Other0001 by Stephen Wilson, on FlickrJoining the pattern at Nellis during Exercise Green Flag, February 1986.
END1 by Stephen Wilson, on FlickrAnd the traffic on the ramp.
END2 by Stephen Wilson, on FlickrIn March 1986 I moved on to the Tornado Weapons Conversion Unit at Honington where I taught ab initio students and also ran the Qualified Weapons Instructor's course. As I suddenly had responsibilities the photos virtually dried up.
This photo was sent to me by a member of the public. Taken as I ran in to Otterburn range on Exercise Mallet Blow, it was one of a set of 13 pics taken with a motor drive.
END3 by Stephen Wilson, on FlickrThe BBC came along to make a documentary called "White Knights, Fiery Steeds" about low flying in the UK. There was twilight aerial filming of taxying and take-offs as well as filming from within the pattern at Holbeach range. All this was done from a Jetranger camera-ship and I persuaded the boss that they needed someone in the left seat as safety advisor.
Between passes at Holbeach I abused my position to get some photos as briefing material for my QWI students. In this case the strafe targets.
END4 by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr
END5 by Stephen Wilson, on FlickrNext, two images from the terrible HUD film we had to debrief from. An AIM9 missile leaving the rail of my aircraft in Aberporth range filmed from our buddy in trail.
012 by Stephen Wilson, on FlickrAnd the latter stages of a live 1000lb retard drop on Garvie Island.
011 by Stephen Wilson, on FlickrI have no photos at all of my one year on 16 Sqn at Laarbruch and the only one of any interest from my time on Standards & Evaluation at Laarbruch comes from January 91 when the Station Commander and I ferried an aircraft from Bruggen to Tabuk just ahead of the Gulf War.
END6 by Stephen Wilson, on FlickrWe had set off before sunrise and it was only as we approached the tanker for a test prod in the dark that he told me that not only was he not night current but that he had not done the tanking course yet. He completed the course in one sortie. The photo was taken as the sun rose and Sicily passed down the port side.
By the time my students had finished fighting the Gulf War without me and the Berlin Wall was firmly down it was back to Blighty for a couple of ground tours before leaving the RAF in 1996.
I did get back to Honington for a while as a civvie when the Station Commander, an old mate of mine, allowed me to keep a microlight there.
END7 by Stephen Wilson, on FlickrEven that came to an end in 2015 and I am now fully ground-bound but always looking up.
That’s the end of my hardware images but flying suit patch fans might be interested in the annex to my tale which I will put in the Military Aviation Memorabilia section.
Steve W
