Tornado: In the Eye of the Storm

by John Nichol

As operations in the Gulf wound down, the battle-scarred Tornados arrived back at their bases in dribs and drabs. Their once pristine, sand-coloured livery was now stained with the heat and smoke of intense, wartime flying. A small patch could be seen on a few, covering the hole of a triple-A strike. Four Tornados had been lost in training before the war, another with a technical malfunction at Tabuk, and six went down over enemy territory. There had clearly been some issues with equipment failures. Like all military aircraft, the Tornado was a complex mix of electronics, computerised systems, hydraulics, flying controls and all manner of military hardware crammed into a small airframe which could fly, under fire, at over 700mph in rain, sleet, snow or desert conditions. Some missions had certainly been lost to technical problems, but the incredible teams of dedicated engineers had fought tirelessly to keep the aircraft ready for battle and, despite some challenges, the force had carried out more than 1,800 war sorties delivering over 100 JP233s, 123 ALARM missiles, along with 4,200 ‘dumb’, and nearly 1,000 laser-guided, bombs.17 It had been an incredible achievement by all involved, on the ground and in the air. Seven Tornado aircrew had died during training for the conflict, and five in battle. A total of forty-seven British servicemen lost their lives during the war to liberate Kuwait. John Broadbent had presided over some of their final journeys home. ‘The war had been...