(Image: Roland Turner (website: The Modeller’s Blog), cc-sa-4.0)
Yesterday we featured the preservation of ZA326 – the last airworthy Tornado GR1 in the world when it retired in 2005. Today we thought we’d update you on the progress of ZA452, a Tornado GR4 withdrawn from service and acquired by the Midland Air Museum in Coventry.
The only full Tornado GR4 currently in a museum, ZA452 last flew in the summer of 2013 and was saved from RTP by the Midland Air Museum due to its Gulf War history. When the aircraft arrived it was completely dismantled, barely recognisable as the formidable strike aircraft it once was. (See what it looked like here.)
Since that time, however, enthusiasts have done a great job of turning ZA452 back into a Tornado again. Coventry Telegraph reporter Ben Eccleston visited several times earlier in the year (see his articles here and here). The aircraft is pictured (top) in June 2014, back on its undercarriage with wings and tail attached.
(Image: Mark Williamson (Twitter: @Ingleton_radar), reproduced with permission)
Above, ZA452 screams through the Lake District at low level in 2010 devoid of squadron markings. Originally built as a Tornado GR1, the aircraft entered service in 1983 and flew operational bombing missions over Iraq during 1991′s Operation Granby, sporting the nose art ‘Gulf Killer’. Coded 021, ZA452 last flew in the summer of 2013 before being sent to RAF Leeming in Yorkshire for parts reclamation.
Keep reading – click here for more Panavia Tornado articles.
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