Today marks 30 years since the first day of combat of Operation Desert Storm and GRANBY, what was to become known colloquially as the first Gulf War.
The Americans called it Operation Desert Storm, while to the UK Armed Forces it was the next phase of Operation GRANBY.
Operation Desert Storm saw the largest military alliance since World War II. Over 30 allies, including Britain, committed more than 50,000 troops to the campaign.
Many of us will recall images of the conflict, as journalists were embedded with troops on the ground and on the frontline. It was the first televised war in the age of rolling news coverage, giving viewers a greater insight into the realities of modern conflict. Whether you remember sweeping sandscapes, personnel in desert camouflage and gas masks, burning oil fields or the images of John Peters and John Nichol being paraded on Iraqi television, this war was in colour and in our sitting rooms, in real time. A number of RAF Association employees were serving in the Royal Air Force 30 years ago, here one of them shares his experience to help set the scene.
Del Rowlands, Director of Branch and Membership Operations, joined the RAF in the late ‘80s and was on exercise in Sardinia with 74(F) Squadron in August 1990.
“Like many in that era, I joined the Service during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall had fallen only 10 months before the invasion of Kuwait, so these were very different times, with different enemies. The UK was on a broad footing that prepared for conflict in Northern Europe and the Eastern Bloc, not the desert.
“When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait City in August 1990, it was a real game changer. The RAF, like many allied forces, had to rapidly deploy thousands of people and tonnes of equipment to the desert to potentially fight a war they had not envisaged or planned for in great depth. We had lived for decades with the potential threat of conventional heavy conflict and nuclear conflict in North West Europe; now we were facing the prospect of chemical and biological weapons in the Middle East. Add to this, the environmental factors of the heat and sand, and you have a whole new ball game.
“The prospect of a conflict in the Middle East also affected the families of those serving. At that time, many British and allied personnel were stationed in what had been West Germany. Now large numbers were being deployed for months at a time away from home, facing a much greater and immediate threat of conflict.”
Later this month we will be hearing from two people who were involved in the conflict. Martin Wintermeyer and Mal Craghill (pictured) were Tornado navigators who have remained firm friends since their time in the RAF. They have organised a series of cycle rides to honour RAF aircrew who died while in training or on operations in the Gulf.
Speaking of the start of the war, Martin said:
“The Iraqi Air Force and the Iraqi Army was a really powerful beast and we were going to go against this really daunting adversary. The projected losses were quite high, so we were thinking this could be it.”
Mal added:
“Whilst we were airborne, there was a message put out over the emergency frequency for all RAF Germany aircraft to return to their bases. This was the first inkling that things were changing.
“I joined a Cold War Air Force, so when Kuwait kicked off, it was a big shock to everybody.”
Find out more about our series of events to mark 30 years since Operation Desert Storm / GRANBY which includes regular blogs and interviews in the lead up to the 28th February 2021, 30 years since the end of the Gulf War.
