Flt Lt Anderson is presented with his 4000 hours badge by Sqn Ldr Matt Bressani

31 Squadron Navigator achieves 4000 Tornado flying hours on OP TELIC

Flt Lt ‘Zonker’ Anderson passed his 4000th Tornado flying hour point on Thursday 6 November, whilst flying a night sortie in support of Land forces on Op TELIC over Iraq.

‘Zonker’, or Daryll as his mother actually named him, first flew the Tornado in 1985. One of the aircraft he trained on has now been scrapped! Zonker moved on to XV(R) Sqn where he held nuclear Quick Reaction Alert during the cold war. Tours on 27 Sqn and 7 Sqn (Saudi Arabia) followed, before a stint on II (AC) Sqn at Marham then a move to the Fast Jet Test Sqn at Boscombe Down. During this tour Zonker helped introduce and develop the Tornado upgrade to the current GR4 standard. He moved back to II (AC) and was one of the first to employ the Enhanced Paveway II weapon in Iraq in 2002 before moving to XIII Sqn and then on to his current post on 31 (Goldstars) Sqn.

He played a significant role in Op BLENHEIM (the withdrawal from Basrah Palace) in 2007 and is currently driving forward RAPTOR reconnaissance capabilities on Op TELIC. To put this achievement in perspective, Zonker has flown over 1.4 million miles in the Tornado and has never had an accident – that must qualify for a serious no-claims discount!

Zonker has of course had many exciting incidents and experiences, including the time when, on his first tour he and his pilot had suffered an engine failure with a couple of complications and had blown the undercarriage down, then were forced to fly away from their intended diversion to another airfield with the undercarriage now blown down and no way of raising it. He won’t say how much fuel was left in the tanks when they landed, but they were seriously worried they wouldn’t have enough to taxi in!

Zonker is looking forward to whatever the future may bring – as long as it is flying Tornado! He says he certainly hasn’t had enough yet so although he is currently one of only 2 aircrew who have amassed such a huge volume of Tornado experience, there’s every chance that Zonker may be the first RAF Navigator to reach the 5000 hour mark!



Flt Lt Anderson steps from his Tornado GR4 to receive his 4000 Flying hours badge




Flt Lt Anderson returns from his OP TELIC sortie after completing 4000 Tornado flying hours