allenjb42

As QRA at RAF Coningsby we scrambled into a typically English overcast late Autumn morning... Contact had been lost with an Austrian Airlines flight from Vienna to London, Heathrow. ATC was still tracking it and although it was on course it was in a shallow descent someway before it was due to lose altitude and commence approach. We were given permission to go supersonic and made our approach to the Airbus from the rear.. It started a turn, again keeping to it's assigned course, but still descending, and we rolled to turn with it before continuing to close.. My wingman was the first to notice. 'Something doesn't look right about the configuration Lead..' 'It's the doors!' I gasped. ' All of the doors are open..' We made a slow pass, and sure enough all of the doors, passenger and cargo, had somehow opened. But how? A bomb? A mechanical fault? And what of the crew and passengers? As we passed the cockpit I spotted a torch flashing in morse code. E-L-E-C S-T-O-R-M || M-L-T-P-L L-I-G-H-T-N-G S-T-R-K-S || L-O-S-T P-R-S-R || P-S-G-R-S C-R-W O-N O-X-Y || L-N-D-G L-H-R A-S-A-P|| I passed the message to base: They had flown through an electrical storm and had suffered multiple lightning strikes. The aircraft's electric systems had obviously been affected which had caused the doors to unlock and blow open. This had caused a decompression (hence the shallow descent, to try to minimise the effects) and crew and passengers were on oxygen. They were intending to land at London Heathrow still. ATC took moments to digest this and the response was quick - get them to another airfield, but not Heathrow. The risk that this was a ruse for a terrorist attack was too great. Before I had a chance to reply to the airliner we dropped into the clouds and I called Two in closer as we stuck grimly to the Airbus, not wanting to lose sight of it in the descent.. As we dropped through the overcast I moved up and passed on the message to the airliner crew. Their response - N-C-D || L-H-R O-N-L-Y Querying base for orders we were told to to just stick with the Airbus and while investigations into the passengers and crew continued. If this was a terrorist attack or a madman in the pilot seat, would we be cleared to shoot down the airliner? We were running out of time, the aircraft was still descending and we were now coming up on populated areas. A shootdown now could cause catastrophic damage on the ground.. And then we were out of time for a decision, as we came over Central London, with visibility still poor in the low cloud and rain squalls... The Airbus lowered it's undercarriage slowly. They must be using some emergency method.. I closed to get a better look and signalled to the crew the wheels looked to be down OK. I dropped back to watch as the airliner made it's final approach. Orders were still to remain on standby to shoot it down if necessary. What did they expect us to do at this late stage? Strafe it on the runway? And then it was down and stopped on the runway. We pulled clear as emergency vehicles swarmed around it and a fleet of air ambulances were cleared in to begin ferrying the most severely hurt to hospitals. We didn't see any of that as we headed back to base, treating Londoners to a flyby as we crossed the capital again, although whether they could see us in the murky weather is debateable.. And home to a rainy afternoon, Maybe there'll be something good to watch on the telly...

Somewhere Out There... Earth Tracking Station... 'Uh, Bob, can you come over and take a look at my scope? I'm picking up something I've never seen before...' 'Sure lets take a look...Holy sh...!'

The sun was already up and it was shaping to be a beautiful summer morning in the Med when we were launched as the Alert 5. As we climbed to altitude the controller aboard the E-2C briefed us on the developing situation.. A Libyan Arab Airlines scheduled flight from Benghazi to Damascus had turned left instead of right on clearing Libyan airspace and was now heading west, apparently towards Malta. Was it a hijack, a defection or something else? Our orders were to close in on the airliner and try to find out.. After a few minutes the situation worsened. The airliner wasn't responding to Libyan ATC instructions to return to course or to turn south, back to Libya, and two MiG-25s had been launched in pursuit.. The Hawkeye was trying to put us in between the MiGs and the Airbus, but the Soviet built fighters had picked up speed and the angles were all wrong. Then suddenly we heard an urgent call from the controller on the E-2C. 'He's firing a missile!' The Hawkeye controller was now broadcasting on Guard for the Airbus to take evasive action as the Libyan AA-6 began to track the airliner.. We were cleared to engage and I snapped out the orders, 'I'll take the lead. Two you engage the trailer' We both called Fox 3 as our AIM-54s arced up to track on the Foxbats.. But there was a problem with our missile. 'Looks like we're being spoofed' called my RIO. 'I've lost lock and so has the missile.' I switched to HEAT and went for a lock with my Sidewinders but we were still just out of range. In my headphones I could hear my wingman call Fox 3 and then Fox 1 in quick succession. Another Phoenix and then a Sparrow? Was he having trouble locking on too? After interminable seconds I finally got a Sidewinder lock and called Fox 2, but way too soon there were not one but two explosions and smoke trails ahead.. My wingman had killed both MiGs with his AIM-54 shots! Although his AIM-7 and my AIM-9 would hit the burning targets in the next few seconds they were both already out of the fight. But what about the Airbus? Had it survived the Libyan missile attack? I called the Hawkeye and rolled onto a course towards the airliner. He had radically changed course and altitude, causing the AA-6 to waste fuel and time trying to manoeuvre onto him until it lost lock when the launch aircraft was destroyed. We picked up the airliner at low level south-east of Malta... It didn't answer our calls, but made a single call to ATC at Luqa, Malta that it was commencing a straight in approach and ambulances should meet it as there were wounded aboard. I crossed to the other side of the airliner to give it room as it commenced it's landing run into Luqa, which had already cleared all traffic in anticipation.. We watched it all the way down to the runway.. Then it was back to the boat via a tanker and home in time for breakfast. Maybe we'd read what happened on the airliner in tomorrow's papers...

Buccaneers on a desert strike..