In this article:
RAF Tornado GR1 Low Level training during Exercise Red Flag
In the late 1980s – during the last years of the Cold War – NATO air tactics continued to be based around low-level flying and day-to-day training was carried out in the LFAs over Germany and Belgium, where a 250ft LFA covered the Ardennes region. The 250ft LFAs within the UK were available to UK-based aircraft of the RAF and USAFE, as well as the squadrons of RAF Germany.
Certain areas in Scotland were also designated at Tactical Training Areas (TTA) where RAF Tornado squadrons could be authorized to fly as low as 100ft in order to train for specific exercises such as Exercise Red Flag.
RAF Tornado GR1 pilot Michael Napier, who was attached to 31 SQN at RAF Brüggen, recalls a 100ft low level training sortie flown during Exercise Red Flag in his book In Cold War Skies:
‘At 500kts, the scenery really motors past.
‘A pair of triple-A sites attempt to snatch at us, so I stay as low as I can, using whatever terrain I can find to screen us. At 100ft above the desert floor, even the smallest fold in the ground can offer some protection. Hugging the ground, I jink the aircraft slightly, to give the guns a slightly wider berth, while keeping them in the coverage of our Skyshadow jamming pod. In the back seat [navigator], Kev punches out a cloud of chaff to confuse the radar even further. Soon we have sped past them out of range and they cannot touch us anymore.
Simulating the JP233 runway denial weapon
‘Ahead, a small knoll in an otherwise anonymous stretch of desert is the Initial Point (IP) for our attack. This is where things are very different to what we are used to. In Europe we would thumb our way along a detailed map for the last couple of minutes to find the target. With so many easily identified features in any ten mile stretch of European terrain, map reading is pretty straightforward even at 500kts.
‘From the backseat, too, there are usually plenty of things which will show up nicely on the radar. But not in the Nevada desert. Most of it is utterly featureless. Luckily the targets are ‘Big’, but even so, there is the added complication that most of the Red Flag targets had been made by bulldozing shapes in the sand, so there is no vertical extent to them. They are easily visible from 20,000ft, but not from a sweaty Tornado cockpit rocketing along just 100ft above the ground.
‘In the back seat, Kev does his best on the radar as we thunder towards the target area: Tolicha Peak a full-size replica of the Soviet airfield at Jüterbog, East Germany. It is just the sort of thing we would be sent against if war ever broke out in the Central Region. Today we are simulating the JP233 runway denial weapon by dropping a ‘hollow stick’ of two 3kg practice bombs: the first will mark the start of the trail of JP233 sub-munitions and the second will mark the end.
Bombs gone!
‘The time-to-go circle in the Head-Up Display (HUD) unwinds swiftly, counting down the last 60 seconds before we reach the target while the desert floor continues to flash past underneath us at breath-taking speed. At 30 seconds there is a slight ridge to crest before we see the target and as we clear the ridge, a massive airfield materialises ahead of me. A thin whisp of orange smoke drifting from the far end of the runway lingers from the attacks made by the aircraft ahead of us in the formation.
‘Kev has done a great job – we are perfectly lined up with the runway. I pull up slightly to 150ft to make sure that we do not drop the weapons from too low otherwise they will not fuse properly. Then suddenly we are locked up again by another ‘Firecan’ radar site. I haul the Tornado on its wingtip pulling hard, jabbing the throttles into full reheat to keep our speed. The radar breaks lock so I reverse back towards the target. There is just time to line up on my aiming point, level the wings and stabilize the speed. Bombs gone! We race straight ahead off target to clear the defences, then two hard 90° turns and we are heading for home.’
In Cold War Skies is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.
Photo credit: PH2 (NAC) Jeff Viano / U.S. Navy and Anidaat Own work via Wikipedia
