farewell to a legend
The ‘Fin-ale’ of 2019, as it was appropriately named, was a sad but concurrently very proud time for the UK Tornado GR community and its hoards of adoring fans. One of the most respected and operationally significant types within the Royal Air Force over its four decades of service, the Tornado had formed an iconic image during the Gulf War campaign of 1990-91 and carried an aura of Cold War ‘heavy metal’ right through to the end of its life in the United Kingdom. In the weeks leading up to its final bow on the 1st April 2019, the Dynamic Vectors media team were lucky to share some of those special last moments with the Tornado Force and the many people who gathered to witness the final chapter of their distinguished story.
The final join-up with the tanker for gas, alongside Brize Norton’s finest in the form of a Voyager KC3 (ZZ336) of 101 Squadron. Moving to the starboard wing post-refuel, ZD716 (084) leads ZA542 (035) with the BBC’s Jonathan Beale in the back seat.
Image by Andy Donovan or as credited.
This beautiful ‘gaggle’ was viewed from an RAF Voyager as the Tornado formation pulled alongside for fuel during the first flypast sortie staged ahead of the type’s retirement. ZA449 (020) acted as the ‘whip’ and camera ship.
Image by Lee Matthews, RAF Photographer.
Images by Lee Matthews, RAF Photographer.
HEAVY METAL 9-SHIP…
It was an extraordinary sight. Nine Panavia Tornado GR4s emerged out of the clag, immaculately formed up as a diamond in the grey and dingy English weather, passing over RAF Marham as they returned from their flypasts at key locations around Lincolnshire and Norfolk. Just an hour earlier they had one at a time pushed the throttles forward to plug in the burners of their RB199 engines, lighting reheat for the final time and roaring off of the newly re-surfaced Runway 24 into the murky skies beyond. Their era was soon to be over, with the airfield below now configuring for a new generation of aircraft, its lifeblood now becoming that of the Lockheed Martin F-35B. The Tornado though had one last swansong to come. Getting such a large and non-standard formation together in such conditions comes with complexities that many military aircrew don’t experience daily so it had been equally fascinating to sit in on the briefing process that morning as OC IX(B) Squadron laid down the procedures for doing so in front of not only the participating crews but also their families.
Amongst their numbers should have been one more group of people who of course were not. On the other side of the airfield in the IX(B) and 31 Squadron HAS (Hardened Aircraft Shelter) site the dedicated teams of engineers worked; making final preparations to launch every required aircraft through the generation of both primary and (airborne) spare airframes. No mean feat given that the Squadrons’ commitments to Operation SHADER had only recently concluded, spares were at a minimum and personnel were constantly being redrafted to other units.
A small contingent from IX(B) Squadron’s engineering team ‘take five’ and a brief ‘cuppa’ in front of the retirement jet. They displayed a real sense of quiet and professional pride in their aircraft, their squadron and their work, though in the traditional British way, wouldn’t have conveyed that openly!
Nonetheless, the enthusiasm for their work was so clearly evident. As on many RAF squadrons, if you are looking for the deepest passion for a type or a true zest for working on it, look no further than the engineering cadre for it is here that you will find individuals who live and breathe the world in which they work. Despite a moment of hesitation for one jet, it is for that reason that nine plus spares got airborne.
Both IX(B) and 31 Squadron’s retirement liveries looked resplendant, especially in late afternoon light. The green bat adorning ZG775 (134) and the gold star decorating ZD716 (084) complemented each other perfectly and highlighted the joined-up thinking Marham had applied to this final event in the Tornado’s story. There was something quite poignant about seeing both amongst the HAS site, given the Cold War history they shared at RAF Brüggen in Germany until the turn of the millenium.
SPREADING THE WORD…
Prior to the final day of Tornado operations the RAF Marham’s public relations efforts were second-to-none, with flypasts staged around the country, several engagement days with the press and local enthusiasts, not to mention some very positive social media interaction and co-ordination with local farmers around the base to keep control of interested onlookers on the big moments. There is of course a time for controlling information and managing operational security within military circles but to recognise that times such as this should be celebrated far beyond the Station gates and to pro-actively undertake that outreach was a credit to the team involved. Marham’s media and communications team, led my Alison Childerhouse and Claire Smith deserve particular mention for the burden they carried so successfully.
Taken from RAF Marham’s Air Traffic Control tower, ZG752 (129) taxies out from the southern HAS site and makes a turn towards the Runway 06 threshold. The Tornado was already a victim of the F-35’s arrival as the actual intent this day was to depart from Runway 24. The elongated taxi pattern was a result of Runway 01/19 and portions of the airfield’s taxiways being closed for resurfacing; the first 1000ft of each runway being heat-treated for the extreme abuse the thrust-vectored engine of the Lightning was to expose it to when in STOVL mode.
RECOVERY FOR THE ELEPHANT WALK…
One final horrah! As if co-ordinating a nine-ship in poor weather wasn’t enough, the team at Marham should be applauded for not letting the music stop as wheels hit the tarmac. A truly wonderful piece of showmanship came straight after the last jet recovered to Runway 06 and formed as the brainchild of Corporal Lee Matthews, one of the RAF’s talented photographer’s with a strong passion for creating powerful imagery. His suggestion to the Station Commander was for an elephant walk of the final airframes back down the runway towards his camera and what a wonderful sight it proved to be.
The Tornado GR Force (TGRF) became known for its superb approach to ‘special’ markings during the type’s career. Two of those which stirred most interest and excitement amongst enthusiasts were the Gulf War desert pink scheme of 2017 and the retro Tornado GR1 markings applied to ZG752 (129), seen here making its last ever landing on Runway 06 at RAF Marham.
Image by Lee Matthews, RAF Photographer.
A simple turn to the right brought each jet onto the centreline but spacing was still so important. The elephant walk was in many ways one of the most visually stunning presentations made by the Tornado Force on its final day but could so easily have been disregarded as a suggestion without the right characters seeing the benefit in going for it. Thankfully, this is a memory which was captured forever by Cpl Matthews.
Image by Lee Matthews, RAF Photographer.
The positioning was nothing short of perfect and that, as always, was a result of strong planning and a detailed brief from OC IX(B) Squadron. It was a one-off, never to be repeated sight and would have been so easy to have cast aside at the point of suggestion on what was already going to be a challenging sortie. At executive level though, the concept was bought into brilliantly and thankfully RAF Marham and the TGRF will forever be able to look back on some exceptional imagery, amazing memories and very positive public perceptions as a result of that bold decision making. The Tornado bowed out in the manner it deserved.
Image by Lee Matthews, RAF Photographer.