The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017 87The MulTi-Role ToRnado
BAC was uneasy about the challenge
of flying the combination of a new
airframe and a new engine and would
have preferred to have been able to use
an existing, tried and tested powerplant.
The engine had to be created to a very
short timescale. The timing proved most
unfortunate, as problems developed with
the RB199 engine which coincided with
Rolls-Royce’s entry into receivership,
resulting in nationalisation in 1971.
Maiden flight
Each country flew an allotted number of
prototypes and tested them from their
bases; BAC at Warton, MBB at Manching
and Fiat at Caselle. Nine prototypes
(P.01-09) were provided for in the tripartite
Memorandum of Understanding, plus
one non-flying example (P.10) assembled
at Warton for static testing. Six pre-
production machines were also built
(P.11-16).
The first flight was scheduled for
December 1973 and this target appeared
easy to achieve as the first prototype
D-9591 (98+04) was completed at
Ottobrunn in February 1973 and moved
by road to Manching. The Germans had
insisted on this honour as at the time they
were buying the largest number of
aircraft but Sir Freddie Page (BAC Military
Aircraft Division Managing Director)
ensured in return that a British pilot, Paul
Millett, would fly it with his German
counterpart Neils Meister in the back seat.Following reassembly at Manching trials
ensued to check all the systems, the
engines and the telemetry. Non-flight
RB199s were used for initial ground
running and taxiing tests. When flight
cleared, engines arrived and were
installed the compressor of the left one
exploded during its first full power run.
Four months later, on 14 August 1974 it
finally made its first flight, climbing to
10,000 ft and performing well. On the
second flight the wings were swept for
the first time without any problems in
trim or aerodynamics. On the subsequent
flight the pilots reversed positions and
then the German test pilots took over the
testing of the P.01. The first aircraft’s initial
role was to expand and confirm the flight A 12 Squadron
Tornado GR4 flying
through the ‘Mach
Loop’ in Wales.
(BAE SYSTEMS North
West Heritage)