In March the Royal Air Force retires its last Panavia Tornado GR4s after an incredible career. Combat Aircraft looks back over a remarkable service record.
FOR 37 YEARS the Panavia Tornado has served on the Royal Air Force front line — with 28 years of being engaged in almost unbroken combat operations. It first entered service with No IX (Bomber) Squadron, when the unit officially reformed with the Tornado GR1 at RAF Honington on June 1, 1982, under the leadership of Wg Cdr Peter Gooding. The famous bat emblem of this unit has survived alongside No 31 Squadron ‘Goldstars’ — both of which will formally down-declare the Tornado on March 31. As these words were being written, the last handful of jets were seeing out their days at RAF Marham having completed their operational duties, while remaining ‘on the hook’ for any contingency operations and paying tribute to an incredible career. The Tornado GR1 saw its first combat operations in ‘Desert Storm’ in 1991, known under the UK codename of Operation ‘Granby’. It was here the RAF Tornado’s unparalleled combat record commenced following Saddam Hussein’s invas…
