Page 132 - Demo

130ONE LESS LANDING THAN TAKE-OFFIt was in the summer of 84; I was a Jaguar flight commander at an idyllic base in East Anglia, which was separated from the rest of the air force by an invisible %u2018happiness barrier%u2019, whose exact position on the A11 was indeterminate, but certainly east of Marham. We, I hasten to add, were on the good side. All 3 squadrons were participating in an offensive support exercise, which involved targets in Wales. I had drawn the shortest straw possible, which involved sitting in the tower as duty pilot all morning, and then leading a formation comprising all the jets we could muster in the afternoon.The weather in the target area was extremely average, but the metman promised the standard 10Z1 clearance. Well, 10 became 11, and eventually it dawned on the exercise controller that it might be 10Z the next day. Salvation, however, was at hand; some bright spark unearthed a slot at Otterburn and, without so much as a %u2018by your leave%u2019, we were re-tasked to the north. The extra good news was that the TOT2 at Otterburn was earlier than the original in Wales, which would make the planning process even more relaxed and orderly. Out went the Ho Chi Minh Trail3, to be replaced by the leapfrog of lightships up the North Sea, and the standard Red Flag %u2018gorilla%u20194.There was no time for finesse, so the individual element leaders were given TOT brackets for de-confliction and a basic routeing, and left to get on with it. Due to late turn-rounds from previous sorties, the planned 8 aircraft from each squadron became a marginally more manageable 6 and, more by good luck than good judgment, 18 aircraft taxied out at the appointed hour. So far, So good %u2013 but not for very long.In order to reduce radio transmissions after take-off, I had briefed an uncalled change from Tower to Approach. This worked fine for 5 of the first 6 aircraft; however, my No 2 (a fine gentleman, whose name shall remain a secret %u2013 but let us, for the sake of the story, call him %u2018Frog%u2019) had been distracted by a problem on take-off, and remained on Tower frequency as we bravely headed out in the general direction of Sheringham on the north Norfolk coast. At this point, Approach