The RAF at Red Flag : Air-to-Air 

I remember Tony Dixon from my days as the engineering officer on 13 (PR) Sqn at RAF Wyton equipped with the Canberra PR7. Really great times and memories from those days and Tony became a close friend. One anecdote from those times was the occasion after a Friday Sqn Beer Call when I apparently invited Tony and his good lady to Sunday lunch that coming weekend! The only problem was I completely forgot all about it and had an interesting, one-sided conversation with my wife when Tony turned up at our door on the Sunday! It must have been a great Beer Call! 😂

Tony Dixon is a classic. Great listening to him. Very easy to follow. Thanks for this.

Absolutely loved that anecdote about the Italian Tornado embarrassing the F-15! Great interview

I spent two months at Red Flag in ‘96. As 2nd line ground crew for the Tornados we didn’t rotate with the squadrons. It was a hard life 😜 I did work fairly hard though and I didn’t gamble once 😊 It’s been great hearing all these old terms and a different perspective from the aircrew. Love it

It's all good listing specs and numbers but actually being able to hear from the men who fly them is a really unique thing. It's why I love this channel

Great interview! Thanks both of you!

I really enjoyed this interview!

Brilliant interview, very informative.

I'm loving these great stories, thank you Aircrew Interviews

Really like this interview, thanks

This interview is very thorough on red flag and it brings more clarity, loved his opinions, my heart was on the Phantom as it was multirole. Fantastic interview, I like Tony as he's down to earth and very informative and he's very engaging. Well done Mike for the great questions ☺

During the 1980s I served as a Fighter Control Officer in the RAF. Whilst I never visited Nellis, I did a detachment to Deciomannu in Sardinia with the F4 QWI course in 1985. Bear in mind that this was the era of the ZX Spectrum PC, but the facilities at Deci were awe inspiring. As Tony said each aircraft was fitted with a telemetry pod and the information available to a controller such as myself was beyond belief. Not only did you have a conventional PPI display, like a normal radar display, but you could tilt the display to give a pure vertical display with all points in between. Tony was not just bull**itting when he talked about RAF tactics, the F4 QWIs invited a lot of respect from their 'adversaries', as I recall from a conversation with a US F5 Aggressor pilot. Although I didn't know Tony personally, we did share a mutual friend and we were both on this friend's Guard of Honour for his wedding. At the stag do the night before, I can't remember if I fell over Tony or him over me, both of us wrecked. Great days.

What Tony didn't mention was the smokey SAMs on the range. I was on a radar site on the range during a Red Flag and the second week they gave us about a hundred styrofoam rockets called Smokey SAMs to shoot at the aircraft flying low level. They were just like giant (2-3 feet long) 4th of July bottle rockets that would leave a huge trail of smoke behind when we shot them up. If they hit an aircraft or got ingested in an engine they weren't suppose to cause any damage. The idea was for the aircrews to see a rocket coming up at them. I imagine the pucker factor was pretty high in the cockpits. The airfield that Tony said the Harriers operated out of at Indian Springs west of Las Vegas (Creech AFB) is now used to launch predator and other drones. You can occasionally see a drone taxi out, take off, or land while driving next to the base on highway 95.

Super video! Thanks.

Brilliant again Mike. Keep doing what you do

Loved the anecdote about the Tornados flying "resolution cell" something I'd never considered possible with radars that modern

The tactic of using Tornado F3's to shadow B-1B's to appear as one radar image reminds me of reading about USN F-8 Crusaders doing the very same when escorting USAF RC-135's in Vietnam. The RC-135's would look like big fat slow targets to N. Vietnamese radars. They'd send up a couple of MiG 17's, 19's or 21's which would race back to home as soon as the F-8's peeled away and revealed themselves.

"Stan the Man" Ralph, there's a name I've not heard in a few years. Nice one Tony, great interview!

One of the best episodes so far 👍🏻

Tornado that landed at Tonopah was a 16 Squadron GR1 “FG” in 1990, crew were blind folded and interrogated and released. Their GR1 was confiscated and returned after a full service with a silhouette of a F117 painted on the wing by the Americans.

That was a really good interview got lots of operational info

Awesome backgrount for NTTR .. cannt wait for part two :-)

Brilliant stories, really enjoyed it.

Oh yes, another interview!

Great video.

I’m loving your stuff and the 10 per cent true channel

Can find one thing in common among all fighter crews from every nation..... they all believe their the best. Flew for about 6000 hours with a mix of guys who flew everything from f-4’s to B-52’s. Most of the guys who flew until retirement had a healthy respect for everyone from every nation represented at Redflag.

Very intresting about Area 51 ...

One of the best, from one of the best channels. I have a friend who got married in Vegas: the jury is still out on that one, but I rather have my doubts.

Great work lads,thanks

One of my favorite RU-vid channels!

We took 6 GR4’s to Nelis several years ago, the aircraft like the warm, dry weather and tend to behave themselves pretty well to be fair.

Superb thank you

Maybe someday they’ll give this guy a whole airplane to fly? I love fighter pilots. As an American I love and appreciate our real allies. This guy is fantastic at walking the viewers though the information.

Excellent video!

Amazing to hear him speak of how rigid the US pilots were, when you watch an old aviation war movie it's always the Brits that are so set in stone. And the US pilots are always cowboys... Sounds like during the 80's and 90's it was the other way around ;-) Excellent video sir, as always :-)

Loved this

My cousin did several trips to Red Flag flying support with C130's out of RAF Lyneham.

What a dude! Great interview!

USAFE A-10s got Sidewinders in '90-'91, about the year they went over. US bases may have got them a little sooner.

They did underground nuclear testing a great deal later than the 50s. 9/23/1992 was the 1,032nd and last test. Tonopah airfield, if it was that and not another runway somewhere on the range, is closed as a secure place now. I have been in hangers and the terminal there, it's still used as a runway, but when I was there there was no security and people living in trailers. There were GA aircraft in open hangers. There's a runway at 38.32N, 116.28W that's was available for emergencies according to a USAF crew chief friend who flew special C-130s around there occasionally. Just to the north of there is the DoE's attempt to extend the nuclear test area. Faultless almost got away from them, so it was the only test of a planned series. I have stood in the center of the collapse crater.

Interesting to hear Tony’s view on the benefits (or otherwise!) of the night sorties. Genuinely found the rigidity around “boxes” surprising, albeit perhaps understandable. It does, I guess, underline just how much of Red Flag is geared towards the Offensive Counter-Air and other tactical missions rather than AD. I know one ex-F3 guy who actually found Flag a little dull compared to the intensity of, say, TLP and other exercises! :-)

Hi just enjoyed your video of our tornado in answer to your question our navy is now flying the new F 35 lightning which replaced the hawker harrier which your marines are still flying today two planes our navy used to fly were the blackbird buccaneer and the phantom both great planes the buck was the low level plane flying nearly on the deck well worth a look keep up the good vids on your channels regs Howie.👍

Know of another story of Bucs, flying out there, US radar just replied "were the Heck did you come from"...

Great video! Thanks for posting, and thanks to this fine gentleman for his service. From America, I am glad that the UK is long-time ally and is not a nation to be messed with. With stealth aircraft, the tactic of changing direction every 30 seconds won’t be as effective. With the F-22 or 35 there’s no warning to be on the lookout and the missiles slam home. Even if legacy aircraft are being used, stealth aircraft can be a forward observer providing corrections to the missile so that when it does go into the terminal phase the opposing aircraft is still within its range.

Great Interview love this guy.... 2 things.... it’s a shear miracle to me how these 100’ish planes never slam into each other And exactly who pays for all of the fuel consumed...?

love to hear how the RAF Vucans did out there.

Take a look at Nellis Air force base on Google Earth. Tornado's and Typhoon's on the pad next to F16's. 👍🏻

Very nice... but did the TORNADO F3 engage in air to air battle

My dad was RAF VR, and when at a ATC camp one year he was in the officers mess, and there was a particular navigator and or a pilot who could beat the slot machine every time, and in the end he got banned 😆😆👍👍 True story

The F3 is very close to the F-14 in it's maneuverability. Both bleed off so much speed in a turn that getting back momentum needs altitude. They both turn in the dogfight at about 4.5 G's. I'd rather be in any fixed wing modern fighter in an air to air encounter.

Wish you would do an interview with an F-101 Voodoo Warrior, Scope Wizard, or Medicine Man.

Hello. There are chunks of this interview that I don't understand and after reading other postings nobody appears to be asking the questions I have. I have no relevant experience so they are outsiders questions. The questions are asked in honesty I'm not trying to snipe. Red flag started in the 1970s then in the 80s they started to invite other countries. OK Wikipedia isn't the most accurate of sources but it lists the Blackburn Buccaneer first appearance in 1977 along with some Avro Vulcans. This would be bourne out by the crash of the Buccaneer during Red Flag in 1980 and the subsequent fleet grounding. The first flag I attended was Red Flag 91 but it was in 89. The first flag of the year was in November but it was always called after the year after. I can understand the idea of a "Course Year" but what happened to 1990? The "Lame Duck" planning after Goose Bay. There is no explanation of how or why they lost their tankering facility after Goose Bay. Now if the Victor tankers had to fly on to support other aircraft for that years exercise that is fine, but we are not given the reason for the loss of the Victors support. We were sending more than 8 or 10 participating aircraft that year? That is 8 or 10 combat aircraft, not tankers or support. I do appreciate these interviews and realise memories must fade but this is the first interview that I have watched where I couldn't follow what was said.

Pretty interesting that when he talks about the Tornado that had hydralic problems having to land in Area 51 and the fall out. Wouldn't that have been around the time they would have been testing the F-117?

We number all our exercises based off the fiscal year, not calendar year, which is why any flag or us led training op is always the next year -1 at the end of the calendar year

Tornado was a subpar air to air machine, even for its time.

The RAF is the best the Eurofighter is king.

I guess the Typhoon is much better suited to air superiority than the Tornado F3.

It's interesting that UK pilots believe in the 'bravely run away' tactic if s job can be done tomorrow but I've never heard a US pilot say as much. I mean, they are clearly excellent but the UK doctrine is NOT to be aggressive but to be professional. At all times to be calm but the US likes to see emotions in it's pilots. I think that this difference has been around for decades. I don't know which is better but I know that the USAF and RAF have continued that doctrine. The only thing I have noted is that UK pilots seem to have caused less blue on blue events. It just feels like the US finds their military more disposable. But even after all, the idiots who ask if an F15EX would beat a Eurofighter Typhoon is an odd question. When are we not going to be on the same side? I'm keener to know that the 2 aircraft can interact to do the job.

It's a shame the EEL never attended Red Flag

Nothing for second?

The RAF lost 6 Tornado GR1 over Iraq during Desert Storm. They used tactics formulated during the Cold War to avoid the SAM threat. This SAM threat had been neutralised in the first hours of the "Shock and Awe" in which the entire Iraqi Command and Control System had been eradicated. The US Forces, USAF and USN, once the Iraqi defences had been destroyed, flew around at upper altitudes using PaveTac and Paveway to destroy Iraqi assets, runways, fuel dumps in complete safety. The RAF, being the RAF, flew in at very low level using those tactics formulated during the Cold War into a hail of small arms fire to deliver their weapons, successfully, but losing aeroplanes. To lose one aeroplane may be a misfortune. To lose two would indicate a rethink. No, this, supposedly the smartest service in the UK, continued, until such time as the threat evaporated, losing 6 airframes and crew. The Tornado F3, Air Defence Variant, during Desert Storm, was not permitted to cross the Saudi Kuwait Iraqi border because it was so inadequate. A modern day Boulton Paul Defiant. An afterthought. The MRCA programme, that which produced the Tornado, cost more than Trident. We have , to this day, a highly effective nuclear deterrent. The same cannot be said for the MRCA. Its forbear, the TSR2, a magnitude more capable, a magnitude more effective, a magnitude better looking, would still be in service today. Watch the video here. TSR2, on one afterburner, accelerating away from an English Electric Lightning one both. TSR2 would have been a world beater.

First to hate first! ^_^

I heard that new RAF pilot's are scared of everything and everyone in 1 on 1 fight, even if is frienly fight. Is it whole truth or is it mislead?

Begging for money put me off mate

Tornado and Phantom. Two of the ugliest birds in the sky.