All language subtitles for 1Top Guns: Inside the RAF - Top Guns: Inside the RAF

This programme contains
strong language from the start

BIRDSONG

GEESE HONK

CLOCK TICKS

TELEPHONE RINGS

ALARMS BLARE

Go, go, go!

ALARMS CONTINUE TO BLARE

JET ENGINES FIRE

I'm in a country that borders
Russia now.

We are as close to the enemy
as you could be.

Looking out the window we can
see these two straight

lines of cloud coming our way.

You don't know what's going on,
but there's something there.

I'm looking at it, trying
to figure out what it is.

Oh, my God.

That's a Russian fighter.

Here they come.

Gust-wise, for the next flight it's
all looking quite light.

Today's a light northerly to
north-westerly flow so there

shouldn't really be any significant
gusts to be worrying about.

It's a straightforward day,
just got the risk of

some white clouds this morning but
it's comfortably up to blue now.

Say, "Bye, Dad!" Goodbye, Dad.
I won't see you for ages.

Ooo-ahhh... Boo!

HE KISSES BABY

Nyoom!

What kind of aeroplane
are you, Ollie-bob?

Uh, your boss aeroplane.
The boss aeroplane.

I mean, that's just, let's just
pretend that's the Typhoon, shall we?

It's like, yeah. The boss aeroplane.

Do you remember where Daddy's
going tomorrow?

Estonia. Estonia. That's it.

I've been flying the Typhoon
fighter jet for five years.

I remember I was probably
nine or ten years old.

My best mate had a really good dream
of being a fighter pilot

and I thought, "That sounds great."

So I stole it and stuck with it,
and he didn't.

What did your mate become?

Uh, he works in car insurance.

I will be gone by the time
you wake up.

So Daddy's going away for
lots of sleepovers.

Is he gonna go for 100?

Not that many. A bit less.

Mr Magnolia has only one boot.

That's like you half the time.
HE CHUCKLES

He has an old trumpet that goes...

I guess the Russian stuff happening
at the moment is making

it all a bit more real. But...

..I try to push it to one side and
just look at it like a job, really.

Love you, buddy.
HE KISSES BOY

The world at the moment
is not in the best of places

with the ongoing Russian conflict.

That's certainly in the back of all
of our minds going out to Estonia.

It's the front line with Russia.

This is definitely high stakes.

WAVES CRASH, SEAGULLS CRY

Ukrainian authorities have said
that fierce fighting is under way

in the east and north-east
of the country.

11 civilians were killed and scores
of people were injured during a wave

of strikes yesterday.

Opening doors on a Monday morning.
Just what I want to be doing.

Alfie!

This is embarrassing.
He's locked the fucking thing.

He's locked inside!

HE KNOCKS

Alfie, can you do this, please,
mate?

150 miles north of Edinburgh...

RADIO CHATTER

..RAF Lossiemouth is the UK's
busiest operational airbase.

140, 14 knots.
Crossing one six on the left.

It's home to around 50 warplanes.

Left, right, left!

And around 3,000 servicemen
and women on high alert.

Halt!

Ever since the Russian invasion
of Ukraine in 2022, the RAF

has stepped up its preparations
in case the war escalates.

We're off to the weekly
squadron brief.

My job is to set the standard.
Set the intent.

On my squadron I've got 18 pilots.

I need to know that every pilot

can engage with the most capable

pilot of any enemy air force

that we could encounter.

I think one of the big
takeaways for us to

think about is that there is a
state-on-state war

going on on the conflict of Europe,
in which thousands of people

have lost their lives.

Now, part of the reason why
that conflict hasn't extended

in the way that we feared
is because Russia knows

that there are people like you
that would inflict a huge

amount of damage on them
should they cross that line.

But if that conflict extends
and the UK were to get involved,

the individuals in this room
would be the first people to go

and deliver the combat effect
that's required of us.

And that's why we have to be ready.

Today, Kev's taking a closer look
at a 28-year-old junior pilot

fresh out of training and currently
on trial with 2 Squadron.

I'm the newest guy on the squadron
at the moment.

I got here just over two weeks ago.

It seems like a big step up from
what I've been doing before.

As a kid, I always wanted
to be a rally driver or

something stupid like that.
Anything that would make

my mum worry, I was well into it.

And then I kind of got this idea

of being a pilot and I just never

grew up really and kind of wanted
to chase that dream down.

To test Harry's combat skills,
he's being challenged to a dogfight.

Right, we all sorted?

A one-on-one contest against Kev.

Right. Our philosophy today is we're
going to kill with a gun when able.

And it's aggressive, but it's an
important skill because we

need to learn how to kill in
the hardest of circumstances

using the aircraft at the edge of
its capabilities.

I like to think of my stick
and my throttle hands

have a relationship.

The best way I've heard to describe
that is the mittens that babies

have with, you know, that bit of
cotton that goes up around there

so they can't lose them?
If the stick is not fully back

in Typhoon, because the engines are
monsters, you will end up in

an uncontrollable dive that will
scare the bejesus out of you.

We need you to be ready
to hold your own against

a very experienced Russian pilot.

Dogfighting is a major test
of your skills as a pilot.

You're trying to manoeuvre the jet
as aggressively as you can to get

behind them and kill the other
aircraft as quickly as possible.

It's pretty much like a
fist-fight in the sky.

There's a little bit of nervousness.

It's important to put a good show
on for the boss, especially as one

of your first flights
on the squadron.

So, yeah, there's a little bit
of pressure there to,

you know, show him what you can do.

ENGINES WARM UP

I remember the first time
I ever took off in Typhoon.

I remember just giggling to myself
all the way down the runway.

ENGINES FIRE

It's just got more power
than you could

ever know what to do with.
It's an absolute beast.

It's ridiculous because the jet
weighs like 20 tonnes

and it just shifts like it
weighs nothing.

Harry must try to get his weapons
to lock on to Kev's jet,

simulating a kill shot.

The only rules are for safety. The
jets must stay at least 1,000 feet

apart and not go below base
height - a simulated ground level.

If you go through base, that's you
effectively flying into the ground.

HARRY GRUNTS

HARRY PANTS

Trying to get that missile locked,
it's an assault

on the senses and the body.

HE GROANS

I'm probably the most competitive
person I know.

It's like when we go to the
curry house,

it's all about who has
the hottest curry.

But ultimately, my job is to put
them in a situation

where they can beat me, as much
as I don't want them to.

Kev offers Harry a shooting
opportunity by heading straight

down towards the sea...

..and base height.

AUTOMATED VOICE: Pull up, pull up.

As Kev levels out,

Harry overshoots,

going below base.

I followed him down too
aggressively.

Probably a bit too much eagerness
from myself to try and get the kill.

Going through base, it's really
frustrating to have done that.

It's not unusual to see guys make
mistakes,

but there are fewer
fighter pilots in the UK

than there are Premier League
footballers,

so it's a very high bar.

How's that? Yeah, it's good.

Sound.

Pressure's on!

Oh! Oh, no!
LAUGHTER

Can't teach that, like.
Great technique.

Following an error in a
training dogfight,

junior pilot Harry's performance
must be analysed

by squadron boss Kev.

OK, right.

So, I thought your 3K offensive
was really great for the first 80%

and then you lost control
of it at the end.

OK, so I kind of forced
us down to base height,

but it seemed to create
you some closure problems.

So you had me absolutely bang
to rights, and I was hoping

that you would just saddle up
and absolutely destroy me.

But I think you flew through base
by about 150ft.

So we'll look at how you could
have dealt with that better.

Yeah. Yeah? Good.

You've got to be able to make
accurate decisions

with the blood draining away from
our head,

pulling a huge amount of G.

Ultimately, if he doesn't make
the grade,

he'll be removed from the job.

GUNSHOT

PHONE RINGS

WOMAN'S VOICE: Hello!

Hey, are you OK?
Yeah, good, thanks.

How's your day been?

It's been pretty long.

I just thought I'd show
you around the room up here.

Yeah, that'd be really good.

Standard-issue bed and then...
Do you manage to sleep OK?

Yeah, it's fine.

What about the noise from the jets?

Yeah, it's still annoying.

Yeah, I like flying them, don't
like the noise of them.

Yeah, so what about...?

Harry's recent posting to RAF
Lossiemouth is the furthest

he's had from family back in Cardiff.

A bit different, it's a bit
quieter than...

Mum pretty much gave up all her
weekends to

drive me to gliding school,
drop me off, pick me up.

She was always supporting me.

Isn't just about enough storage.

It sounds bizarre, but I could fly
before I could drive.

Have you got your own bathroom?

Yeah, a little en suite.

Nothing much, but it's nice
to have the privacy. Yeah.

Yeah, so I'll speak to you tomorrow.

All right, OK. All right, bye.
See you.

I thought getting into the Air Force
was the biggest hurdle

but flying training brings
its own challenges.

The learning curve is absolutely
endless because you think

you're making progress and then

you realise there are 101 more
things that you don't know.

You've got to just cram as much
as you can into every hour

to learn as much as you can to get
through it.

And it's not uncommon to see
50% of a course fail.

Think I'm getting it.

How's it looking, Callum, all good?

Amazing. Amazing? Excellent.

Spanning two square miles,

RAF Lossiemouth is the size
of a small town,

equipped with its own fire station...

..police station...

..and shops.

All right, cheers. Thank you,
have a nice day. Cheers.

See you in a bit.

I've just came back from Falklands.

Personnel are stationed
here, on average,

for three years at a time.

It's cold there, was it all right?

It's all right, but it's just cold.

You all right, mate?

Right, have a nice day.

All right, all right, all right!

Lovely colour on them mushrooms
there, chef.

This is where it's at, really.

Traying out the bacon, MasterChef
and professionals can keep it.

This is where the real chefs hang
out.

Yes! We are cooked.

If it's brown, it's cooked.
If it's black, it's...

You know what I'm going to say,
don't you?

My role is to provide food for the
masses, for the troops.

An army marches on its stomach,
and even though we're flying,

we still need everybody ready.

Every day, Phil and his team feed up
to 1,000 people across the base.

Customer! Any eggs, sir?

Poached egg, please. One? Two.

Two poached eggs, here we go.

Two poached eggs, please!

Hash browns are...cooked through.
Lovely.

Not keeping on top of your due
diligence in the kitchen

can be catastrophic.

So imagine if I poisoned
everyone, that's it!

Because the last thing you want
is the shits in a Typhoon.

Think about it... Brown windscreen.
HE LAUGHS

Lovely!

We live in turbulent times.

The RAF, it's the constant state
of readiness.

I'm fully aware that at any moment
I could be getting shipped

off to Ukraine or a neighbouring
country.

That's the harsh reality of it.

Beautiful! Yes!

NEWSREADER: While the world watches
events in Ukraine, NATO is watching

the skies above the Baltic states,
worried this could be the next

target of Russian aggression.

NEWSREADER: This is NATO's frontline
with Russia.

REPORTER: As tensions with Russia
continue...

Lossiemouth's 9 Squadron
has been deployed to

Amari Air Base in Eastern Europe.

Working with the German Air Force on
NATO's frontline,

200 miles from the Russian border.

HE BLOWS INTO HIS HANDS

I have never felt cold like it.

I'm like, "Oh, my God!"
HE LAUGHS

It is a shock to the system, like.
Jesus!

I am from Scotland, not
far from Lossiemouth.

From a young age, I remember seeing
the Tornado fly by my school

and I thought to myself,
"I want a bit of that."

And instead of thinking
I want to fly them,

I went more realistic and I thought,
"I want to fix them."

Hello, MTV, and welcome to my crib.

He's not spared any expense. Nope.

I've got somewhere to sleep,

I've got somewhere to sit
and I've got somewhere to shit.

It's all I need.
LAUGHTER

For the last month, mechanic Mitch
has been living and working

in a hangar alongside Typhoon jets.

We're all here for a purpose.

My job's to get the aircraft
in the air.

It's literally eat, sleep,
rinse, repeat.

And I enjoy it.

Severely enjoy it.

The skies along the front line
with Russia are constantly monitored

for any of Putin's military.

ALARM BLARES

Go, go, get the door!

A suspected Russian plane
is closing on NATO airspace.

Mitch has just minutes to get
a Typhoon airborne.

Very happy with that.

I'm not going to lie to you,

it's the busiest I've seen it since
being here, that's for sure.

Typhoon pilot Jake has arrived
in Estonia at a time when the number

of Russian warplanes being detected
is increasing.

Landing in Estonia,

suddenly it kind of strikes home
like, you know,

this is the front line.

I'm in a country that borders
Russia now.

We are as close to the enemy
as you could be.

He must now work 24-hour shifts,
ready to scramble at any moment.

Just warming the jet up.

Just getting her on state.

All good.

Looking good so far.

Before I go flying, I'll kind
of put my hand on the aeroplane

and I kind of say a couple of words
to it, and I just kind of feel

like that kind of bond
with it in a weird way.

Like, you know, it is a machine

but, you know, at the end of the
day,

she's kind of ultimately in charge

because if she doesn't want to go
up, she ain't goin'.

HE SIGHS

Yep. Yep. Still a plane.

Still attached. All good.

Don't know what I'm looking at.

I'm going to pretend I do.

Yep, something made a clicking
noise.

I'll ignore it.
HE LAUGHS

That's not going in the film.
RAF will say,

"Nope. He's not taking the piss
out of one of our pilots."

HE LAUGHS
They pretend to know

what they're looking at on
the jet...

..when we guide them to the right
solution.

That's why we're the SMEs.

Subject matter experts.

We have to be ready 24/7
at a moment's notice.

But before the alarm goes
off, it's pretty chill.

We would have a lot of
grey-haired people

if we constantly lived
in the environment of,

"Oh, my God! Oh, my God! A jet's
going to go any minute now.

"What do I do?"

Oh, my stamina, my stamina!

Get away! Get away!

Will you move, you...prick?
LAUGHTER

What's going on, y'all? Hey!

Anything going on?

Every single fighter pilot
should be sat there just praying

that the buzzer goes off
because I want to be the one

to do the job.

Right now, what we're hoping
for is for the buzzer to go

and me to go flying.

We'll do one first, then two.
All right?

Catch!
LAUGHTER

I won't fall over this time.
HE LAUGHS

DOGS BARK

The dogs, they protect, they look
after everyone while they're asleep.

Want to swap?

I made the wrong choice.
SHE LAUGHS

Never work with animals or children.

And here I am working with both.

I've been working in here
for 17 years.

We're kind of part of the furniture.

So there was a guy who handed his
jacket in.

I found...a thong.

And I was like, "You've left
something in your pocket."

Oh, my God! The look on his face.

THEY LAUGH

Big, massive snowboard bag.

HE HUMS

Moving house.

As you can see.

After three years at RAF Lossiemouth,

Phil has received fresh orders.

He's being reposted to a different
base 600 miles away.

Been posted down to RAF Odiham

and we're going to make
a new life down there.

I'm quite sad to leave, to be
honest, yeah.

It's been... It's been brilliant.

But, um, time to move on.

It's weird.

Really weird.

Getting posted, the upheaval is
quite significant.

You need an understanding wife.
HE LAUGHS

He takes everything in his stride,
Phil, he's very cool,

nothing's a bother,
it'll all be fine.

And it usually is.

But it's just me in the background
going, "Argh!"

Right, wicked.

Although, like, the military gives
you a certain amount of money

to relocate somewhere,
that can all disappear.

There's like a move-in standard
and move-out standard.

The garden must be cultivated

or the borders must be weeded
and stuff like that.

Curtains must be washed,
ironed and hung back up.

So, if you leave your house in
a shit tip,

you're going to get charged
a load of money for it.

Oh, yes, see we're clean,
we're clean.

Clean and tidy people, aren't we?

But before Phil heads south,

he has one final duty to undertake.

Chippy, chippy, chippies!

Chips on another level,
if I do say so myself.

Good chip. That's a good chip.

So I only had to cut 450 of those.

That was boring.

Right, let's get them in the oven.

Tonight, some of Lossiemouth's
senior figures are being given

a formal dinner in the mess.

INDISTINCT CHATTER

So they're sitting down now,
are they? Yeah.

So I need to crack on.

Nothing's certain.
Nothing's forever.

It's not unusual for me to just get
told last minute

that you've got to go somewhere and
do this, do that.

50 degrees.

That's the filet de boeuf.

That is what being in the military
is all about.

You've got to be ready.

This is the time now where
it's like, if you've got

your timing's right, everything's
going to be all right.

If they stop for like... have ten
minutes of speeches

or something like that,

your fillets of beef, they're
going to continue cooking,

you know, then they're going
to be over.

And then it's all, you know,
who looks like a dick?

Me, not them.

OVEN BUZZER
Oh!

This is the tray I want out first.

Just want to execute it, get it
right, you know what I mean?

Good.

It's professional pride, isn't it?

Do it your best. Put some love
into the food.

Right, lovely.

INDISTINCT CHATTER

Taste sensation, this.

LAUGHTER
Can't fasten my button anyways.

LAUGHTER

Hoo! Right. Job done.

Woo!

Station commander, gents.
Raise a glass.

The culinary team.

APPLAUSE

Oh! Right, yeah, that's it. I'm out.

Peace and love!

HE LAUGHS

Cheers!

Junior pilot Harry is approaching
the deadline

to pass as combat ready.

The squadron training him
will soon be deploying overseas.

This is all I've wanted to do for
almost as long as I can remember.

So it is important not just for
myself, but also for my family

that I stay on the right line
so that all the support

they've given me isn't wasted.

Once again, he's facing a
crucial dogfight

against 2 Squadron's
commanding officer, Kev.

I think it's all about just
performing as best as I can

and trying to learn something
new as well.

There's pressure to perform,
but this is the hour to do it.

I joined up eight years ago

and I'm tantalisingly close now to
go out on ops.

This is the last little hurdle now.

I want to get through it
and start doing the job.

This time, Harry's defensive skills
are being put to the test.

He must evade missile lock
for at least five minutes.

There's nothing I love more
in this job than proper air combat,

gloves off and winning.

It's kind of like if you'd been
caught speeding

and you had the police chasing
you down a motorway.

It's like trying to shake
the police off your tail.

When you're defensive,
you're looking over your shoulder

and pulling G at the same time.

It's just a horrible experience.

HE GRUNTS AND PANTS

Absolutely don't want to get
shot because in real life,

the consequences
of that are pretty tragic.

A minute into the flight, Kev's
closing in for the kill.

But Harry climbs aggressively to
safety.

Every manoeuvre you do and you look
back over your shoulder

and they're still there.

And it's really frustrating to
have someone with

that much experience behind you.

AUTOMATED VOICE: Speed low, recover.

Speed low, recover.
Speed low, recover.

Harry's successfully kept
Kev out of range

for more than six minutes...

..but can't fully shake him off.

OK, Right.

We've got absolutely no worries

about your general development.

You're absolutely on course
to deploy with us.

And you're exactly where you need to
be on that trajectory, right now.

So, well done. Sweet, thanks.

It means that we trust him
to go into a war zone.

And when we deploy, I fully expect
Harry to be coming with us.

Oh! Have we bought knock off beers
or something?

LAUGHTER

I've always thought Typhoon
pilots were elite pilots.

So, to be in that company,
it's a great sense of achievement.

Cheers, boys!

But equally, this is where things
get real now.

The next jet you see might not
be a friendly one,

so consequences are real.

PHONE RINGS

ALARM BLARES

Go, go, go!

Seven hours into Jake's shift,
a suspected Russian aircraft

is spotted approaching NATO airspace.

Get the door!

ALARM CONTINUES

When the alarm goes, you know,
the heart rate starts

going up and you kind of have a half
second where certain parts

of your body tense up quite a lot.

It's almost like the Matrix, you
know?

"I know Kung Fu." Boof! In it goes,
you're like,

"Right, sweet, we're off to go and
do a pilot thing now."

He went into FRS... Yeah.

..but then he just went down power.

So they put power back in,
went out on the FRS...

..and just sat waiting.
I don't know what...

We think the pilot's had an issue.

They're preparing the second jet
just in case.

Hopefully it's nothing major

because we have only got
two jets that can fly.

Looking like they're taking the
spare.

I don't know what the issue is,

but it's definitely bad enough
that we can't fly with it.

Something's happening.

There we go.

We've got action.

Runway 06 queuing into 1032.
Correct.

HE LAUGHS

Jake's orders are to work
with a German pilot to intercept

the suspected Russian plane
over the Baltic Sea,

where it was last spotted just
30 miles from NATO airspace.

I'm just looking into this deep,
dark blue, searching desperately

for this aeroplane.

It's like, "Ah! I can see
something.

"I don't know what it is,
but there's something there,

"and it's where I expect it to be."

The plane flying towards Estonia is
a Russian military passenger jet.

It's effectively a VIP jet.

Now you have those other questions
of like, you know, who's on board?

Is it someone important on there?

Jake's ordered to follow the plane
closely, ensuring it doesn't cross

into NATO airspace.

Looking out the window and we can
see these two

straight lines of cloud
coming our way.

You don't know what's going on,
but there's something there.

Here they come.

You're just there like, "Oh, my God!
That's a Russian fighter."

Ooh! It's starting to get real now.

You sit up in your seat.

It's that uncertainty of,
like, what's going on?

What are they thinking?

What are they going to do?

RAF pilot Jake is tracking a Russian
military passenger jet

close to NATO airspace.

He's just been joined by
two Russian fighters.

Flying alongside Russian
fighter aircraft.

I can see they've got missiles
underneath.

Time kind of slows down.

Your vision narrows.

You're thinking about what is
it they're trying to do?

The fighters roll out ahead of us
to escort the little business jet.

It raises obvious questions in your
head of who's on board that's

so important that you need to send
these fighters to escort it.

The Russian planes are flying

just 12 miles out from NATO airspace.

Jake must ensure they don't stray
into it.

If you fly within someone's
sovereign airspace,

that is a big deal.
That is a huge deal.

We're here to show a united front.

If you come into this country, there
are going to be consequences.

There is going to be a reaction.

Very quickly, these two fighters
start to pitch down.

It's that uncertainty of what's
going through his mind?

What's his task? What's he willing
to do to achieve it?

I lose sight of them.

I can't see them
under the aeroplane.

Now I'm starting to worry.

They'll just slow down for no
reason,

sometimes they'll speed up for no
reason.

It's very difficult to determine
where those acts are coming from.

You know, is it coming directly
down from Putin himself?

Is this guy just trying
to endanger my aeroplane

because that's what his mindset is?
I don't know.

There is a degree of, you know,
playing mind games.

But if I make an error, the result
can be pretty catastrophic.

If I get caught up in the moment
and accidentally collide with one

of these aircraft, it could lead to
an escalation into World War III.

Where your heart is going
a million beats per minute

because you've got all those things
in the back of your head.

But I know I just need to not
antagonise and try and keep

on task.

With Jake holding the line,

the Russian planes have started
to return to Russian airspace.

It becomes apparent that there's
no longer a threat.

And at that point, it's kind
of like,

right, sweet. Good effort, guys.
Job done.

Right, so we'll look through them
first and I want to do

a consumables check.

At Amari Air Base, the jet that
failed to start up in the scramble

is being examined by Mitch and his
team.

We need to get this jet back online
by the time the next jet comes down.

If not, we're just going
to be chasing our own arses

because that jet needs to be turned
around and put back

on state as well.

So, wait and see what happens
when the power goes on.

The Typhoon's a flying computer.

If it said, "I am broken," generally
the first reaction is turn it off,

turn it back on. Hard reset.

Nothing in there. Nothing in there.

That's it, innit?

So, it looks like the error hasn't
come back,

so it was confirmed to be spurious.

So, we have a confirmed serviceable
jet on state, ready to go.

So a lot of stress, a lot
of panic over something

that the jet's just thrown at us.

All good, sir? All good. Perfect.

To go and pull these fighter jets
around the sky

and intercept Russians is awesome.

You could do a whole career
and never get that opportunity.

I would say that I don't outwardly
enjoy flying very often whilst

I'm doing it.

There and then in the moment I tend
to just be focused on the job.

Once you land, you can kind
of reflect on it and go,

"Actually, that was pretty cool."

I'd say it's a, you know,
certainly mission accomplished.

I think we did a good job.

It sounds like a busy scramble.

How was it?
Yeah, it was pretty good.

We got up pretty quickly, routed
north and effectively vectored

onto the first group coming
from Saint Petersburg,

which is pretty cool.

We managed to get alongside
and then kind of sit with them

for kind of the transit back north
before hauling off home, so...

..pretty busy. Yeah, it sounds like
a busy sortie.

Yeah, it was. A good day out.

INDISTINCT CHATTER, LAUGHTER

The Estonian people,

they're probably thinking, "Well, if
Putin is going to invade Ukraine,

"what's to stop him coming
into our country next?"

So the mission is really important.

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