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• Naval Lives

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  • Wayland Austin

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Learning

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Wayland Austin

Article highlights

• The career of an Air Traffic Controller who served in the Gulf War

• Austin and the Navy

• HMS Gloucester and the Gulf War

• Operation Desert Shield

• At war - Silkworm attack

• End of the War

Operation Desert Shield

Once HMS Gloucester and Sub Lieutenant Austin arrived in the Gulf during Operation Desert Shield they quickly settled into a routine.

HMS Gloucester normally rotated patrol duties with HMS Cardiff, the other Type 42 destroyer in the Operation. Austin remembers the tedium of patrolling the Gulf -

'We used to do about seven or eight days out on patrol and then three or four days back in doing some maintenance, just some R & R for the boys, and just, sort of being able to relax. You know sit by a pool and drink a beer."

HMS Gloucester going through Suez Canal (RN FPU)

When on patrol the tense atmosphere of waiting for the conflict to begin was mixed with long hours of doing relatively little. Christmas was spent in harbour and New Year's Eve was spent at sea, which was a strange experience for Austin -

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Austin describes spending New Year's Eve on patrol. (RNM)

To read a transcript of this oral history follow the link

Wayland wasn't waiting long before excitement came to the ships crew in the form of 16 Iraqi Mirage Jet fighters.

'We [the USS Warden and the HMS Gloucester] just happened to be the two guys who were the furthest north in our sort of our designated boxes, patrol areas and we watched these Iraqi Aircraft, coming straight down towards us and we thought, "Uh oh maybe this is the pre-emptive strike that we've all been waiting for". First we saw four, then we saw eight and then sort of 12 and then we saw 16 and we thought, "Goodness me, this is getting serious". We were under, we were not at war, nothing had been declared. We were still working under very, very strict rules of engagement.'

Iraqi planes locked on to the US jet fighters and USS Warden's missile system. As the planes edged closer, tensions rose until finally the Iraqi planes took a sharp right towards Kuwait and away from the task force.

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Austin explains how he felt during the air threat. (RNM)

To read a transcript of this oral history follow the link