Great Britain. Royal Air Force - Adventures of a Cold War Fast-Jet Navigator

For my grandchildren Oscar, Douglas, William, Stewart and Beatrix

To the Memory of Squadron Leader Barrie Wings Chown

He taught me everything I ever needed to know about Flying, Navigating, Weaponeering, Drinking and Having a Bloody Good Laugh!

By The Same Author

The Buccaneer Songbook

Short stories contributed by the same author in:

The Buccaneer Boys Out Of The Blue Out Of The Blue Too

The Buccaneer Years

Wing Commander

David Herriot

Foreword by

Air Chief Marshal

Sir Michael Knight KCB, AFC, FRAeS

First published in Great Britain in 2017 by

Pen & Sword Aviation

an imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

47 Church Street

Barnsley South Yorkshire

S70 2AS

Copyright David Herriot 2017

ISBN 978 1 52670 659 1

eISBN 978 1 52670 661 4

Mobi ISBN 978 1 52670 660 7

The right of David Herriot to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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The Adventures Of A Cold War Fast-Jet Navigator

who was often

Temporarily Unsure of My Position

Tools of the Trade (J.F. Herriot)

A professional navigator is never ever lost, although he may sometimes be temporarily unsure of his position!

The Buccaneer Years

A book of this nature is never the work of one person and whilst I have done all the pen-pushing, or more appropriately these days, keyboard-bashing, during its production, it could not have been completed without the wisdom, advice and memories of many others. All of these have been good friends at some point in my career, and many have become solid, good and lifelong buddies to me - my wife and my family. In an air force career that spanned almost forty years, like all of my kind, I have had more acquaintances than the average man could muster in a lifetime. Some were fleeting in a bar in a far-flung land and others just mates for the duration of a 3-year tour. To those who feature solely in that capacity in this book, and who have helped to hang my tale together, I offer my sincerest thanks to you.

To those, however, who made each and every hilarious moment complete I offer the biggest thanks. I had a ball and thank you very much for giving me your permission to relate our story amongst the Adventures of a Cold War Fast-Jet Navigator . I use no hierarchical rank listing but, as mates, merely list you in alphabetical order. So my sincere and faithful honest thanks to: Ken Alley; Nick Berryman; John Broadbent; David Cleland-Smith; Tim Cockerell; Paul Dandeker; Tom Eeles; Martin Engwell; Ivor Evans; Mike Gault; John Kershaw; Phil Leckenby; Art Legg; John Lewer; Ken Mackenzie; Len McKee; Ray Morris; Kyle Morrow; Sir Peter Norriss; Mal Prissick; Graham Seaward; Graham Smart; Colin Tavner; Frank Waddington; Les Whatling; Phil Wilkinson; Jerry Witts and Peter York. Each and every one of you had a huge influence, some good and some bad, on my RAF career!

Helen Chown I thank for the friendship that she, along with her late husband Barrie, has given me ever since we first met on XV Squadron at Laarbruch in 1972 and for her encouragement to write the story of what Mr Wings (and I) got up to! Helen, frustrating as it sometimes was for you as you waited for Barrie to return from the bar, I am sure that you will realise now that it was never my fault and that he was the definite ringleader!

Sir Michael Knight has been a pillar of support and encouragement, on and off, throughout the last forty-three years. Particularly so following his acceptance of the presidency of the Buccaneer Aircrew Association, which he held for twenty years. It was Sir Mike, as my very astute station commander with his words in my final Annual Confidential Report on XV Squadron in 1974, who ensured that I never became a bag-carrier in my air force career. Ironically, in my capacity as Honorary Secretary of the Buccaneer Aircrew Association, I have been his bag-carrier throughout his presidency! More important than that, I very much appreciate him giving his permission for me to publish our exploits together in Nevada with the words publish and be damned! There are few very senior RAF officers who would admit to being thrown out of a hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, let alone permit to have the story published! For his foreword to my memoir I am equally grateful as it describes me well and acts as an excellent scene setter.

Graham Pitchfork, Buccaneer navigator extraordinaire, and now renowned aviation writer and historian, deserves special mention for being a marvellous help in guiding me throughout the latter stages of my project and for leading me through the minefield that can be the publication process. Never once did he show any vexation or impatience when he answered his telephone to discover that it was only me on the end with another dumb question.

No aviation memoir would satisfy its audience if it did not contain a number of photographic plates that help to illustrate the words on the pages. Whilst I hold a significant stock, some of which are included, this book would be nothing if I had not managed to get in touch with and gain permission from Nigel Price, Group Editor (Aviation and History) at Key Publishing, who provided many of the excellent plates that feature the Buccaneer both in the air and on the ground. Also my sincere thanks to Rick Brewell, erstwhile RAF photographer and oft-time winner of the air-to-air category of the RAF Public Relations Photographic Competition, who provided the top quality air-to-air photographs that adorn the cover. To Fleet Air Arm pilot Clive Morrell I offer my sincere gratitude for admitting that it was he who, from the Altnacealgach Hotel bar, took the photograph of the Buccaneer at very low-level over Loch Borralan in the North-West Highlands of Scotland and for allowing me to publish it here. For the exceptional dusk photograph of Buccaneer XX901 outside its hangar at the Yorkshire Air Museum I am indebted to Ian Finch, at the museum, for his permission to use it. My thanks also go to Richard Somers-Cocks who was kind enough to provide me with the photograph that links the start and end of my RAF operational flying career, from Buccaneer to Tornado (more of which is planned in a second volume). Finally, to the late Glenn Mason, I am most grateful for his permission to reproduce the cockpit view at low-level in Glen Tilt; an image that evokes the thrill of what it was like to be down at low-level, sitting on your right wing at 500 mph.