Fly Past

92 RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION BOMBERS

PANAVIA TORNADO

TORNADOTORNADO

PANAVIA

1918 2018

T

here is a strong argument

that the Tornado is the most

significant warplane the RAF

has operated since World War Two

• perhaps of all time. Since the First
  Gulf War of 1991 the Tornado force
  has been almost constantly on call,
  acting as what the RAF calls “a rapid
  and flexible crisis response tool”.
  From the middle of this year the
  Marham Tornado units, 9, 12 and 31
  Squadrons, will begin to wind down
  as the Lockheed Martin F-35B begins
  to gear up and replace the venerable
  ‘swing-wing’ jets. It is intended that
  the final Tornados will be paid off in
  2019, having completed nearly four
  decades of service, more than half of
  that in combat situations.
  The BAC/Sud Concorde supersonic
  transport proved that multi-
  nation production programmes
  were possible and led to the very
  successful Anglo-French SEPECAT
  Jaguar strike fighter. Beyond this
  Britain, Germany and Italy pooled
  resources and formed the Panavia
  conglomerate to develop the Multi-
  Role Combat Aircraft, which gelled
  as the Tornado.
  The prototype was flown at
  Manching in West Germany on
  August 14, 1974 followed by the
  British prototype at Warton, 78
  days later. As noted below, the first
  deliveries in the UK were in July 1980
  to a groundbreaking, multi-national
  establishment.
  The first operational RAF unit was
  9 Squadron at Honington, which
  received its GR.1s from January 1982.
  With the withdrawal of the maritime
  strike Hawker Siddeley Buccaneers
  in 1983, the GR.1B was introduced,
  equipped with Sea Eagle anti-surface
  vessel missiles.
  The fleet has constantly received
  upgrades, the most significant
  being the greatly enhanced GR4.
  The prototype conversion, XZ631,
  flew on May 29, 1993 and the first
  example was handed over for service
  in October 1997. (The RAF altered its
  long-held designation system in 2008,

by removing full stops, hence GR4,

not GR.4.)

Developed solely for the RAF was

the Tornado ADV – air defence

variant – stand-off interceptor that

served from 1984 to 2011. It is

described in the sister publication RAF

Centenary Celebration Fighters.

TRI-NATIONAL

Just as the entire Tornado programme

benefited from the economies

of scale, so it was decided the

initial conversion training for

pilots would be undertaken by a

single, multi-national, unit. This

was the Tri-National Tornado

Training Establishment (TTTE)

at Cottesmore, which took its first

aircraft in July 1980.

Officially inaugurated on January

29, 1981 TTTE was completely

integrated, aircraft flew from the

Right

A Tornado GR.1 of

Laarbruch-based

20 Squadron in Gulf

War ‘pink’ colours

with a pair of ALARM

anti-radiation

missiles under the

centre section and

a pair of 465-gallon

‘Hindenburg’ long-

range tanks on the

inner wing pylons.

GEOFF LEE -

BRITISH AEROSPACE

Below right

Cockpit of a

Tornado GR.1.

BRITISH AEROSPACE

1981 TO PRESENT