RAF Tornados Refuel In Ultimate Pit Stop

It is perhaps the ultimate pit stop - as we travel high up in Turkish airspace, the RAF Tornado fighter jets glide into position alongside us.

They connect with the fuel lines and top up their tanks at 300mph.

Two jets have latched onto the lines trailing behind a much bigger Voyager plane that we are travelling on.

It is the middle of the night and we are watching the sharp end of the UK's humanitarian efforts for displaced people in the Sinjar mountains in northern Iraq.

The Tornados are providing humanitarian relief

Without this support plane, the Tornados would not be able to cover the ground that they need to.

We can't be told exactly what and how the Tornado crews are scanning below them but their information is being shared among those nations who have decided to pitch in and help in this crisis.

The stories of torture and suffering have made this a mission where the British forces know they can make an immediate and significant contribution.

The Voyager also acts as a passenger plane

The UK focus is, for now, on humanitarian aid while the Americans have sanctioned their own air strikes on the Islamic State militants who have been terrorising minority communities in northern Iraq.

The RAF crews are working day-to-day on their mission, unsure whether it will ramp up or wind down in the next 24 hours.

Prepare For Tomorrow is part of the motto at their base at Akrotiri where we land on the southern tip of Cyprus.

The teams are still doing that but, with this particular mission, nobody quite knows what tomorrow will bring.

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