A former RAF technician from Shropshire became one of the oldest ever pilots of a Tornado jet, celebrating his 75th birthday in supersonic style with a 500mph flight.Don Rhodes, of Church Aston, Newport, took the controls of the Tornado to celebrate his 45th year in the Air Training Corps. It was one of his former cadets, Bret Archer, that arranged the exhilarating trip.
Mr Archer, 38, is celebrating 20 years in the force and is Squadron Leader at RAF Leuchars in Scotland and said he wanted to arrange something special as a “thank you” to his former mentor.
Mr Archer explained: “The RAF doctors took some persuasion to let a 75 year-old fly in a front-line jet.
“I believe it’s unprecedented. The stress on the body is immense, it’s not like the glamour of Top Gun. The cockpit of a fighter aircraft is cramped, hot and sweaty.”
Mr Archer added: “It’s not just airsickness. In case we have to eject over the sea we have to wear a rubber immersion suit and survival jacket, which is heavy and gets really uncomfortable in the cockpit.”
Mr Rhodes, had to undergo hours of medical checks before the RAF allowed him to board the aircraft for the flight on March 23.
The two-hour flight took the pair along the west coast, before heading inland and making a low pass over RAF Cosford, and then heading back out over the North Sea and finally towards home.
Mr Rhodes said: “The acceleration on take-off was awesome. I pilot a small aircraft at weekends to tow gliders at my local club but it is worlds apart from a flight in a Tornado.
“The Tornado is a two-stick aircraft and I did take the controls at one point during our flight, as we reached supersonic speeds.”
Mr Rhodes served in the Royal Air Force from 1951 until 1955 as a technician with 257 Squadron, 233 OCU and 26 Squadron in Germany.
He maintained the front-line jets of the time - the Meteor and Vampire, as well as the F86 Sabre.
In 1962, he joined the cadet organisation with 1165 Oswestry Squadron, then took over as the Commanding Officer of the newly formed 2497 Squadron at RAF Cosford during 1970.
He served there for 17 years in uniform before reaching retirement at the age of 55 .
Mr Rhodes continues to serve and has reached his 20th year with the civilian committee.
By Andy Walker
Share this article:
What are these?