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26 NAVY NEWS, NOVEMBER 2009
No, there are two Bagger Sea Kings (849 NAS), “It’s about linking the pieces of the jigsaw Submarine staff offi cer Lt Cdr Nick Pomfrett
marina Continued from page 25
Commander A Flight.
one Lynx (815 NAS) and two Merlins (814 NAS) also together. We have to make use of these few weeks adds: “The idea is that the ships and the boats
“You could hear them shouting, you could hear
aboard Illustrious. and cram everything in.” get the best training out of this. There’s a Perisher
them taking fi re. That’s an experience you can
With the Flying Tigers spending a lot of their time Which they do with aplomb. And not just Lusty. student on Trafalgar having a miserable – or maybe
never forget.”
in the Middle East, this is the fi rst time at sea for a fun – evening right now with a task group hunting
He has more than 1,000-plus hours in the jump
many of 814 NAS’ deck handlers. EVERYBODY crams as much as they can into Joint him.”
jet under his belt. Many of his fellow Harrier pilots
Not so LAET Phil Froude. This is his fourth time Warrior: air attacks, bombing raids, reconnaissance He is.
are also ‘old hands’ when it comes to life on a
on Illustrious, but after a year and a half away from missions, live gunnery, suicide boat attacks, In the submarine planning offi ce, a computer
carrier with more than 150 deck landings over their
the carrier, he too is fi nding the experience useful. counter-piracy operations, submarine hunting, map of north-west Scotland jerkily updates every
careers…
“You forget how hard it is to integrate with the there are prospective submarine commanders minute or so as a host of frigates converge on HMS
… and some of the Naval Strike Wing fl iers have
other squadrons. It really does complicate things undergoing the Perisher, there’s the challenge of Trafalgar.
perhaps 20 deck landings to their name.
on the deck. Everyone wants air time, but space on working with Allied warships – a sizeable US and “It’s a bit of a bun fi ght,” Lt Cdr Pomfrett points
“The nuts and bolts of landing on a deck is
the deck is limited.” Canadian presence inter out. “It’s not the real thing, but it stands people in
something you can teach quite easily,” says Lt Cdr
Everyone wants
“It’s not the real thing, but it
alia, plus for the fi rst good stead when the real thing comes.”
Tremelling.
air time – but there time, a Brazilian warship, While Northumberland, Portland et al hound
“What you cannot teach, however, is everything
is a pecking order. stands people in good stead Defensora. Traf, Lt Cdr Les Smith is co-ordinating air strikes
else – all the cogs and wheels which make up life
“Everything stops for
when the real thing comes.”
And all this is on the fl eet fl agship. His last job was fending them
on board.
the Harriers,” says LAET choreographed by just off – aboard Illustrious.
“You realise how much more time everything
Froude.
– Lt Cdr Nick Pomfrett
two dozen people, the “We know what’s happening out there so
takes. It’s a good hour from fi nishing your mission
This is the largest and Joint Tactical Exercise hopefully we can give them the right training and
briefi ng to heading up the ramp. It’s the squeezing
most diverse air group Planning Staff (JTEPS). get their brains thinking,” the air warfare offi cer
through hatches with all your kit, the time it takes
Illustrious has hosted for some time. The staff have more than 60 years’ experience to says.
between decks.”
It’s just what Commander Air, Cdr Mark Deller, draw on – Joint Warrior traces its heritage back to “I want to make Joint Warriors more dynamic,
His boss Cdr Dave ‘Tinsel’ (no, we don’t know
wants to see. “You have to keep the deck ‘warm’, the end of WW2 and anti-submarine exercises. less predictable – because that’s what the bad
the story behind the nickname either) Lindsay, CO
keeping up the skills of the guys,” he points out. Things have changed a bit since then… guys do.”
of the Naval Strike Wing, adds: “This is experience
The deck is warm. Very. Three waves – that’s four For anyone who’s been through Operational Sea Speak to any of the JTEPS staff and they’ll stress
you cannot buy: working on a busy deck in weather
Harriers apiece – are launched daily. The Sea Kings Training with FOST (which should be about 99.9 this point.
which isn’t the greatest. For us it’s great.”
and Merlins are also airborne almost constantly. per cent of the Fleet) a couple of things stand out “Anyone who’s done a JMC and now does Joint
It’s not only the pilots who need reminding about
The Lynx buzzes around on various duties, and a about Joint Warrior. Warrior will fi nd they’re chalk and cheese,” stresses
life on a Harrier carrier.
civilian Sikorski regular drops in ferrying mail and Firstly, it’s far more open ended – it’s not as Sqn Ldr Spud Harrild.
“One of the lads walked out on to deck to put
VIPs. prescriptive, there’s not always war on a Thursday. “JMC used to run on rails. There’s far more ‘free
some ring bolts on – as another jet was moving,”
“With the number of movements there are on Anything can happen in the next half hour… play’ in these.”
says Lt Cdr Tremelling. “One of the other guys
Illustrious during Joint Warrior, we’re doing what a And secondly, the training is driven by the units. Normally based in Northwood, twice a year JTEPS
grabbed him just in the nick of time.”
10,000 foot runway would do,” Cdr Deller says. They tell the planners what they want and the staff decamp to the top fl oor of naval base headquarters
“We cannot ignore one squadron and focus on decide how best to give that training. in Faslane – set aside as Joint Warrior HQ – where
NOW it’s fair to say that we can become a bit
another. Everyone has to work together. We have “We don’t do this for ourselves. We do it for the they’re joined by more than 150 extra staff, many of
bedazzled by the Harriers. But it’s not all about the
to work as hard supporting the Sea Kings and ships and units who demand the training,” Cdr them reservists, for the duration of the exercise.
jets.
Merlins as we do looking after the jets. Chris Dyke, deputy director maritime points out. In fairness, they could be based anywhere,
pictures: po(phot) carl osmond, frpu north, po(phot) paul a’barrow and la(phot) kelly mcalinden, hms illustrious, la(phot) des wade, naval strike wing, mass communication specialist matthew bookwalter, usn
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