Desert Storm - Strike Aircraft Attack Ar Rumaylah Airfield at Dangerously Low Level

[@TheOperationsRoom]

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[@bananaFederationrepublic]

Hi

[@iEatCheese33]

You’re doing great! Love the videos

[@hawklp9150]

I already know and love this game.

[@branmcg9844]

Love the vids hate your sponsor. Let me guess you will promote forge of empires next.

[@FulloutPostal]

2:29 against iran?!

[@saturnv2419]

Fun fact, those color choices are not accident, but historically accurate. Tornados dedicated for low-level bombing during desert storm was actually painted in a pinkish color, this is because in the waterless environment of desert, light has a different refraction than they normally, making the color appear pink especially during dawn and dusk. In fact many RAF fighters and bombers are painted in pink during the African Campaign of WWII.

[@Aquabyte]

What does painting it Pink achieve?

[@rorynesta7766]

@@Aquabyte so it looked like a flock of flamingos lol

[@Aquabyte]

@@rorynesta7766 Ohh.. I see. Interesting. Armed flamingos over the horizon sounds fun 😂

[@anandmorris]

Thanks for that. Am i also correct in believing the underside of some RAF Spits were painted pink when they were tasked with dawn recon mission?

[@anandmorris]

​@@Aquabytehe literally just explained... camouflage.

[@cobytang]

The Weapons Officer Nichol wrote two books about this ordeal after the war, one about the mission, ejection and his capture, and one is about aircraft ejection and development in general. A retired USN F-14 RIO/youtuber Ward "Mooch" Carroll interviewed him twice about his two books, which is worth the watch. An anecdote from Nichol which I love was one of his squadron mates during a mission saw an Iraqi airfield lighting up the skies above itself with AAA, and him saying "so glad I'm not heading there", right after he said that, the Tornado's navi-computer turned his aircraft into that airfield.

[@isengard1500]

@@andrulifts I'd like to see you try to do a low-level attack on a heavily defended airfield; Took a lot of bravery to do what they did.

[@MSkallywagg]

​@@andruliftsup yours keyboard warrior bellend

[@jonthinks6238]

​@B2GPRO wrong Troll FO

[@thedyingmeme6]

Tornado went "Oh hoh hoh!!!! Guess who's going over there now!!!!"

[@jeremycahill4662]

Andrii "Juice" Pilshchykov was KIA over zhitomir 2023-08-25. he was, by all accounts, a competent pilot. he just had to fly shitboxes til the law of large numbers caught up with him. Needlessly glorifying fuckups like Nichol & Peters is reinforcing failure. You can learn from them in the sense that you can learn from any cautionary tale. Nothing more, nothing less. It is what it is.

[@Iamnonody]

Babe wake up, operations room posted again.

[@SCATXXV]

Geez it's 3am, and WORTH IT

[@guaporeturns9472]

I’m already awake cupcake

[@unstop2910]

​@@SCATXXVreal

[@mike6252]

Woohoo 🙌

[@mdk31]

Every fucking video on every fucking channel this same goddamn joke.

[@tjsogmc]

How heartbreaking that must have been: after all that training, years of practice, millions of pounds invested, and he forgot to hit the "ON" button when it mattered the most.

[@cyborgrhinofromspace1108]

And then getting shot down, captured, and tortured.

[@antoy384]

Yeah but as a web designer, this is clearly bad UX ;) Not the fault of the user. If a system gets in the way when you need it the MOST, then it’s the fault of the system. For example, the fire button could feel blocked if the weapon selector is not armed, so he would say “I haven’t got a package” but immediately look at his weapon selector.

[@0BuLLeT01]

It happens more often than you would imagine. "Master Arm On" check is usually done several times for that exact reason.

[@Jayrage]

@@antoy384 Yeah, because a fucking web designer knows about that. When you're doing UX for a website, do you think that the ramifications are even remotely similar to a WEAPONS ARMING SYSTEM? Jesus, that's the dumbest thing I've read all week.

[@bloodybones63]

@@antoy384 Then he should have done those things.

[@Gunjob-Gaming]

Little correction, the 1000lbers dropped by the GR1 would've been dumb, not GPS guided. The Tornado GR1 had CCRP for automatic bomb release at preplanned targets, but this was done with its INS system not GPS.

[@Andy_M.S.c]

"Inertial Navigation System system" edit: look two comments below for someone who lacked attention as a child

[@thegermanfool8953]

"Hey look a civilian airliner."

[@DCS_World_Japan]

I was wondering about that. I know GPS was quite new and a few F-16s had it integrated into their INS immediately prior to ODS, but I didn't think GPS-guided bombs existed until the late 90s with JDAM.

[@richardvernon317]

8 x1000lb Dumb Bombs were the load out on the Aircraft. GPS not fitted on GR1, Nav was done by TACAN, INS and Ground Mapping Radar.

[@Andy_M.S.c]

@@pegg00 projecting

[@arietrouwborst3304]

Even the wings are moving back and forth on the Tornado's. Epic next level of detail animation

[@CoreyandCrew]

Man I don't think I get this exited for any other channel. Everything is just so well described and visualized. The visuals have improved every single time a video has come out

[@DK33O]

When I was a kid in the mid 00’s I used to love this BBC documentary series called “20th Century Battlefields”. The main novelty of the show was that they used green screen map boards to make little CGI recreations of the battles. It was so endearing to watch the host, this serious, stern British journalist, standing over tiny little video game soldiers and tanks like a kid with his toys coming to life. While not exactly the same format, this channel gives me similar vibes. Keep up the good work!

[@jamiegray6931]

Ahh I always go back to their documentaries, I wish they had made more.

[@outofturn331]

..and his son

[@DK33O]

@@outofturn331Peter and Dan Snow. The dad (Peter) usually did the CGI map presentations while the son (Dan) would often take part in field demonstrations that showed how the historic battles influenced modern military tactics. One of my favorites was in the Stalingrad episode when Dan played the role of a sniper and had to “hunt” his dad.

[@LatersOnTheMenjay.]

I was an 11 year old kid living in the UK when this happened and I have vivid memories of Peters photo on the news and in the papers. As a kid it was jarring to see one of 'our guys' looking so vulnerable and dejected. Can't imagine what it was like for them, but I'm glad they both survived. In a strange way it feels like Desert Storm has been overshadowed by the wars that followed, but as a young kid growing in the West, this war was an early defining moment and I kept a diary with entries like, "The war began last night" etc.

[@domingorodriguez3077]

nice tell us more about your diary

[@LatersOnTheMenjay.]

@@domingorodriguez3077 thanks for asking. I'm in the U.S. these days and the diary is either lost, discarded or somewhere in my childhood home. If I ever get reunited with it I'll revisit this thread, but for the most part my entries were lighthearted and silly and wouldn't make for exciting reading - typical for a10/11 year old I guess. I remember the preceding entry was something like "The U.S. gave Iraq until midnight to leave Kuwait" and I think I had a comment or two about the Iraqi Scud missiles and the Patriots. For the most part the Scuds were were wildly inaccurate but I do remember the Iraqis firing several towards Israel (I didn't understand why back then but my father tried to explain the tactic) and also a Scud hitting a U.S. marine (or was it army?) encampment and killing several soldiers.

[@miliba]

I remember as a little kid when the Iraq War kicked off and seeing Baghdad bombed on news TV

[@MrMayaFx]

I was 19 years old and I watched the Desert Storm war live from the roof of my house in Kuwait! I remember seeing Harrier and A-10 Thunderbolt planes circling and bombing Iraqi army targets and Iraqi anti-aircraft guns firing at them. It was difficult times for us, and we used to eat sugar sprinkled on bread to survive

[@DinoPwn]

one of the few channels I will watch the sponsor portion of the video for

[@iainbradford4254]

Excellent as always. Note that at 6:32 the 'lofted' bombs are ballistic dumb weapons, not GPS guided.

[@ABrit-bt6ce]

Great video. Nichols btw in real life is a very good storyteller, a great listen and has a couple of books to his name. No I'm not his mum.

[@thatAC130]

I always appreciate your videos. Makes visualizing what happened in the events a lot easier

[@thomaswilliams4543]

I've read Nichol's book about his time about this and you've done a fantastic job again

[@Strategikos]

Quite similar to what happened to two Italian airmen, Bellini and Cocciolone, also flying a Tornado during Desert Storm. A video on them would be interesting as well.

[@TLTeo]

Just a pedantic correction - the bombs used during Desert Storm, including for toss bombing, would not have been guided at all. GPS guided bombs like JDAM entered service in 1997.

[@MM22966]

There were some guided stuff, mainly EO and the laser-guided Paveway family. But it was only something like 10% of all ordinance dropped.

[@trentvlak]

I caught that.

[@acoustic5738]

​​@@MM22966not iron bombs, which is the point.

[@kekistanimememan170]

CCIP is a guidance kinda.

[@MP-uw1qc]

They could not use the laser guided bombs until they were paired up with the Buccs later in the war as they were needed to lase the targets.

[@helpdeskjnp]

I remember these pilots on the news back when I was in 10th grade… glad they made it

[@Free-Bodge79]

Solid balls of steel to fly into that at 500 notts at 30 feet. . Nuff respect to our RAF. Legends to a man and woman . ! 👊💛👍

[@SuperEdge67]

Knots

[@Free-Bodge79]

@@SuperEdge67 thanks. X

[@alexanderleach3365]

Down on the deck where there's no room for error.

[@hawklp9150]

I really like your Desert Storm videos! Good job!

[@HeisenbergFam]

Legend has it when nuclear WW3 happens, Operations Room is still gonna upload a summary video even after whole world dies

[@outofturn331]

WW4 will be told by elders sitting around a fire

[@Deltarious]

Just because it's come up in more than one video at this point I wanted to mention that flares don't "confuse SAM sites", they only confuse the seekers on IR guided missiles, which most likely come from MANPADS. Pre-emptive chaff, which is typically dropped *with* flares if both types of threats are expected, would potentially confuse SAM sites as well as radar guided missiles, but like with the flares it's more done to provide some countermeasures already in the air in anticipation of being launched on to begin your defence early hopefully defeating any missiles

[@phraker5709]

There are short range sam sites that fire IR guided missiles like the SA-13

[@fortusvictus8297]

Don't presume you know all about aircraft countermeasures...but do take a look at the evidence. Aircraft haven't carried 'chaff' since the first half of the 20th century yet each model carries more and more flares. Do the math. Not all things are ONLY what they appear to be.

[@haley746]

​@@fortusvictus8297aircraft haven't carried chaff since the first half of the 20th century? What kind of countermeasures have you been smoking to get to this conclusion?

[@pendulum1997]

@@fortusvictus8297what? Chaff is heavily used today by Aircraft and Ships

[@meinfraulein380]

​@@fortusvictus8297ever heard of "Windows" back in ww2?

[@ttrestle]

Animation has gotten even better!! Sweet!!! Well done guys.

[@DaisyBlossomPirate]

Books! Your excitement for the history is infectious. Keep doing what you're doing! This was very interesting to watch.

[@iEatCheese33]

Keep up the great videos!

[@freundderironie]

The new style looks so incredibly good!

[@Chilly_Billy]

No matter how small their numbers, the RAF never ceases to impress with its results.

[@geoffstorey4569]

You call that a result, when he done it wrong

[@bigsarge2085]

Incredible documentary! Learned something new.

[@johnclarencemercado4218]

I hope you'll make a multi-part series about the 1945 Battle of Manila. The bloodiest urban battle in the Pacific theater. It was overshadowed by the Battle of Iwo Jima because it occurred almost at the same time.

[@broworm1]

2 little inaccuracies: - their bombs were not GPS-guided JDAMs, those only appeared after the conflict, toss bombing was just handled using their INS/mission computer. - threat receivers back then were just of the RWR-kind, only spotting radar threats, so naturally it wouldn't warn them of the IR-guided manpad.

[@thunderrun2]

What an adrenaline rush crossing that border must have been heading to target. These guys are the modern day Olympians.

[@clivebrowne5155]

Not sure if it can be done as an operations room video, but the Martin Baker ejector seat would make a great topic. John Nicols new book covers that i think. I haven't brought a copy yet. He sounds like a lovely guy

[@ethanschleihauf7313]

I’m so addicted to this content

[@SirMatthew]

This event is the pinnacle of having a bad day at work

[@Vdaddy24601]

Consistently one of the best on KZbin. Your investment in the animations is really paying off and I’m excited to watch this channel grow.

[@jamesliggins5631]

Cool new animations! Loved the shock waves Great video, as always

[@riccardobalbo234]

This reminds me of the similar story of the only italian aircraft shot down, later that night, during Desert Storm. It was the only one of the group which managed to do air refuelling that night, the others failed because of bad weather, kept on the mission and was shot down by AAA after releasing the bombs, the pilots ended up like the british ones, captured beaten and released at the end of the war

[@EvoraGT430]

For context, very few NATO front-line crews were kept current on in-flight refueling (they are now!). Also, the KC-10 is extremely difficult to refuel from in a Tornado. It's not amazing that the only one crew took on fuel; it's amazing that they managed it at all. To then press on alone took real cojones.

[@alexgramm5170]

I was a jet engine mechanic in the U.S. Air Force deployed to Diego Garcia.. British Indian Ocean Territory ; Desert Shield/Storm: Aug 1990-Mar 1991. We had B-52G and KC - 135 R model aircraft. Strategic bombers and in flight refueling planes respectively. We lost a bomber. They had failed to take heed to a fuel tank guage indicating a problem and didn't abort mission; 3 men died. I encourage any and all to look us up ; I would be right chuffed for us to get some recognition for our part. Would it be possible to do a segment on the B-52 missions from Diego Garcia?

[@MOrab46019]

I love the graphics you use in all your videos. Thank you for making these that cover all eras.

[@Xeonerable]

That plane crash fireball animation was ... welll.. 🔥

[@marcusdurr1223]

I'm a simple man, I see Tornados, I press like

[@outofturn331]

Don't forget "Master Arm" 😅

[@paulwood6729]

This reminds me of one of the greatest games of all time: Tornado Low Level.

[@PersonalityMalfunction]

I am definitely not one of those "my country, always wrong, weak and evil" people who appear to rule public discourse these days, but it was both interesting and refreshing to hear about a mission NOT being a huge, one sided success for a change. A nice reminder that war fighting is a difficult business where bad stuff happens to good people. Good episode, nice graphics as usual.

[@DefinitelyNotEmma]

"Good people" Highly debatable when talking about the "coalition" in Iraq.

[@MysticEagle52]

​@@DefinitelyNotEmmafirst gulf War was justified though, second one is the one that's controversial

[@PersonalityMalfunction]

@@MysticEagle52 I think you'll find DefinitelyNotEmma is one of those "my country, always wrong, weak and evil" I mentioned above.

[@daniellee2343]

@@DefinitelyNotEmma Muh Million Iraqis

[@benn454]

​@@DefinitelyNotEmmaYou might want to read up on Desert Storm. I understand you probably weren't alive in 1991.

[@slavsupreme5129]

Absolutely love the late Cold War/early GWOT videos from you guys, do you have any plans to cover the invasions of Panama or Grenada???

[@GBScouts]

Tornado: in the eye of the storm is written by John Nichol and recommend reading if you liked this video

[@MongooseTacticool]

I remember reading about the two Johns ordeal in Readers Digest in the 90s.

[@thedyingmeme6]

YEEESSSSS MORE DESERT STOORRRRMMMMMMMMM

[@arslanxelan9606]

A lot of details in your video that never haven't appeared in other reports of this strike. Great video as always.

[@flyinggeng]

Nice back to desert storm videos.

[@Robin-zu4re]

Superb video once again. However, I believe there is a small mistake in the narration. The bombs released are very unlikely to have been GPS guided, as it didn’t exist in 1991, and the GR1 couldn’t carry them anyway. It probably was standard low drag bombs.

[@richardvernon317]

Standard UK 1000lb Bombs. Used by UK Tornado's and Jaguars as dumb bombs, along with a few USAF B-52's who used them for runway attacks on day one.

[@codystout5353]

I don't know why I like to learn about the gulf war. I remember when all the aircraft had deployed to Saudi Arabia. I have never seen so many aircraft in the sky at one time

[@iamnolegend2519]

5:52 altitude of thirty feet over 400 knots ! Just amazing.

[@xiphoid2011]

yeah, one small twitch and it'll be all over before you can correct. Even surgeons don't have hands steadier than these.

[@mikedittsche]

​@@xiphoid2011the Tornado had a ground following radar for that. The extreme low level flights were not flown manually.

[@michaelmoorrees3585]

I took a trip to Germany in 1987, in the Mosel Valley. There was a German Airbase nearby, flying Tornados. They would practice low altitude runs thru the valley. Its something to see ! ... and hear !

[@anandmorris]

Imagine seeing that approach on your rear view mirror!

[@cogman62]

@@michaelmoorrees3585 saw my first A10s going up the Rhine valley in the same area back in 1980.

[@MrNGTfan123]

Keep uploading! 👍👍👍👍

[@marcusd745]

I was ready for the Tornado to get shot down doing a second pass. Nope…did in by some random guy at an outpost with a MANPAD.

[@tonyaughney8945]

It's a big man who can admit his mistake in such a public place.

[@InbutnotofthisworldTL]

Always a great story on here 👍

[@napoleonibonaparte7198]

Missed opportunity for the co-pilot to shout "You've got a hole on the left wing!".

[@valeriangelov5592]

Great episode

[@RCAvhstape]

I can't imagine what that poor herdsman must've felt when 3 Tornado jets roared over his head at 30 ft.

[@keithfarrell3370]

How do you put out such quality productions when 'professionals' only turn out rubbish?

[@aldosigmann419]

Top drawer presentation as always. It was another lifetime ago but i remember seeing the pics of the poor beaten pilots. The Iraqis weren't much for the Geneva Convention...

[@alexgedrose]

Always great vids

[@alexanderleach3365]

I love these videos. They are very informative.

[@WurstWesen82]

The attention to detail is so nice. The position of the Torando's wings at the different speeds or air refueling on the right side of the Tornados. Love it.

[@JamesLaserpimpWalsh]

Great vid as ever.

[@cranehero11]

i remember reading about this in Reader's Digest back in the mid 90's!

[@altonotis1975]

30ft 😮. That's impressive

[@goodshipkaraboudjan]

"Team Tornado" is the book by these guys. Well worth a read.

[@brokenbridge6316]

Nice to know about this little incident all those years ago

[@robbabcock_]

Great video! ⚔🔥🙌

[@briantaylor9285]

Incredible 😮

[@KristijanPapic]

wow I love your vids

[@gyoohlim]

And i thought i was having a bad day

[@ourfunhousekids]

Heroes. One and all.

[@lagboi4539]

Could you do an episode about the Finnish winter war battle called "Raatten tie"?

[@raymondyee2008]

I still remember seeing that illustration of “Tornado Down!” in a Reader’s Digest article.

[@merekgrimaldus9865]

There's an interview of these two men talking about their experience being shot down and captured and interrogated, its here on KZbin somewhere

[@anethers7545]

Pablo Mason had the most amazing handlebar mustache 😁

[@IMeanMachine101]

Let's gooooo!

[@richardw2566]

Well done as always. The animation just keeps getting batter. Keep up the great work.

[@outofturn331]

Sounds delicious 😉

[@randomexcessmemories4452]

I don't know if you take suggestions, but I'd love to see the Battle of the Dalmatian Straits from the Croatian War of Independence covered. The nascent Croatian armed forces used several batteries of coastal guns (mostly made up of captured Soviet field guns with a few German WWII 88mm flak guns) to deter an ostensibly more capable Yugoslavian naval force. I've always loved coastal defense guns and how they are used, and this battle is entirely focused around them, so learning about what guns were used, where they were positioned, and how effective these anti-tank, anti-aircraft, and field guns were in the coastal defense role would be super fun!

[@rixxroxxk1620]

I remember seeing Peters plastered all over US news channels. I’ve never seen combat “live” before then. My momma just cried thinking of him and his family. The look on his face was horrifying.

[@0BuLLeT01]

Just listened to the interview with the pilot on "10 percent true". Humbling to listen to.

[@Archie2c]

I remember sitting watching ABC news as the deadline passed then the video after the first F-117 strike.

[@thomasbessis2809]

Nice

[@timgosling6189]

Minor point but back in those days RAF back seaters were still called 'navigators'. Also, the 1000-pounders used on this mission were not GPS guided, just good old ballistic bombs. Remember GPS was so new at this stage that the few satellites that were up there had to be moved around to give cover over the Iraqi TOO. There were GPS receivers available but none had yet been integrated into RAF jets or weapons. We would have to wait for 2008 before getting Paveway IV. John Nichol seemed to change his story about this incident several times but at least in this version he admits the switch pigs. The RWR wouldn't detect an SA-14 launch because it is looking for radar emissions.

[@heresie]

imagine having years of training but getting so amped you forget to hit an on button hahaha too real

[@donb7113]

The RAF Tornados took the brunt on ground fire and thus lost more aircraft by percentage than any other Air Force. But they did a hell 0f a job 0n Iraqi airfields.

[@jonasdahlhoff7913]

Their Book Tornado down is definitely worth a read!

[@CheburashkaGenovna]

5:24 30 (!) feet ?! NINE meters??! At 400+ knots?!?! 🤯

[@yashtripathi3221]

well informed. graphic change is looking good

[@NathamelCamel]

When the first frames of the video have my home town in them ☺️☺️

[@UberDurable]

I was in Baghdad in January 1991 when the war started, it was quite a scene! Too bad I did not have a camera.

[@SimoneSerponi]

Any chance to see a video about the Italian tornado shot down during operation desert storm in the future?

[@johnnotrealname8168]

Only Edit: "12" minutes late. The air-campaign was wild. You should do the 2003 invasion of Iraq (There is a video by hypohystericalhistory called "A Military History of the Iraq War Part 1: "Shock and Awe"" that is so awesome.) as a bookender to this. A trilogy with the low-level fighter operations (Like Operation Provide Comfort, Operation Northern Watch and Operation Southern Watch.) as the middle...maybe take a vacation first though because you deserve it. This War was perhaps the least controversial. Edit2: Whoa! The dude wrote a book about it. Over thirty years later! That is awesome, I hope he is alright.

[@clivebrowne5155]

Why are so many people being so unkind about John Nichols. I assume the reason its complicated to deploy the bombs is to stop accidental deployment. It would have been much worse if he had been trigger happy and the target was mistakenly a school. 2 very brave lads

[@CD-SU]

A lot of people watching this video understand how critical it is to get the mission completed. These pilots are highly trained and skilled, at a cost of £M's and all of that is for one purpose... I don't think John Nichols would disagree with any comments that someone wants to make, and I doubt many would swap seats with him either.

[@bananaFederationrepublic]

Hi there operationsroom😊

[@williamwood9355]

you should do a series for phantom fury covering each battalion

[@thafightgame5383]

It’s almost like karma struck them for making that mistake

[@sombechristopher4911]

Nichol and peter was also in the reader's digest book , i forgot what year that book was release but there we're in the reader's digest book