27th Oct 1979

[antarmike]

First flight of the Panavia Tornado F.3

 

This model of tornado went into service as a fighter in Nov 1984, the Ground Attack GR4 Tornado first flying on 14th August 1974 and entering service as July 1980.

 

The RAF ordered 228 Gr.4's and 162 F.3's.

 

The Tornado is the first aircraft in RAF service, since the Mosquito which can truly be said to be "jack of all trades and master of all"

 

A joint project between West Germany, Italy and the UK , initially known as the MRCA (multi role combat aircraft) it was designed as a (swing wing) replacement for the F104 Starfighter.

 

A total of 992 Tornado's were built for the three partner countries and for Saudi Arabia, the only other country to fly the type.

[Lord Burley]

The F3 was never a good air interceptor.In regular red flag exercises,the F3 was regularly outgunned and out manouvered against the F15 and F14 opposition.I think its the perception of the aircrafts abilitys during these exercise,s,that allied commanders were reluctant to give the F3 an air defence role in both Gulf wars.

[AlienFTM]

Captain Lockheed again:

 

http://www.starfarer.net/captlock.html

 

Track Three

 

(Voices in Background... fair ground callers):

 

Roll up roll up...this is the plane you want. Wanna try a fast plane sir...fast plane. Knock the pilot out of

the air...three goes one mark.

 

Voice of Air Defence Minister: NEXT!

 

Cut to voice of American Salesman (warm and friendly as a TV ad for cigarettes used to be)

 

Salesman: Hi there. We understand you want to buy some airplanes

 

G.A.D.M. (German Air Defence Minister, Franz Josef Strauss): That is correct.

 

Salesman: Well we make airplanes. Good ones. Fast and reliable. Let me just show you this. Look at this picture. This is the F104. Or the Starfighter as we like to call her. Isn't she beautiful. Yep. She sure is beautiful. Designed by the same man who designed the famous U2. It's the finest fairweather fighter on the market. You won't find a better one at the price. Or any price for that matter

 

G.A.D.M. (screaming in a Hitlerian rant): Very nice. But we need a plane for bombing, strafing, assault and battery, interception, ground support and reconnaissance. Not just a fairweather fighter.

 

Salesman: Well that's O.K. We can make some modifications. It'll cost a little extra, but it's worth it. Just look at the shape of this beauty... Look I tell you what we'll do. We'll redesign the plane. Right. And instead of just calling it the F104. We'll call it the F104G.

 

G.A.D.M.: G?

 

Salesman: Yeah. G. G for Germany.

 

G.A.D.M.: G for Germany eh.

 

Salesman: Uh huh. G for Germany.

 

G.A.D.M.: Hmmmmm.

 

Marching song backwards. Fade out.

[antarmike]

The F3 was never a good air interceptor.In regular red flag exercises,the F3 was regularly outgunned and out manouvered against the F15 and F14 opposition.I think its the perception of the aircrafts abilitys during these exercise,s,that allied commanders were reluctant to give the F3 an air defence role in both Gulf wars.

 

The Tornado ADV was developed to meet an RAF requirement (Air Staff Requirement 395 or ASR.395) for a long-range interceptor to replace the Lightning F6 and Phantom FGR2. Development was approved on 4 March 1976, with BAe to provide 3 prototypes. The first prototype was rolled out at Warton on 9 August 1979. The prototype made its maiden flight on 27 October 1979.

 

The Tornado ADV's differences compared to the IDS include a greater sweep angle on the inboard fixed wing sections, a longer radome for the Foxhunter airborne interception radar, and a fuselage stretch of 1.36 m to allow the carriage of four Skyflash semi-active radar homing missiles. This stretch was applied to the Tornado front fuselage being built by the UK, with a plug being added immediately behind the cockpit, which had the incidental benefit of reducing drag and making space for an additional fuel tank (Tank '0') carrying 200 imperial gallons (909 L/240 U.S. gal) of fuel.

 

The Mk 104 engines were optimised for high-altitude use with longer afterburner nozzles. The IDS's ground-attack systems were replaced by a Marconi/Ferranti AI.24 Foxhunter air-interception radar, housed in an extended radome. The port cannon was also deleted.

 

The Tornado ADV has been criticised for its lack of "true" fighter performance. However to criticise the aircraft for this is to misunderstand the mission for which it was developed. The ADV was designed to fly and patrol far from base over the North Sea and Northern Atlantic and to intercept its targets at long range, not to have significant dogfighting capabilities. (or why delete one of the Mausers?)

Edited November 3, 2008 by antarmike

[Lord Burley]

The Tornado ADV was developed to meet an RAF requirement (Air Staff Requirement 395 or ASR.395) for a long-range interceptor to replace the Lightning F6 and Phantom FGR2. Development was approved on 4 March 1976, with BAe to provide 3 prototypes. The first prototype was rolled out at Warton on 9 August 1979. The prototype made its maiden flight on 27 October 1979.

 

The Tornado ADV's differences compared to the IDS include a greater sweep angle on the inboard fixed wing sections, a longer radome for the Foxhunter airborne interception radar, and a fuselage stretch of 1.36 m to allow the carriage of four Skyflash semi-active radar homing missiles. This stretch was applied to the Tornado front fuselage being built by the UK, with a plug being added immediately behind the cockpit, which had the incidental benefit of reducing drag and making space for an additional fuel tank (Tank '0') carrying 200 imperial gallons (909 L/240 U.S. gal) of fuel.

 

The Mk 104 engines were optimised for high-altitude use with longer afterburner nozzles. The IDS's ground-attack systems were replaced by a Marconi/Ferranti AI.24 Foxhunter air-interception radar, housed in an extended radome. The port cannon was also deleted.

 

The Tornado ADV has been criticised for its lack of "true" fighter performance. However to criticise the aircraft for this is to misunderstand the mission for which it was developed. The ADV was designed to fly and patrol far from base over the North Sea and Northern Atlantic and to intercept its targets at long range, not to have significant dogfighting capabilities. (or why delete one of the Mausers?)

You would have thought then that the RAF would have learnt lessons from the Americans on what they went through during the Vietnam war.they thought along the lines that a air to air engagement could be won at long range.The reality was,that it couldnt.U.S pilots soon lost there dog fighting skills,and the Americans were soon loosing at the rate of 2-1.Hence the introduction of Fighter Weapons School(Top Gun).The initial design brief on the Tornado was for a MULTI role combat aircraft.The F3 was orginally intended to have dog fighting capabilities if need be.Red Flag exercise regularly proved at how inept the F3 was at the air defence role.Even at long range.This was one of the main reasons they were never used in that role in both conflicts.With the job being left to the U.S and the Saudi,s.

[Tony B]

The British answer comes doen to one thing: BAE Systems.