ROYAL AIR FORCE STATION NORTHOLT JOURNAL; An Olympics Vigil, From 30,000 Feet

ROYAL AIR FORCE STATION NORTHOLT, England -- More than 70 years after squadrons of Spitfire and Hurricane fighters flew from here into an epic air battle with Hitler's Luftwaffe, pilots flying the fastest fighter interceptors in Britain's modern arsenal have been cast in a similar role. But instead of waves of German bombers in the Battle of Britain, these pilots are guarding against a more elusive enemy: terrorists who might seek to rain destruction on the Olympic Games from the air. While the pilots are loath to talk about the threat, officials acknowledge that they have prepared for a nightmare situation in which terrorists hijack an airliner or executive jet and try to fly it into the 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium or one of the other 30 or more spectator-packed sites around the capital. The specter of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington hangs over the operation, and the lessons learned from those attacks are central to the planning of the mission here.