Bye Bye Tornado

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andyd
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Bye Bye Tornado

Post by andyd »

End of an era https://home.bt.com/news/latest-news/to ... 4329536635

Great plane which I remember from my childhood. They occasionally low fly over the village, so hopefully see and/or hear them again before they finish flying at the end of March :(
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Bug
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Re: Bye Bye Tornado

Post by Bug »

Had to pop back in to comment on this.
I worked Tornado for most of my 23 year RAF career, from Junior Technician through to Chief Technician, as a Propulsion/Airframes Technician. 9 years on 617 Sqn while they were at Marham, then 13 Sqn, before ending up running a team doing the Major strip/rebuilds in 4 Hangar at Marham. Worked on GR1, 1A, 4 and 4A. Loved every minute. They took me round the world, through the first Gulf War, back to the Gulf in '92 to set up 'Southern Watch', plus Oman, Bahrain, Germany, Norway, Holland, Nellis AFB, Cyprus, Sardinia and others I've forgotten. Was lucky enough to get a 'jolly' in the rear seat of ZA601 back in '93, so I have flown with the Dambusters! My 'driver' was Sqn Ldr, now Sir Steven Hillier, Chief of the Air Staff. Never cease to get a kick from seeing him on TV and saying, "hey, there's my chauffeur". His most memorable comment as we flew over the Brecon Beacons about 20 minutes after leaving Marham was "Ha, your fancy 2.8i wouldn't be out of the Main Gate yet".
It will be a sad day when the Tonka stops flying. I'm pleased to say No.2 son followed me and his first posting was Marham, working on the very same jets, in the very same places as me.
There are a GR1 and a GR4 at Duxford, not too far from me, so I guess i'll end up as one of the sad old gits who stands around misty eyed, staring at them.
The skies will never quite be the same.
andyd
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Re: Bye Bye Tornado

Post by andyd »

Bug wrote:Had to pop back in to comment on this.
I worked Tornado for most of my 23 year RAF career, from Junior Technician through to Chief Technician, as a Propulsion/Airframes Technician. 9 years on 617 Sqn while they were at Marham, then 13 Sqn, before ending up running a team doing the Major strip/rebuilds in 4 Hangar at Marham. Worked on GR1, 1A, 4 and 4A. Loved every minute. They took me round the world, through the first Gulf War, back to the Gulf in '92 to set up 'Southern Watch', plus Oman, Bahrain, Germany, Norway, Holland, Nellis AFB, Cyprus, Sardinia and others I've forgotten. Was lucky enough to get a 'jolly' in the rear seat of ZA601 back in '93, so I have flown with the Dambusters! My 'driver' was Sqn Ldr, now Sir Steven Hillier, Chief of the Air Staff. Never cease to get a kick from seeing him on TV and saying, "hey, there's my chauffeur". His most memorable comment as we flew over the Brecon Beacons about 20 minutes after leaving Marham was "Ha, your fancy 2.8i wouldn't be out of the Main Gate yet".
It will be a sad day when the Tonka stops flying. I'm pleased to say No.2 son followed me and his first posting was Marham, working on the very same jets, in the very same places as me.
There are a GR1 and a GR4 at Duxford, not too far from me, so I guess i'll end up as one of the sad old gits who stands around misty eyed, staring at them.
The skies will never quite be the same.
Firstly good to hear from you and secondly what an experience you've had in and around this Jet :applaud:

I still get a misty eyed when I watch Guy Martin the last flight of the Vulcan, another great aeroplane which I missed displaying locally a few years back before it retired :doh:

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Re: Bye Bye Tornado

Post by Lord Flasheart »

That's my childhood being retired :shock:

End of another aviation era :(
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Re: Bye Bye Tornado

Post by Peter-S »

Seems a bit weird that we were getting excited by the pending introduction of 'Panavia MRCA Tornado' when I was still at school and now 40 years later I'm thinking they're withdrawing it from service too soon!
Here's one of the Duxford residents that Bug mentioned

ImageDSCF3722 by Peter Smith, on Flickr
ImageBanner by Peter Smith, on Flickr
andyd
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Re: Bye Bye Tornado

Post by andyd »

Peter-S wrote:Seems a bit weird that we were getting excited by the pending introduction of 'Panavia MRCA Tornado' when I was still at school and now 40 years later I'm thinking they're withdrawing it from service too soon!
Here's one of the Duxford residents that Bug mentioned

ImageDSCF3722 by Peter Smith, on Flickr
I used to call it the MRCA when I was at school, before I knew better :whistle: :)

Great pic, it looks mean just sitting there :sneaky:
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Re: Bye Bye Tornado

Post by Bug »

That's the GR1. Very early version as they almost immediately disabled the droop facility on the main undercarriage doors. Bringing them back in that little bit did nothing for aerodynamics and hurt your head when you tried to get into the bay :)
The GR4 is in the Battle of Britain hangar, in the far righthand corner. It only completed Major maintenance a few months before it retired. A waste of money really. But at least it looks bright and shiny.
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Re: Bye Bye Tornado

Post by Peter-S »

Bug wrote:The GR4 is in the Battle of Britain hangar
Called in at Duxford yesterday so thought I would add the GR4 :)

ImageDSCN0146 by Peter Smith, on Flickr
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andyd
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Re: Bye Bye Tornado

Post by andyd »

Peter-S wrote:
Bug wrote:The GR4 is in the Battle of Britain hangar
Called in at Duxford yesterday so thought I would add the GR4 :)

ImageDSCN0146 by Peter Smith, on Flickr
Thanks Peter.
That's a great pic :cheers:

A few days ago we had 2 Typhoon's fly over at low level :)
I expect we will see them more often now that the Tornado is retiring.
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Re: Bye Bye Tornado

Post by Peter-S »

andyd wrote: That's a great pic :cheers:

.
Thanks Andy :D
ImageBanner by Peter Smith, on Flickr
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Re: Bye Bye Tornado

Post by Bug »

Nice one.
Forgot it had Brimstone on it. Good representation really as that is one of the main uses of it during Op Shader and ISIS seriously didn't like those things. My lad spent 3 months in Cyprus on that Op as ground crew. When the crew they strapped in actually dropped something in Syria, they gave their line team an 'assist'. On his first one, the navigator took Ben into the ops building and showed him the video footage. The Brimstone can be 'tuned' to give a specific size of blast incredibly enough. Ben watched an ISIS commander walk out the door of his house and get in his car. Then the car evaporated but the house was almost completely untouched. So even if he had kids in there, they would have been unharmed. Amazing technology.

As an aside, Ben is now a fully qualified engines/airframes technician and is on 29 Sqn at Coningsby, operating Typhoons.
Following in the family footsteps and making his Dad proud.

PS. Why do Duxford take all the fuel out, but then leave it looking like it's on stilts. We always kept them fully fuelled and it doesn't look right to me being that high up. I know they can't put fuel in, but it doesn't take much to let some nitrogen pressure out of the oleos, just or the sake of authenticity.
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Re: Bye Bye Tornado

Post by andyd »

Fear not my fellow fighter plane fans :wave:

Having spotted 2 low level Tornados over the village yesterday afternoon, I read they are still being used for training purposes so still likely to see them around :woot:

As much as I like the Typhoon, it's like the Capri v Focus RS :)
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