26. The squadron’s engineers worked round the clock to keep the Harriers flying throughout the det.
27. The bomb dump.
28. The route to and from the bomb dump was well worn. Over the course of a four-month det we dropped over 100,000 lbs of ordnance.
29. ‘Bombheads’ – naval armourers – load a 540 lb dumb bomb on to the outboard pylon of a Harrier in the hangar at Kandahar.
30. Pre-flight briefing.
31. The stencils sprayed on to the side of the jet give a pretty clear indication of the intensity of the operations flown by the squadron in Afghanistan. The circles to the left represent CRV-7 rockets fired. Bombs dropped are on the right.
32. The safety tags are removed from a 1000 lb Paveway II laser-guided bomb before take-off.
33. Yours truly, just before climbing in to the cockpit. Wearing a g-suit and survival gear, I’m standing next to one of the 800 NAS det Harriers. To my left is a live 540 lb high-explosive bomb.
34. With the jet chained to the ground, the squadron engineers run a high-power engine test. The air fills with oily black smoke whenever the Rolls-Royce Pegasus is fired up.
35. The office – the instrument panel of the Harrier GRy. The two flat-screen displays are evident. Top centre are the radios. Top right, the engine instruments. And below the radios the attitude indicator – or artificial horizon – can be seen.
36. The view from the pilot’s seat, which clearly shows the position of the Head-up Display (HUD).
37. The ridges surrounding KAF seen through the HUD with a C-130 and Mi-24 just visible in the foreground.
38. Taxiing out.
39. Filling up. A Harrier takes on fuel from an RAF TriStar tanker. Air-to-air refuelling dramatically increased the time the squadron could spend over the operating area.
40. Self-portrait.
41. We always hunted in pairs. In reality, we’d fly in a loose battle formation separated by thousands of feet. This picture was actually taken as the jets streaked past Illustrious as she steamed in the Indian Ocean.
42. Loaded for bear. A GR7, armed with CRV-7 rockets and bombs, en route to Helmand, eady to support troops on the ground. The yellow bands around the bombs indicate that they’re live.
43. KAF from the air. A picture taken from about 20,000 feet, using the GR7’s centreline recce pod. The base’s uninviting location is pretty evident. As is the infamous ‘poo pond’, the circle in the bottom right corner of the airfield with the four distinct segments, representing different stages of the treatment process.
44. RAF Regiment patrols that pushed the Taliban back from the perimeter led to a significant decrease in the number of rocket attacks on KAF.
45. A 3 Commando Brigade mortar team in action. Accurate mortar fire from the RAF Regiment counter-battery teams helped tackle the threat of rocket attacks at source.
46. Here I am getting it all out of my system with a compact ‘mini-me’ machine gun on the KAF ranges.
47. Downtime. A few members of the squadron relax over coffee at Tim Hortons, another of the takeaway outlets flown in by the USAF. I’m the one in the middle with my hand in the doughnut bag.
48. Celebrating 2,500 flying hours with an alcohol-free ‘near beer’ during the otherwise dry det in Afghanistan.
49. The view from the cockpit at 30,000 feet. Dominating the picture is the refuelling probe on the engine intake.
50. The view from above. The difficulties of being sure about the situation on the ground from the air are evident. Through the cockpit glass as the Harrier banks to the left, a column of vehicles can be seen kicking up dust. But who they are and what they’re doing, without further information, is anyone’s guess.
51. This picture graphically demonstrates how hard it is to identify a target from the air based on directions from the ground. If we’re told the enemy are holed up in the compound to the west of the road we have to ask which one. And hold our fire until we’re sure we’ve found them.
52. There are groups of people on either side of the bridge. Is it a firefight or a Sunday market? Further evidence of how hard it was to be sure of the situation on the ground.
53. Cyborg – the cumbersome sets of Night Vision Goggles gave their wearer an outlandish appearance. But without them, flying close air support at night was significantly more challenging.
54. The view through the NVGs. Interpreting what you were seeing took some getting used to.
55. Santa’s got a brand new sleigh. The Taliban didn’t rest for Christmas, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t try to enjoy a little festive spirit.
56. When the scramble bell rings, the alert crews drop whatever they’re doing and run to the jets.
57. On alert. A Harrier, armed, pre-flighted and ready to go, sits on the hangar, waiting for the scramble bell to ring. The pilot’s Mae West lifejacket and helmet hang in the foreground.
58. Scramble. A GR7 gets airborne on another GCAS mission.
59. Wingman. A great portrait of one of the Harriers. The stencils on the side of the cockpit show it’s been well-used.
60. Flares fired from the Harrier’s belly were our best defence against the threat from heat-seeking surface-to-air missiles.
61. Carrying a fairly standard load-out of bombs, CRV-7 rockets, drop tanks, and recce and targeting pods under the fuselage, a GR7 breaks right, high over the mountains.
62. A job well done. I spoke to the squadron on our last day in Afghanistan to acknowledge the success of the det. During our four months at KAF, we were forced to fly our Harriers at a tempo not previously seen in Afghanistan. I was proud of every single one of my people.
63. Something to remember us by.
Epilogue
The sun glinted off the glossy grey wings as I pulled the Sea Fury into a loop over the flat Somerset countryside. I looked ahead through the blur of the propeller as I rehearsed my display routine for the forthcoming summer air display season. My thoughts returned to the Harrier in Afghanistan, then back to the beautiful old machine I was now wheeling around the sky. For all their differences, there were also some striking similarities.
Designed in the 1940s, the magnificent Hawker Sea Fury FB11 represented the pinnacle of piston-engined fighter design. And it was one of the most successful and popular aircraft ever operated by the post-war Fleet Air Arm. It was combat-proven too. And during the Korean War, on one of the few occasions when a piston-engined fighter got the better of a faster and more modern jet, an 802 NAS Sea Fury shot down a MiG-15. But throughout that conflict the Fleet Air Arm flew the Sea Fury not as a fighter, but as a ground-attack aircraft in support of British and UN troops on the ground.
So, although the Sea Fury and the Harrier GR7 were separated by half a century of aeronautical development, they carried out precisely the same role, for the same air arm, in a distant and unexpected Asian war. And both, bizarrely, had been designed by the same man – Sir Sydney Camm of Hawker Siddeley. Camm died in 1966, but the original Hawker P1127 Kestrel, the forerunner of the Harrier, was designed by him. The GR7 we’d flown in Afghanistan was recognizably the same basic aircraft.
Sir Sydney would have been staggered to discover where his design for the Kestrel would eventually lead – the Harrier GR7 and GR9 were a quantum leap into the future – but I think he would have been proud that the basic rightness of that first revolutionary little vertical take-off design had survived and thrived into the twenty-first century.
History, somebody once said, is the past coming in through a new door, and I knew exactly what that meant. I was in the fortunate position of being able to fly not only the Royal Navy’s current Close Air Support aircraft in combat, but also, with the Royal Navy’s Historic Flight, one of the last airworthy survivors of an earlier era, an outstanding aircraft, that had performed exactly the same role.
The first Naval Strike Wing detachment to Afghanistan had been a success. We had maintained the required level of serviceability; we had launched on time for all our sorties, including getting the GCAS scr
amble aircraft off the ground in well under the specified minimum time; and we had hit our targets accurately. We had undeniably saved the lives of a great many coalition troops of several nations. During our four months in theatre we had suffered neither casualties nor mechanical failures, and had been able to hand over the aircraft to 1 (F) Squadron RAF without excuse or caveat.
It had been a highly successful operation. And the detachment had, I believed, fully validated both 800 Naval Air Squadron in the Close Air Support role and the Joint Force Harrier concept itself.
The rich, nostalgic thunder of the Sea Fury’s engine brought me back to the task in hand. I was pushed back and down into my seat as I pulled the big old fighter out of the loop and brought her roaring down the centreline of Yeovilton’s main runway. The wonderful noise of the Bristol Centaurus eighteen-cylinder radial engine echoed off the buildings and hangars as I beat past them. The last time I’d flown so low, so fast and so purposefully, I was strapped to the ejection seat of a Harrier GR7 streaking across Taliban positions in the remote battlefields of Afghanistan. Despite a sharp reduction in our front-line strength since the heyday of the Sea Fury, the Fleet Air Arm was still in the business of flying fixed-wing combat aircraft. Still doing the job.
I pulled back on the stick and pointed the blunt nose of the old warbird skyward, soaring high over the familiar tower of Ilchester church to the west of the airfield. It was good to be back home. And good to be back in the air.
Glossary
A-10 Warthog American Close Air Support aircraft
AMRAAM (AIM-120) Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile
ANA Afghan National Army
ANP Afghan National Police
Antonov An-24 Twin-turbo prop Russian transport aircraft
AOC Air Officer Commanding
ATC Air traffic control
ATCO Air traffic controller
ATIS Air Traffic Information Service
ATO Air Tasking Order
B-1 Lancer American four-engined heavy bomber
BDA Battle Damage Assessment
Bingo A pre-briefed amount of fuel that allows for a safe return to base
Blue Vixen The Sea Harrier FA2’s radar
BM-12 Russian-made unguided rockets
Boeing AH-64 Apache Helicopter gunship operated in Afghanistan by the Americans, British and Dutch
KC-135 American aerial refuelling tanker
Brimstone British air-launched anti-armour missile
Browning 9mm British handgun
C-130 Hercules Ubiquitous American-built four-turboprop transport aircraft used by air forces throughout the world including the RAF
C-17 Globemaster III Large American four-jet transport aircraft also operated by the RAF
C2 Command and Control
Cab Fleet Air Arm slang for aircraft
CAG Commander Air Group
Camp Bastion Largest British base in Afghanistan
CAOC Combined Air Operations Centre
Casevac Casualty evacuation
CFIT Controlled flight into terrain
CH-47 Chinook American-built twin-rotor transport helicopter also operated by the RAF
Chock-head Royal Navy slang for an aircraft handler
CIA Central Intelligence Agency
Clear hot; in hot Cleared to drop live weapons
Click One kilometre
CO Commanding Officer
Crab Royal Navy slang for the RAF
CRV-7 Canadian designed air-launched unguided missile
CVF Future British Aircraft Carrier
CVS British Anti-submarine Carrier
DEA Drug Enforcement Administration
det detachment
DIFAC Dining facility
ECM Electronic Counter-measures
F-15 Eagle American twin-engined air-superiority and strike aircraft
F-16 Fighting Falcon Single-engined American-built multi-role fighter
F-35 Lightning II Single-engined American-designed strike fighter. Currently under development and expected to go into service with both the RAF and Royal Navy
FAC Forward air controller
FAA Fleet Air Arm
Fast air Fixed-wing close-air support
FDO Flight Deck Officer
FLIR Forward Looking Infra-red
Flyco Flying control – aboard an aircraft carrier
FOB Forward Operating Base
FOD Foreign object damage
GBU Guided Bomb Unit
GCAS Ground Close Air Support
GCAS 120 Ground Close Air Support on two hours notice
‘g’ Unit of acceleration. One ‘g’ equals the force of gravity
GLO Ground Liaison Officer
Goofer Navy slang for spectator watching air operation aboard an aircraft carrier
GPS Global Positioning System
Green Death Royal Marines
Harrier Anglo-American vertical/short take-off and landing ground attack aircraft, includes GR7, GR9 and AV-8B (flown by the US Marine Corps in Afghanistan)
HIG Hezb-es-Islami Gulbuddin
HUD Cockpit head-up display
Huey Bell UH-1 utility helicopter
Humvee High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMVE) – essentially a modern day jeep used by US forces
ICOM Intercept Communications
IED Improvised Explosive Device
IFF Identification Friend or Foe
Ilyushin Il-76 Russian-built four-engined jet transport aircraft
IR Infra-red
ISAF International Security Assistance Force
ISI Inter-Services Intelligence. The Pakistani security service
JDAM Joint-Attack Direct Munition. A guidance kit that converts dumb bombs into smart ones guided by inertial navigation and GPS.
JFH Joint Force Harrier
Joint Strike Fighter F-35 Lightning II. Currently under development for air forces around the world
JTAC Joint Terminal Air Controller
KIA Killed in Action
LAV Light Armoured Vehicle
Maverick (AGM-65) Air-launched anti-armour guided missile
MAW Missile approach warning system
Medevac Medical evacuation
Mi-8 Hip Russian-made transport helicopter
Mil Mi-24 Halo Russian-made transport helicopter. The world’s biggest
Mirage 2000 French single-engined, delta-winged strike fighter
Mirage F1 French single-engined multi-role fighter
MPRS Multi-Point Refuelling System
MRE Meals Ready to Eat
Mud-mover Military slang for ground-attack pilots
NAS Naval Air Squadron
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
Nimrod Four-engined British anti-submarine and surveillance
NVGs Night vision goggles
OC Officer Commanding
OP Observation Post
Ops Operations
PGM Precision Guided Munition
Pickle button Weapons release button
MAW Missile approach warning
PNB Power nozzle braking
QFI Qualified Flying Instructor
QRF Quick Reaction Force
Radalt Radar altimeter
Rafale Twin-engined French land and carrier-based multi-role fighter aircraft
RIP Relief in Place
RM Royal Marine
RPG Rocket-propelled grenade
RTB Return to Base
RWR Radar warning receiver
SA-7 Grail Russian-made hand-held surface-to-air missile
SA-14 Gremlin Russian-made hand-held surface-to-air missile
SAM Surface-to-air missile
SAS Special Air Service
SBS Special Boat Service
Sea Harrier British vertical/short take-off and landing carrierborne multi-role fighter aircraft
Shar Fleet Air Arm slang for the Sea Harrier
Sidewinder (AIM-9) Heatseeking short-range air-to-air missile
SI
TREP Situation report
SMS Stores Management System
Squinto Squadron Intelligence Officer
Stinger American-made handheld surface-to-air missile
Super Étendard French single-engined carrierborne strike aircraft
TACAN Tactical Air Navigation. Radio-based system provides range and bearing
TACP Tactical Air Control Party
Targeting pod Thermal Imaging and Laser Designation (TIALD) system carried on British Harrier GR7s
TIC Troops in Contact
Tornado F3 Fighter version of the twin-engined swing-wing Tornado strike aircraft
TriStar Three-engined wide-bodied jet transport and aerial tanker used by the RAF
Typhoon Twin-engined multi-role fighter
UAV Unmanned aerial vehicle
USAF United States Air Force
VBIED Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device – or car bomb
VFR Visual Flight Rules
VHF Very High Frequency radio
VC10 Four-engined British aerial-tanker and transport aircraft operated by the RAF
VMC Visual meteorogical conditions
Winchester Out of ammunition
WRB Weapon-release button. Also know in the Fleet Air Arm as the pickle button
Harrier GR.7
Starboard all-moving tailplane
Tailplane composite construction
Tail missile warning radar
Missile Approach Warning radar equipment module
Tail pitch control air value
Yaw control air values
Tail ‘bullet’ fairing
Reaction control system air ducting
Rudder trim actuator
Rudder trim tab
Rudder composite construction
Rudder
Antenna
Fin-tip aerial fairing
Joint Force Harrier Page 24