Product Description

RAF Flight lieutenants John Peters and John Nichol were shot down over enemy territory on their first airbourne mission of the Gulf War. Their capture in the desert, half a mile from their blazing Tornado bomber, began a nightmare seven-week ordeal of torture and interrogation which brought both men close to death. In Tornado Down, John Peters and John Nichol tell the incredible story of their part in the war against Saddam Hussien's regime. It is a brave and shocking and totally honest story: a story about war and its effects on the hearts and minds of men.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #136760 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-31
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

About the Author
Peters and Nichol

Customer Reviews

When the Tornados are down...
One of the most unusual stories from the Gulf war, because the men who went to drop the bombs get to be on the recieving end of other men who come to drop bombs on them. As well as appearing on Iraqi TV (John Nichols later found fame introducing airshows for the BBC), the 2 servicemen are more articulate than the average pilot (who are known for speaking only with their hands) and refreshingly honest throughout the whole story.
The first part of the book tells the details of flying a fast jet, and a few perculiarities of the Tornado. A cut-away daigram and pictures of both front and back seat cockpits add to the description. The roles of piolt and Navigator are skimmed over, with enough detaiklto make sense. Later, these details are crucial, for the tornado is downed really because Nichols fails to press a button in the attack sequence. The story is not full of flying escapades as this is the first and only daylight low-level raid of the war, and the 2 patriotic authors dismiss blaming their authorities for what was probably a botch up of timing on the first day of the air war.
It is this honest patriotic stance that fills the book, and explains why these 2 got so much fame and credit afterwards, with a Channel 4 film of the same and a TV job full stop. Well they were still in the employment of the RAF, and the reality of going to war was a strange shock even though they had been preparing for it for years.
After the agonising decision to eject, the fun really starts for these 2, with a crawl through the desert near the very airbase they had attempted to attack, then the showing bullet welcome form their captors, to the first of endless beatings and ferrying around Iraq, before being incarcerarted in a well built prison, that ironocally becomes their shelter when it is bombed, and the guards are killed as they take shelter. Teh descriptions are horrible, and what seems to be hidden behind all these experiences is the inevitable trauma that they all mount up to.
Nichols affirms from his prison cell that he rarely goes to church. But prayer gacve him immense strength. Other colleques died, but these survivors get to refelct on what is important to them (family, using what they have earned for good etc...) and the book ends fittingly with a dignified funeral for fallen collegues from their squadron, and a quote from Phillippians chapter 4 (The Bible), so what more could you want in such a book?

Tornado Down
This has got to be the best ever book i've read, couldn't put it down for a second I always wanted to know what happens next. I would recommend this book to anyone, it show just how evil the iraqi soldier can be & how brave John Peters, John Nichol & the other POW are.

No nonsense insight of how it was
This book is a real insight into the RAF and the run up of the Golf War. Neither men portray themselves as `heroes' nor do they pretend to make up a story to give the impression they were some kind of James Bond.

They tell a terrifying story of being shot down and captured. Both explain their expectation of being killed and the joys of being released. Sorry to use to the pun, but this book is difficult to put down once started and I would recommend it to all. Trilling, terrifying and insightful, this book is one of the best I have read!