On a cold, wet day in April, the Royal Air Force (RAF) Typhoon Display Team revealed its newly painted 29 Squadron Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 at RAF Coningsby in rural Lincolnshire; the multi-role fighter jet’s ‘FM-G codes’ quickly earned it the nickname ‘Moggy’.
The Typhoon Display Team’s diversity was immediately obvious that spring day, with several women among the five full-time members and many volunteers on the program. Just over a month later, the team gained its public display authority, and since then, team manager Flight Lieutenant Nina Wilkinson reckons her bloodstream has been 50% caffeine!
Together with her colleagues, she enjoyed a busy 2024 airshow season that saw the team perform in Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, and Wales before the season ended on 5 October.
Wilkinson’s four full-time colleagues were pilot Flt Lt David ‘Turbo’ Turnbull, engineering manager Sergeant Polly McKinlay, deputy engineering manager Sgt John Grimmer, and digital media manager, Corporal Jamie Platts.
“We also had a team of around 80 volunteers from across 29 Sqn and RAF Coningsby who made up the three deployable engineering teams, and the public relations teams,” Wilkinson explains.
The Typhoon taxies at RAF Coningsby during its public display authority approval campaign on 20 May. Image: UK MoD Crown Copyright 2024
Most shows required the display aircraft and sometimes a spare to deploy away from their Coningsby home. The supporting engineers were therefore arranged as three teams, named Lightning, Phantom, and Tornado, and carefully managed by McKinlay to ensure each had an even split of display commitments, that no one worked two weekends in a row, and that each team experienced at least one overseas trip.
Wilkinson says displaying at a UK venue requires ‘a whole ream of admin’ and credits the ‘absolutely incredible team’ across RAF Coningsby for its support. Taking the jet overseas required yet another level of organization.
“I completed a host of legal paperwork and documentation for every display and for an overseas display there was also ensuring diplomatic clearances were in place for the personnel and the aircraft, completing NATO Travel Orders, booking civilian flights for the team, filing flight plans for the Typhoon, getting clearances for the trucks driving our engineering kit around, and so much more,” she says. “The Canada trip was unique in that the Royal Canadian Air Force provided all the air transport we needed.”
Wilkinson’s route into the RAF was unconventional. She worked as a marketer before joining as a junior aviator and then commissioning as an officer. “I hope that commissioning from the ranks has made me a much better officer and I think my civilian marketing experience lent itself perfectly to the display team role,” she confides.
Previously lauded as an exemplar of diversity and inclusivity, the RAF’s reputation has suffered recently after various allegations of impropriety emerged. Wilkinson’s experience has been entirely positive, however.
She describes her ten years so far as phenomenal, adding: “In my opinion the RAF has always set an example in the way it treats women in service; our ethos of being a modern fighting force shines through in the way we treat our people and it’s one of the things that makes me proud to be in the RAF.”
The Typhoon Display Team aircraft, Typhoon FGR4 ZJ913 was painted to commemorate a 257 Sqn Hawker Typhoon that flew a mission on D-Day, 6 June, 1944. The 80th anniversary of D-Day was a major theme for the year. Image: UK MoD Crown Copyright 2024
As for what comes next in her career, Wilkinson acknowledges: “Managing the Typhoon Display Team is a hard one to top, especially because we did so much more in 2024 than in a normal season.
“We unveiled a new paint scheme, celebrated the 80th anniversary of D-Day, performed fly pasts with The Red Arrows and two Spitfires, celebrated the Royal Canadian Air Force’s centenary, flew with a CF-18, marked the 30th birthday of the Eurofighter Typhoon, filmed for a new TV series, and welcomed Sweden to NATO!
“But I’m still quite junior in my career and the RAF is one big adventure, so I have faith that whatever comes next — likely an operational tour overseas — will be just as exciting.”
Highlights of the season for Wilkinson included this formation with the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team The Red Arrows over Normandy, France, marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day on June 6. Image: UK MoD Crown Copyright 2024
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Featured image credited to UK MoD Crown Copyright 2024
