Tornado at Green Flag & SAC Competition | John Grohan (In-Person Part 2)

Former Tornado GR1 pilot, John Grogan, shares flying at the first exercise Green Flag for the GR1 and competing in the Strategic Air Command bombing competition against B-52s and F-111s!
We also hear John's ejection story from a Tornado GR1.
Strap in and enjoy.
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[@matthewnewnham-runner-writer]

Since I was part of the Green Flag staff from '84-'86, (I was the guy running the end-of-day mass debriefs with the big screen that John refers to,) I can confirm what John says: Green Flag was essentially Red Flag but with a much heavier emphasis on electronic threats, to sharpen aircrew understanding and practice with Warsaw Pact acquisition and tracking radars. I really enjoyed having the Tornado guys in the mix (both the Dambusters and the guys from RAF Marham), and they acquitted themselves very well. And as a bonus, I still have a flight suit from an opposite number in 617 Squadron (aka 'The Dambusters').

[@davidsmith8997]

So did SAC park that bomber at the end of the runway to mess with their timing?

[@matthewnewnham-runner-writer]

I don't have any insight on that,@@davidsmith8997, only the Green Flag part of that interview.

[@ukqwerty999]

Loved this chat, listening to real professionals is inspiring. Cheers for posting that reply @matthew gives some more background to the story, the shenanigans between competitive people is always amusing to listen to. I hope someone lurking will know what was going on with the bomber :)

[@Johnbg81327.]

Good to hear from someone who was actually part of the team at Nellis. The whole exercise was extremely well organised and professional. No surprise there, the US Military is exceedingly good at this sort of thing. Cheers

[@matthewnewnham-runner-writer]

Ditto the RAF,@@Johnbg81327. I only wish I'd taken up the Marham guys' offer to pay them a visit when I returned permanently to the UK in July '86. They thought they could get me a sortie in the back of a Tornado, which would have been fantastic. (Mind you, I can't recall if that was a chat in the Ops building or ' beer talk' that Friday evening at the Officers' Mess. We all enjoyed the Bass Ale that they brought with them.)

[@PappyGunn]

Maple Flag, back in the day. With such a huge play area in Cold Lake, they could really open up. A friend of mine was an F18 pilot and saw a Tornado on the deck and by the time he got turned around to chase it, it was gone. Forget about chasing it on the deck. His words.

[@anthonywilson4873]

The Tornado did what it was supposed to do really well. It’s a long range fast bomber. It’s not a fighter although some got forced into that role but at least it would be there with the fuel load better than no fighter getting fuel.

[@matthewnewnham-runner-writer]

Very true, Anthony. But as a former F-111 guy, I know that one word can make a big difference to self-perception and morale... We were always going to call ourselves fighter pilots, not bomber crews. The latter drop from altitude, don't pull Gs like we do and don't go in low and fast.

[@franciscook5819]

"You've got an air force?" Yes, the oldest in the world, founded in 1918 (during WW1) from Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). You'd think an airman of any nation would know something as basic as that.

[@nealm1814]

Its was a Yank so maybe not.

[@stevetheduck1425]

- and the Army Balloon Unit, too. We've been fighting over the Fleet Air Arm and the Army Air Corps ever since.

[@blogsfred3187]

Never underestimate how unaware of the world Americans are

[@PappyGunn]

It's all banter, everybody knows the RAF.

[@user-dl3se9iy4r]

Excellent, interesting we lost Tornados flying over Iraqi airbases but I think they had them doing it daylight and it was gunfire ! Long time since I read Tornado Down.

[@stuartb9194]

Great interview, he really epitomizes the spirit of the RAF. Well played, sir, well played.

[@Aircrewinterview]

Cheers

[@bigblue6917]

Interesting story 8:28 about the pilot being on time and on target then say they do that all the time. When my late father was in the British Army some US Army soldiers were watching British soldiers being drilled. One of the US soldiers commented as to how good they were to which the reply was that the soldiers being drilled were just office staff getting a bit of exercise. The truth was they were being drilled by an NCO up for promotion

[@stevetheduck1425]

The 'on target, on time' thing was everything back in the 1980s. The target was to be hit an exact tick of the clock, as ground units and others needed us to be reliable, so that's how it was done.

[@christopherpinnock7900]

What a pleasure to listen to air pilot give his experience

[@cab6273]

I’m only about a quarter thru so far but a great interview. What year was the Green Flag exercise?

[@Johnbg81327.]

That was April 1985. Don’t remind me how far back that was…….😂

[@christopherpinnock7900]

We need to start training the next generation to fly fourth and fifth generation jets. We need thousand trained ready for the coming future that mean investment in training jets and experience trainers. Russia on the march and we need to stop messing around and get our act together that mean chancellor get funding shorted. The current chancellor need to be replaced with someone who understands the urgency of the situation. When Labour takes power they have to continue funding.

[@eddiebruv]

‘Russia is on the march’. Stop watching CNN and get real. 😂😂😂😂

[@alastairbarkley6572]

You're absolutely right. Putin looks to recreate the Soviet Empire - starting with Ukraine, followed by the Baltics and then Poland. Hungary is in the bag already, Cz (as was) is a very juicy plum. Putin would probably contain rather than invade Western European nations and then pick off weak sisters - Romania, Greece, possibly Albania and Cyprus. Short of a suicidal war with China, Putin has nowhere else, realistically to expand. He'll work by diplomacy with India and other BRICS countries rather than by military force. Can I imagine NATO without the US? Sure I can! For the last ten years at least, America has been showing signs of indecision, uncertainty and lack of enthusiasm for NATO. Generally a poor, weak NATO leader. That started under Obama. Many people (especially Americans) seem to have forgotten that the US built NATO from 1949 onwards and is MEMBER (the founding member, in fact) NOT AN 'ALLY' of NATO'. NATO's enemy is Russia and the threat is Russian military expansion into free Europe. So far, Russia has obviously struggled to dominate a militarily weak country without much success. Ukraine has been gifted advanced weapons by NATO countries but, none of these have been war winners and have only been supplied in small numbers. Significantly, other NATO countries have held back on gifting their advanced military technology, particularly aircraft and missiles and they have not visibly put NATO boots on the ground. Europe's combined economic strength is FAR greater then Russia's, Europe's combined population is far greater than Russia's. Europe is more technically advanced (civilian and military) than Russia. What Europe needs is a collective will to deter or even comprehensively defeat Russia and politicians like Macron and Donald Tusk are already trying to build that. America's withdrawal from NATO will be an even bigger stimulus.

[@annoyingbstard9407]

You pay for it then mate. Most of us aren’t stupid enough to actually believe the “Russians are coming” bollocks is anything other than arms manufacturers drumming up business.

[@sichere]

I think you will find that the Integrated air defence of NATO is sufficient

[@Odysseuss.]

@@sichere I don't.