Tornado - Softcover

Paxton, Tony

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0711020612 ISBN 13: 9780711020610

Publisher: Ian Allan Publishing Ltd., Shepperton, Surrey, 1992

Synopsis

The Panavia Tornado started life in the early 1970s as the Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA). It was Europe's answer to the need for a modern aircraft to replace the F-104 Starfighters, which had been flown by all the NATO countries of Europe except the United Kingdom, and also to take over from the various failed collaborative ventures, such as the Anglo-French Variable Geometry (AFVG) aircraft. The final three participating nations in this collaborative venture were the United Kingdom, Italy and the Federal Republic of Germany. These three countries formed, in 1969, a multi-national company (called Panavia and based in Germany) to manufacture the aircraft. The basic design was finalised in 1969 and the first flight took place at Manching, in Bavaria, on 14 August 1984. The crew for that first flight was the British test pilot Paul Millet in the front, with the German Nils Meister in the rear. The aircraft was christened Tornado in 1976. It was a complex and innovative aircraft being the first, and only, production variable geometry aircraft to be built in Europe. The flight control and avionics systems were equally complex and innovative; so it is hardly surprising that it was to be fully eight years before the Tornado entered squadron service. The first squadron to be equipped with Tornado was the RAFs No. IX squadron, which was reformed in 1982 at Honington for that purpose. The Tornado proved most successful from the very start, with extraordinary navigation and weapon-delivery accuracies. During the Falklands War, Vulcans carried out raids on the airfield at Port Stanley at the extreme edge of their range; to demonstrate the capabilities of the Tornado, a 'raid' on Akrotiri, in Cyprus, was mounted from RAF Honington with air-to-air refuelling support - a round trip of 12hrs 10mins. Soon afterwards, No. 617 Squadron, heirs to the famous Dambusters, took on the might of the USAF Strategic Air Command at SAC's bombing competition - and won!

Edition details

• Publisher: Ian Allan Publishing Ltd., Shepperton, Surrey
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0711020612
• ISBN 13: 9780711020610
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 64