Press release published Friday 02 November 2007
A formation of four Royal Air Force (RAF) Tornado GR4 strike aircraft will overfly The Mansion House, London, on Saturday 10 November as part of the annual Lord Mayor’s Show.
The aircraft will be drawn from No 14 Squadron, one of four Tornado squadrons based at RAF Lossiemouth, Morayshire, Scotland. The lead aircraft will be crewed by Wing Commander Adrian Frost, Officer Commanding 14 Squadron, who will be the navigator, and the pilot will be Squadron Leader Ian Davis, Officer Commanding “B” Flight, 14 Squadron.
Initially the formation will hold near Southwold on the Suffolk coast before setting off for London via Fairlop in Essex. The formation is due over The Mansion House just before 11 am, at a height of 1,500 feet above sea level and a speed of 300 knots (345 mph). The aircraft will depart to the north of London via Brookmans Park on their return to RAF Lossiemouth.
A weather check for the flypast route will be undertaken just prior to the flypast by an A-109E helicopter of 32(The Royal) Squadron based at RAF Northolt, Middlesex.
Notes to Editors
1) Tornado GR4s equip seven front-line RAF squadrons and one Operational Conversion Unit, for training Tornado crews, divided between RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Marham, near King’s Lynn, Norfolk. The variable-sweep Tornado is the RAF’s primary attack aircraft, and is used for air interdiction, using precision guided, freefall or retarded bombs, suppression of enemy air defences, and reconnaissance, using an externally mounted pod. 2) Wing Commander Frost joined the RAF in 1982, and after completing initial training and type conversion joined 617 Squadron, the “Dam Busters” flying Tornados. He took part in the First Gulf War in 1991and was involved in the rapid service introduction of the Thermal Imaging Airborne Laser Designation (TIALD) pod during that conflict. He was subsequently awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air. After a series of flying and desk appointments in the UK, Germany and involvements in overseas operations, he was posted to RAF Lossiemouth in July 2005 and assumed command of 14 Squadron in October that year. He has accumulated more than 3,000 flying hours, mostly in Tornados, including over 300 operational sorties over Iraq and Yugoslavia.
3) Coventry-born Squadron Leader Davis joined the RAF in 1994 and following flying training completed conversion to the Tornado in 2000. He was posted to 14 Squadron then stationed art RAF Bruggen in Germany, but moved to Lossiemouth with the squadron when Bruggen closed in 2001. He undertook several operational detachments over Iraq before transferring to 15(Reserve) Squadron, the Tornado Operational Conversion Unit, as an instructor in 2003. After a short spell on 12 Squadron, another Lossiemouth Tornado unit, he returned to 14 Squadron on promotion to Squadron Leader earlier this year and is currently Officer Commanding of the unit’s Weapons Flight.
4) No 14 Squadron was formed at Shoreham, Sussex, in February 1915 and worked up on the variety of aircraft types before deploying to the Middle East the following November where the unit remained until the Second World War, by which time it was flying Martin Marauders. In 1944 the squadron moved to Chivenor, Devon, and flew Wellingtons in the anti-submarine role.
Post WWII 14 Squadron moved to Germany where it flew Mosquitos, which were replaced by Vampires in 1951, supplemented later by Venoms. It became a fighter squadron in Germany in 1955 and received Hunters, but in 1962 the unit took on the strike role with Canberras until 1970. These were replaced by Phantoms, and then Jaguars from 1975, and finally Tornados from 1985. The squadron finally returned from Germany to its present location in January 2001.