Fly Past

100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE

BOMBERS RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION 93

PANAVIA TORNADO

base carrying RAF,
Luftwaffe and Aeronautica Militare
Italiana markings. Daily a British
instructor could be training an Italian
pilot in a German-owned aircraft,
or any other combination. This also
applied to maintenance and ground
school personnel at Cottesmore.
Beyond TTTE, the three nations
handled their own specialist routes to
operational squadrons. For example,
after Cottesmore RAF Tornado
aircrew moved to the Tornado
Weapons Conversion Unit (TWCU)

at Honington from August 1981. The
role of TWCU was absorbed into 15
Squadron from April 1992.
Fleet sizes contracted in the mid-
1990s and the TTTE closed, with
each nation taking responsibility for
Tornado aircrew training within their
own boundaries. A ceremony was held
at Cottesmore on March 31, 1999 to
disband TTTE, bringing to an end a
unique RAF unit.

WAGING PEACE
A large force of Tornados began to
assemble at Muharraq in Bahrain, and
Dhahran and Tabuk in Saudi Arabia
from late August 1990 as the United

Nations-mandated coalition began to

build in response to the Iraqi invasion

of Kuwait. RAF Tornados were in

the thick of the combat, which was

known as Operation ‘Granby’ in

the RAF and ‘Desert Storm’ across

the allies, in the precision strike and

missile site suppression roles.

Tornados flew more than 1,500 ‘ops’

during the short campaign of January

and February 1991. Four aircraft were

lost to surface-to-air missiles or anti-

aircraft artillery and three aircrew were

killed. Beyond Granby, Tornados were

involved in no-fly zone policing of

Iraqi airspace.

With the fall of the twin towers in

New York on September 11, 2001

the nature of military operations

changed irreversibly. RAF Tornados

were deployed to Afghanistan in

2009, replacing Harriers in Operation

‘Herrick’. It was late 2014 when

RAF strike assets were removed from

Afghanistan.

Between March 20 and April 3,

2003 coalition forces were again at

war with Iraq, this time toppling the

Hussein regime. During Operation

‘Telic’, the Second Gulf War, Tornados

took part in 1,353 combat sorties. The

Tornado force was involved in strikes

within Iraq against insurgent forces

until May 2009 when the last mission

was flown. Sadly, Tornados were not

done with Iraqi airspace.

Eyes turned to Libya in November

2011 and Operation ‘Ellamy’. Armed

with Storm Shadow air-launched

cruise missiles, Marham-based

Tornados undertook a series of 3,000-

mile (4,827km) round trips, tanked

by Vickers VC-10s or Lockheed

Tristars. Other missions were staged

from Gioia de Colle in Italy.

From 2014 Tornados based at

Akrotiri on Cyprus, along with

Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4s, have

been involved in countering the threat

of Daesh, the so-called Islamic State,

insurgency in Iraq and Syria. This is

Operation ‘Shader’, which at the time

of writing was on-going and likely to

keep the Tornado in harm’s way until

the retirement of this exceptional

warplane.

Above

Tornado GR.1 ZA465,

based at Tabuk, Saudi

Arabia, March 1991. It

carries the nose-art

‘Foxy Lady’ – taken

from its individual

code ‘FK’ – 44 ‘ops’

symbols and a pair of

laser-guided bombs

under the centre

section.

© ANDY HAY

http://www.fl yingart.co.uk

Left

The RAF Museum

acquired GR.1 ZA457

on July 28, 2003

and it is displayed

in the Bomber

Hall at Hendon in

the colours of 617

Squadron. The large

olive green ‘tank’ in

the foreground is a

Hunting JP223 area

denial munitions

dispenser.

RAF MUSEUM

http://www.rafmuseum.org

Type: Two-seat tactical strike/reconnaissance

First fl ight: British prototype October 30, 1974, entered service October 1983

Powerplant: Two 16,000lb st (71.5kN) Turbo-Union RB.199 Mk.103 turbofans

Dimensions: Span 45ft 7½in (13.91m) unswept, 28ft 1in (8.56m) fully swept, Length

56ft 6in (17.23m)

Weights: All-up 61,600lb (27,950kg)

Max speed: 1,452mph (2,336km/h) at 36,000ft (10,972m)

Armament: Up to 19,840lb (9,000kg) of ordnance, including Paveway II, III and IV

series GPS/laser-guided bombs, Brimstone air-to-ground missiles,

Storm Shadow cruise missiles, ASRAAM air-to-air missiles, plus

internal 27mm Mauser cannon.

Replaced: HS Buccaneer from 1983; SEPECAT Jaguar from 1985

Taken on charge: 228

Replaced by: Lockheed Georgia F-35B, scheduled from 2018

PANAVIA TORNADO GR4

PANAVIA TORNADOPANAVIA TORNADOPANAVIA TORNADOPANAVIA TORNADOPANAVIA TORNADOPANAVIA TORNADOPANAVIA TORNADOPANAVIA TORNADOPANAVIA TORNADOPANAVIA TORNADO 100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE

base carrying RAF,
Luftwaffe and Aeronautica Militare

AboveAboveAbove

Tornado GR.1 ZA465, Tornado GR.1 ZA465, Tornado GR.1 ZA465, Tornado GR.1 ZA465, Tornado GR.1 ZA465,

“Tornados fl ew more than 1,500 ‘ops’ during the

campaign of January and February 1991. Four aircraft

were lost to surface-to-air missiles or anti-aircraft

artillery and three aircrew were killed.”