7 March 1989
I was asked if I fa
ncied lunch in Iceland (not the supermarket) in the morning of 7th March 1989 – “of course” I replied! Actually, we planned to do a little more than have lunch. HQ 18 Gp had been requested by COMICELAND to task some aircraft to take part in a mini exercise to test the air defence forces protecting Iceland and the Greenland-Iceland-Faroes gap. A pair of Buccaneer aircraft were tasked to carry out a simulated attack against ground targets on Iceland as part of Exercise North Star, with USAF F15’s as the defenders. Sqn Ldr Rick Phillips and I were number 2 to a junior crew to monitor their leadership as part of their 2-ship lead work-up. We departed RAF Lossiemouth and climbed to high level for a high-level transit. At approximately 350nms fro
m our target we descended to 100 ft for our run-in to our simulated target (a little hut/transformer station) on the south-east coast of Iceland. Even though we picked up the electronic emissions of the defending F15’s they failed to “lock-up” and we appeared to make it through to our target unscathed (we will never know as we didn’t get any feedback). After the target we stayed at low-level and had an enjoyable sight-seeing trip over the Icelandic ice-cap (see the photos). After a 2½ hour flight we landed at Keflavik, where the Americans helped us to turnaround our aircraft. Well it was lunchtime and we were hungry so we strolled off the “O Club” for a bite to eat. In traditional American fashion we ate pizza and drank coke-cola. The return journey was an uneventful straight flight back to Lossiemouth (1 hr 45 mins) and we were back in time for tea!
- Dave Trembaczowski-Ryder
