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Got a bit nostalgic looking at these pictures, the old grey / green scheme in particular.
It will be a huge shame when it is finally retired in March.
It is the epitome of fast jet design to me. It looks fast and angry standing still, and when flying slow and dirty looks as solid as a brick barn. Not pretty, but brutal.
The noise is awesome too. Very distributive screech when one approaches fast at low level. You know what's coming, albeit for about 5 seconds.
Clearly, I'm getting old and seeing the world rose tinted, and nowadays all the young bucks will want to 'fly' the Typhoon or the Lightening.
But I remember when hooning about in a GR1A was the plum posting.
<img src="<img src="https://i.ibb.co/kytrZDg/images.jpg" alt="images" border="0" />" alt="Last days of the Tornado" />
Any more for any more?
I have some original piccies of the dev aircraft at Warton from BAE (British Aerospace as it was then). in the black white and red livery, compliments of my grandad.
Been at BAE Systems at Warton for 37 years this year and spent quite a bit of time on those jets.
Great product, and when you are next to one on full reheat (as we have to stop at the side of the runway when transiting from one side to the next) there is nothing quite like it. Makes your chest thump and the car shake 🙂
They will be missed, at least the Germans and Italians are still flying them.
It is the epitome of fast jet design to me. It looks fast and angry standing still, and when flying slow and dirty looks as solid as a brick barn. Not pretty, but brutal.
Another brutal jet:
With a bit of luck someone will buy one or two to keep running for flights, like the 2 seat spitfires 🤞🤞🤞
Not Tornado but my b in law was a fitter on Phantoms in their final days. He said they had to be very careful climbing on them post flight as the airframes were often slick with hydraulic and other fluids from all the leaks!!
It's the massive tail fin that does it. They look fast standing still!
Spent 7 years on bases with Tonkas. Love them. Seeing and feeling all aircraft from the 4 squadrons at Bruggen at the end of a exercise get airborne simultaneously was quite an experience
I worked on fishing boats years ago & lost count of the amount of times i'd get the shite scared out of me by one of these buggers , they seemed to like using boats for extreme low level target runs. One minute your in a wee world of your own sorting prawns or stacking creels , sound of a 6 cylinder Ford labouring away , totally oblivious to whats sneaking up behind you @ a few hundred mph.
Then Boom! 20 foot above the mast , F@£$%^&*!!!!
Soft spot for the Phantoms too.
Close up they were agricultural. But like the Tornado, had a purposeful and aggressive stance.
Are there any still flying? The Germans had some, but I think they've been withdrawn.
The Germans called the Phantom the
"Luftverteidigungsdiesel"
Which always makes me chuckle.
^ also “Eisenschwein” & “Fliegender Ziegelstein”.
Still lower emissions than a VW...
Nice, but not actually as good as the machine it replaced...
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I'm old enough to remember seeing the 1st public display of the Tornado at the Queens silver jubilee airshow at Finningley in 1977. I was impressed & have been ever since.
Mind you it wasn't as impressive as the 4 Vulcan scramble that happened that day, which was recorded as 4 on the Richter scale.
Not my photo, it was taken off the Mach Loop twitter page
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https://twitter.com/themachloop?lang=en
Might pop out there next week, there's been some good shots coming out of there recently so it seems that even now, it's getting a fair bit of use.
If you want some great Tornado photography put the hashtag #dailytornado into Twitter
While we’re doing dirty big jets, can I add an F1-11 to the mix. I remember seeing one do a ridiculously low level pass at Finningly air show, then fire up it’s afterbuners as it was level with crowds. An awesome sight
I went to USAF Mildenhall with the cubs back in the day .. we got to sit in an F1-11.
If I remember correctly, the crew of the F1-11 didn't have ejection seats/wear parachutes.... the whole cockpit module ejects !!
A pair of Tornadoes came over the house last week, I assume they were from Marham, very impressive they were too. I had no idea they were about to be phased-out.
someone will buy one or two to keep running for flights,
Lottery winners only?
Cessna hire, £150/hr
2 seat Spits, £1k-2k/hr
Torndao, £15k/hr ?
A channel hop in a Bizjet is £30k or so, that's only a couple of hours (probably some spicy landing fees in that trip).
On my yearly, I couldn't even afford to get the starter motor connected.
If you want to convert avgas to noise properly, we'll have none of this side-by-side nonsense.
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Not the sort of thing you’d want to accidentally take off in!
With a bit of luck someone will buy one or two to keep running for flights, like the 2 seat spitfires
Maybe in South Africa, the CAA won’t allow fast jets in private hands, although maybe a big industrial operator might get permission, and, just as important, be able to afford to fly them.
I have amazing pictures of when one passed below me at Glenshee when I was snowboarding, if only I could post them ....(struggling to find free reliable photo hosting)
Got a close pass from a Tornado on the M6 Southbound a couple of years back, North of the Lakes.
Heard it a split second before it went over at what felt like 6ft. It's a sight, sound and fright I won't forget.
Further back, in the early mid 80s I was a 4 year old in Ross on Wye in perpetual fear of the low level fast jets and the noise they made. I wonder if they'd have been Tornados? It was a regular fixture. The 'tank busters' (Thunderbolts?) I was less scared off, actually I think I liked them. I remember my Dad getting very excited every time we got a flyby, and rushing out side to see what it was. That and the RAC Rally. On reflection it was quite a playground.
cool!
My wife's uncle was one of the test crew, navigator I think, on the Tornado project. Any way of looking up service of a Ray Woollett with RAF and Bae?
He was a proper wing commander character - waxed moustache and plum in his throat.
Sadly we were also witness to the 1988 Millburn tornado crash, with two of the planes passing over our house seconds before the fatal crash, and the noise of the impact bringing villagers out into the street.
Noise.
I grew up along the A12 corridor, we'd get all sorts flying over our school daily - Phantoms, Buccaneers, F111s, Jaguars and occasionally Harriers too. I even saw a formation of Tornados and what I swear to be F111s, tailed by four Lightning F2a/F6s (distinctive wing shape you see). Unbeknownst to me, that would be the first and only time I ever saw Lightnings flying. BTW, having stood near a Bruntingthorpe Lightning on a taxy run, they are loud. Properly loud, I guess it's because there's no boundary air from a turbofan to dampen the noise (Lightnings were turbojets).
So, this one sunny early summer afternoon I'm pedaling home on my crappy Stratton BMX, summoned by the promise of dinner. Chips probably. I'm making my way through an alley linking Lexden Road to my estate when I heard the roar of a fast jet. It was loud, so it was either going very low or very fast.
"Whhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmm!"
I glanced up to see a black silhouette of a Tornado, wings fully swept. He was going both low and fast, I jumped off my bike as I had to cover my ears. It's fair to say that it made quite an impact, I can't believe that they were going that fast over a housing estate, it'd never be allowed today.
If you want to convert avgas to noise properly, we’ll have none of this side-by-side nonsense.
And, if you're posting a picture of a Lightning, we'll have none of this on the ground nonsense.
My memory of them is enjoying a midweek windsurfing session on Lake Bala. It seems they used that valley for their low flying training and you didn't get a lot of notice of their approach.
My enjoyment of being in the middle of this close up private airshow was only slightly spoiled by being dumped in the water a few times due to the turbulence.
That lightning picture from cap'n. Wow.
2 seat Spits, £1k-2k/hr
£2750 gets you a 30min experience, 20 of which are in the air.
Worth every penny. I’d pay double that to go in a tornado in a heartbeat.
I worked on the Tornado commercial team in the late 1990s, I remember trying to source some Motorola 8086 chipsets for the terrain following system on some legacy fleet which hadn’t had mid life update and had exceeded the spares plan.
Back in the 1970s and 1980s low level flying was in defined corridors and the family farm was under one of them, it was also on top of a hill so the pilots would keep as low as they thought they could get away with. You'd be working in the fields with the tractor and because of the noise of the machinery the first thing you'd know would be the plane's shadow passing over followed by a deafening roar.
Vulcans and Phantom F4s were the most common but also saw the occasional Victor. The Vulcans didn't exactly slice through the air more push it out of the way and you could hear the vortices they created several minutes after they'd passed.
In the 1990s I worked in Oman out in the desert. Nearby was an airstrip used by the RAF as a base for low flying training (it was also one of the emergency landing strips for the space shuttle because of its length) and we'd regularly get Tornados roaring past. The area was a maze of wadis eroded out of a plateau in with about 50m height difference between the wadi floor and the plateau. One day it was lunchtime and the local work crew were resting in the shade of the crew bus so I had a short walk up on to the nearest part of the plateau. I could hear that there were some planes about but couldn't see anything. Next thing two Tornados came round the corner and passed through the line of sight between myself and the crew bus. Must have been at 20-30m height!
I worked on the Tornado commercial team in the late 1990s, I remember trying to source some Motorola 8086 chipsets for the terrain following system on some legacy fleet which hadn’t had mid life update and had exceeded the spares plan.
Standard stuff for aviation.
You've probably broken a few laws by telling us that.
Moar pics needed.
"IT DONT MEAN A THING IF THE WINGS DONT SWING"
Back in the 1970s and 1980s low level flying was in defined corridors and the family farm was under one of them, it was also on top of a hill so the pilots would keep as low as they thought they could get away with. You’d be working in the fields with the tractor and because of the noise of the machinery the first thing you’d know would be the plane’s shadow passing over followed by a deafening roar.
When I was a kid in 80's we lived up on a hillside in a transit corridor (Meltham, West Yorks) and all manner of things (Tornadoes, Buccs, Harriers, F15s, F16s, F111s, A10s, Hercs) used to come over - When the roof came off it was invariably a Tornado.
I remember a few Buccaneers and F111s and the occasional A10. Hercules were common but didn't creep up on you quite the same.
We had A10's as a kid (Cambridgeshire) a few times a year - what an odd, almost eerie sound they make.
Then there is the famous A10 at Galloway, Loch Ken who managed to actually capsize a sailing boat from the sailing school - it came around end of hill and seemed to have mucked up how low it was, had to go up and over the old railway bridge that another group were canoeing under. I was off that day (one of my first ever mtb days!) but the boss was not a happy bunny - complaints (and he was retired military may) all round...
*wavy lines*
My final summer camp as a space cadet (ccf) was at RAF Chivenor - then a Hawk Flying training base. I was senior cadet on camp (woo, go me) and had an RAF Flying Scholarship, 6th form scholarship and had just won a bursary for uni.
One (and only one) flight was on offer for one cadet - and this was always the senior cadet.
Guess what happened? The officers decided that, because I was such an RAF aligned dreamboat, they would give the ****ing flight to another NCO. So my "mate" whom I spent a lot if time mtb'ing with at the time ended up getting a jolly whirl around with a qfi for an hour. ****ing ****.
Anyway, we don't talk about it anymore cos I ended up shagging his sister to try and exact a kind of revenge.
*wavy lines*
One (and only one) flight was on offer for one cadet – and this was always the senior cadet.
The senior cadet on camp at RAF Wittering sadly wasn't me (I was 2 I/C) but she got a flight in a Harrier over the Lake District. I never did end up as Senior Cadet although my final year they did get me a few things like extra Bulldog flights (the Bulldog having just come in to replace the aging Chipmunk).
One kid got a flight in a Hawk one year.
I have to admit I have mixed feelings, but it was a very single minded design and I'm very glad it never had to be used for it's design intent (knocking out as many Soviet nukes as possible on the ground come WW3).
And I remember seeing the odd one or two flying low in my youth, very impressive.
Grew up around RAF Lossiemouth with these and their predecessors hoofing about. Awesome sight but I would love to grab a time machine and join my dad as a youth when he was biking through the Speyside glens when a silver streak shot through the sky below him. Turned out to be an original Buccaneer in bare silver aluminium. Or so he told the story!
We get this silver beast flying over the village now and then,
Ejector seat tester for Martin Baker at Chalgrove.
matt
That second picture is unbelievable!
I wish I had a shot of a fly past from an airfield attack display at St Athan open day back in the 90's.
They simulated a bomb run along the runway for the crowds.
The pilot went up to quite a height for his approach and down he came.
He arrived at a really incredible speed over the end of the runway. The supersonic shockwave had started to form around the fuselage.
Just epic. Noise and speed. He was within a whisker of Mach 1. Bit like that pic above, pilot trying too hard
No chance of getting the picture as I was too open mouthed to pick up the camera.
Actually, that entire airfield attack display was good. After the bomb run, some Apaches came in to take out the baddies (including pyroechnics).
Then a Herc lands in short order, on a six pence. Does a sort of j-turn on the runway i.e going backwards on reverse pitch. Then a Landrover with a massive gun drives down the ramp and heads off across the airfield firing the gun.
Finally, if I remember rightly, a Chinook lands some infantry and picks up a rescued hostage.
All home in time for beer and medals.
Actually, that entire airfield attack display was good. After the bomb run, some Apaches came in to take out the baddies (including pyroechnics).
Southport Airshow (right on the huge beach) does a good line in "airfield attack" demos. They did a strafing run with a Mustang once, the announcer said "look to you right and you'll see him coming in".
Next thing from the left a Mustang powered in really low and a whole load of pyrotechnics all along the beach went up in sequence.
Sadly airshows now are nowhere near as dramatic as they used to be although on the plus side you're less likely to be killed...
JP233 ?
Next thing from the left a Mustang powered in really low and a whole load of pyrotechnics all along the beach went up in sequence.
Sadly airshows now are nowhere near as dramatic as they used to be although on the plus side you’re less likely to be killed…
Probably but you don't think about that at the time. I was going to airshows from around 1974 after I passed my driving test & saw some crazy stuff with fast jets, like Leuchars for the Battle of Britain show 1976 or therabouts. Commentator says, 'ladies & gentlemen, if you look to your right you'll soon see the Jaguar coming in at 480 knots, he's about 8 miles out & at 150ft & will be with us very very shortly'.....KABOOOOOMM!! as the Jag comes from the left doing just under mach 1 about 80ft right over the crowdline. Most people shat themselves.
The days of proper exiting airshows are long gone.
Maybe in South Africa, the CAA won’t allow fast jets in private hands, although maybe a big industrial operator might get permission, and, just as important, be able to afford to fly them.
I assume this is just for supersonic aircraft then, because plenty of Migs, Hawkers and Sabers are flown in private hands in the UK.
I remember a few Buccaneers and F111s and the occasional A10.
I remember watching all the footage of the first Gulf War on the news as a kid. Despite many saying they are ugly, I think the A10 is one of the most beautiful planes ever made. I probably shouldn't think that of such a deadly piece of kit.
Whitestone, was that at Adam Oman, 30 miles south of Nizwa, if so was there 2 years ago setting the base up for RAFO. I took my road bike enjoyed myself around the Jebel Akhdar
The days of proper exiting airshows are long gone.
Yeah, last one I went to was Finningley. Took hours to get out.
I love the old brute. First tour as an Air Trafficker at Leeming with the slightly less loved F3 variant. Some hoofing breaks into the circuit and I’ll always remember the shock diamonds in the carrots out back on twilight departures, and the NOISE. The GR has been doing the business for us for nearly 40 years!
That JP233 was apparently like having a double decker bus strapped to the bottom, and necessitated flying down the centreline low and not too quickly, Peters and Nichol came a cropper with it in GW1.
I was always struck by the terrain following radar- low level in zero vis on 70s electronics 😳 Never went badly wrong I believe!
@bhill22 - no it was at Marmul east of Thumrait airfield down in the south west of the country. I also did two trips to Fahud which is halfway between Nizwa and the Saudi border - very hot, it got to 55C one day 😲
Even though the Tornados were pretty clean at slicing through the air, unlike the Vulcans, when they flew over we had to stop recording for half an hour as the geophones would pick up the vibrations they caused.
I was always struck by the terrain following radar- low level in zero vis on 70s electronics 😳 Never went badly wrong I believe!
...well, no one survived to make an adverse report! 🙂 🙂 🙂
It was amazing. It had an inertial nav aid too, derived from the Vulcan I think. Linked to the TFR it was like having Google Maps 40 years ago.
First tour as an Air Trafficker at Leeming with the slightly less loved F3 variant.
I was a space cadet with NUAS there in the early 90s. They once launched 20 F3s to get 16 to London for a flypast (queens 40th?) and we heard they had to beg/borrow/steal planes and spare parts from everywhere to get 20 together.
2 never even made it out of the circuit due to nosewheel retraction issues, but it was v impressive to watch (and hear!)
I was always struck by the terrain following radar
my dad helped to do some development work on the v early test models. He told me later that the terrain radar and the automated landing system would often squabble for control if the pilot didn't actively shut off the terrain radar. Imagine coming into land; the terrain radar thinks it's sinking towards the ground, it decides it's not happy and opens up the taps and points the nose up. The landing system gets the hump, and tries to do the opposite.
The early solution before they established the proper system controls was literally to pull the fuse of the terrain radar before trying to land...
A friend of mine who is a local photographer was invited into RAF Mileham and took these pics:
https://www.paultibbsphotography.com/blog/2019/2/the-plane-thats-as-old-as-me
A friend of mine who is a local photographer was invited into RAF Mileham and took these pics
Thanks for that, some stunning photos there!
A friend of mine who is a local photographer was invited into RAF Mileham and took these pics:
Some mint shots there that could be of value to the likes of Harry the Spider, John Drummer & me!
Scud, thanks for posting that link, superb gallery and commentary. Awesome.
Brilliant pictures.
Thank you!
I agree, brilliant pics Scud.
Yeah, last one I went to was Finningley. Took hours to get out.
I lived behind the wire. Easier access!
I lived behind the wire. Easier access!
Did you see the Battle of Britain airshow, Sept 1977 CFH?
Wasn't living there then.
Wasn’t living there then.
Unlucky!
Dates and locations are now up for the final flypast tour. 19th /20th /21st Feb.
See the RAF Marham page on Facebook.
I now live quite close to The Wash and RAF Holbeach but I'm early shift next Tuesday, so I'm really hoping the Tonka's will be flying in the afternoon.
Great pics of a brute of a plane, I've got a GR1 and an F3 in the kit stash, might have to put one on the production line!
Thanks for the pics Scud, great album!
My sister lives near Leeming, tempted to go across to hers then ride over to Leeming. The other option is a drive out to Bangor and a ride around Anglesey to see it at RAF Valley.
Annoying doesnt look anywhere local.
At my parents every now and again a Tornado used to come by very low and not far past them use a farmhouse as a turning point. Stupidly impressive and I have a strong suspicion if I had been enough of a moron to report them they would have been given a bollocking.
Only thing which beat it for viewing jets was whilst in a French class in secondary seeing a bunch of fighters dogfighting. The teacher wisely decided to not to try and keep everyone looking at nouns or whatever.
Found the video of when i got buzzed at Glenshee. Does this work?
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1310553677516&id=1040840139
Love the B&W piccys of the Tornado with the access platforms attatched , very menacing and moody.
Someone needs to be better at washing the exhaust of the fusalage though..
By the way, if/when they release flypast times, can someone post them on here please? I'm out of the country at the moment so not picking up anywhere near as much news as I would do normally and I don't want to miss the info!
Thanks.
Hoping to see the fly past at Cosford or Shawbury today
Tuesday 19th February
1.15pm - 1.30pm: Kendrew (RAF Cottesmore)-National Memorial Arboretum -DECA Stafford - RAF Cosford
1.30pm - 1.45pm: RAF Shawbury - DECA Sealand
1.45 - 2pm: RAF Valley
2.15pm – 2.30pm: BAES Warton - BAES Samlesbury
2.30pm - 2.45pm: RAF Spadeadam
2.45pm - 3pm: RAF Leeming - RAF Topcliffe - RAF Linton-On-Ouse
3pm - 3.15pm: RAF Waddington - RAF College Cranwell - RAF Coningsby
3.15pm - 3.35pm: RAF Donna Nook - RAF Holbeach - RAF Wyton
Wednesday 20th February
1pm - 1.15pm: RAF Honington
1.15pm - 1.30pm: Imperial War Museum Duxford - Former RAE Bedford – Cranfield Airfield - RAF Halton - RAF High Wycombe
1.30pm - 1.45pm: RAF Benson - HQ Land Forces, Andover, MOD Boscombe Down
2pm - 2.15pm: RAF Pembrey - MOD St Athan - Cardiff Airport
2.15pm - 2.30pm: Rolls Royce Filton - MOD Abbey Wood - MOD Shrivenham - RAF Brize Norton
Thursday 21st February
11.15am - 11.30am: Leuchars Station
11.30am - 11.45am: RAF Tain
11.45am - 12pm: RAF Lossiemouth
im less than a mile from sealand so will be listening out for it !