Fighter planes at Northolt for the first time since WWII as elite RAF say they will shoot down passenger jets to protect Olympics

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 17:25 GMT, 2 May 2012 | UPDATED: 00:23 GMT, 3 May 2012

Elite fighter pilots say they are ‘trained and prepared’ to shoot down a hijacked passenger plane to prevent a 9/11-style suicide attack on the Olympics.

Four Typhoon jets will be on standby to intercept ‘rogue’ aircraft intent on causing carnage at London 2012.

Normally the RAF’s Quick Reaction Alert jets are based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire and RAF Leuchars in Fife to defend UK airspace. But the 1,370mph planes will also be stationed at RAF Northolt, in west London, during the Olympics.

It is the first time fighters have been based at the airfield since the Second World War.

The £125million jets – which fought in battle for the first time in Libya last year – landed in London yesterday ahead of a major military exercise to test Games security.

They will provide a first line of defence against attack from the air and are capable of intercepting any aircraft that strays without permission into a ‘restricted’ zone 30 miles around the capital.

If a rogue aircraft refuses to turn back, Prime Minister David Cameron could give the order for the fighters to shoot it down – even if it was carrying civilians.

A smaller ‘no-fly zone’ will be in place over the Olympic Park, Heathrow Airport and London City Airport, into which only scheduled flights will be allowed.

FULL STORY: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2138488/Typhoon-fighter-pla...