanship from him that's incredible so how many hours have you gotten the tornado oh over 1,000 hours on the tornado th000 badge in this one I have indeed yeah yeah I have I really I really enjoyed that and I don't recall any of it I thought was just you know boring holes in the sky here it was really great we got some personal ones to wrap up their interview here Terry so do you have any hobbies I still fly I fly a micrite um but looking at the weather here it's not micro light day I I I don't fly in poor weather uh I I can and I have flow my micrite in poor weather but I look to fly when the sun shining and the wind isn't very strong and I I just look to go to other Farm strips um and I happily take people I do a lot of Charity flights raising money for things like air ambulance I've even done some with the Bri Legion uh and I play a lot of pickle ball and you're going to say what's pickle ball pickle ball if you imagine tennis right uh it's a low net a badminton siiz court uh the bat called a paddle is a bit bigger than a table tennis bat and and it's a whiffle ball one of these hard plastic balls with holes in it's Britain's most fastest growing sport is it really yeah it is it is it's very enjoyable and it's a it's a great sport for uh men and women mixed because the way the the ball the paddle and the rules are arranged it takes away power as an advantage right so it's about control of the ball particularly control up close to the net pickle ball that's the first time I've ever heard that so look it up on YouTube je with that D favorite aircraft you have flown uh I like the shadow uh micrite it was a tandem two seat but it was a real fighter cockpit right hand uh stick leftand throttle uh tiger moth I think uh really yeah you to say a book how did think you to say a book I always wanted to fly the tiger moth from oh you know teenage years and my 60th birthday my children bought me an hour in a tiger moth really enjoyed that Stu yeah one you wish you could fly either past or present uh I think the hurricane or the mosquito either of those two I've flown the Spitfire you really yeah yeah again I think last 70th birthday my children bought me a Spitfire flight um I think probably the two the mosquito I think I'd quite like to have a go at the mosquito be pretty cool wouldn't it yeah it would so we got one from my old patrons here H this is from joeun in the tornado did you ever work with the IR pod uh no uh we on the operational evaluation unit did some work on it um but I never did uh I tended to concentrate on uh the electronic systems uh and some of the navigation stuff not solely but uh certainly not on like irod MH and can we find you online because I've seen some of your photos and the brilliant are they available online anywhere uh no I I don't have much of an online presence if I don't have any of an online presence um no my my identity was stolen a few years ago so I I now restrict what I put online perhaps being too cautious but just the way I am brilliant stuff well Terry thanks very much for coming on the show you're very welcome and thank you to you and all your patrons you've brought back some wonderful memories for me so thank you very much for that [Music] cheers [Music]

Channel: Aircrew Interview

Views: 11,009

Keywords:

Id: _BxtjXgHSyU

Length: 26min 39sec (1599 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 10 2023