22:57

The pilots and other aircrew at the home of the Tornados, RAF Marham in Norfolk, have been working to get two more jets ready to fly out to reinforce UK planes already in action as quickly as possible after the Commons vote.

They will bring the total number of Tornados up to 10, allowing the RAF to increase sorties from two a day.

Captain Richard Davies, a Tornado pilot and station commander, said: “We have aircraft at a readiness state so they are prepared and ready to deploy.”

How soon could the RAF be in action over Syria ? “If a vote yes, if Tornados flying at that time and if there is a target in Syria, UK bombing could happen overnight … If all those ducks are aligned and the aircraft are airborne at that moment and a target comes up they will go. It depends where they are. If we are airborne in Iraq and the vote is yes we could be targeting on that mission,” Davies said.

Engineers and ground crew were working on the two jets while the air crew underwent last-minute training in the air and with simulators.

Some of the staff have already flown missions over Iraq and see little difference in expanding into Syria other than relishing the prospect of the freedom of being able to continue pursuit of Islamic State on the other side of the border.

In pooled copy from the base, one of the weapons crew, whose has to remain anonymous, was asked by a reporter what it felt like when he knew he was going to fire a weapon.

“Blood pressure goes up, heart rate increases. You hear breathing rates increase and you know the next event will be potentially the weapon coming off the aircraft. Once you get over that initial ‘right this is it’. then ….it is part of the routine.”

For some weapons, it is just a matter of of sending them to a GPS coordinate. But the Brimstone missile, touted by prime minister David Cameron as a precision weapon that reduces the chance of civilian casualties, the weapons operator said that if “you have fired something like Brimstone then you can have another peak in your blood pressure and your breathing and your heart rate (goes up) especially as a back seater (weapons systems operator) because I am now guiding that weapon into the target.”

One of the pilots, also anonymous, added: “The weapon is very precise. You can deploy it extremely accurately. It has got a small warhead, which means there is a limited effect. Hopefully you will only have the effect that you want on the target. You can employ in an urban area and have the desired effect that you want on the target and people standing only a number of yards away from it will hear a bang but can expect to be unaffected by that warhead going off.”