John Nichol (RAF officer)

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Flight Lieutenant John Nichol is a retired Royal Air Force navigator who was shot down and captured during the first Gulf War.

On his first mission during Operation Desert Storm, an ultra-low level daylight mission on Ar Rumaylah airfield, while acting as number two to Squadron Leader Paul "Pablo" Mason, his Panavia Tornado was fatally hit, and he was captured by the military of Iraq.^[1] After capture he was shown, bruised, on Iraqi television. John Nichol was released by the Iraqis at the end of the Gulf War. He remained in the RAF until 1996^[2]

On repatriation by the Red Cross, Nichol co-authored a book, Tornado Down, with his pilot John Peters, about this experience. He has gone on to write fiction. He now makes occasional appearances on British television. John also makes occasional appearances on the radio as a stand in presenter on talkSport and is available as a motivational speaker.^[3]

Since 'Tornado Down', Nichol has written over ten books including five novels 'Point of Impact', 'Vanishing Point', 'Exclusion Zone', 'Stinger' and 'Decisive Measures'. His latest books provide extensive eyewitness accounts of World War II history and include 'The Last Escape'^[4] which tells the harrowing story of Allied POWs in the closing stages of the war, 'Tail-End Charlies' which gives an insight into the final battles of the Allied bomber campaign in WWII and 'Home Run' which recounts the experiences of escaped Allied POWs evading capture in Europe behind enemy lines.