(All images courtesy of Howard Sinclair)
With the F-35’s introduction into RAF and Royal Navy service still several years away, ever more Panavia Tornado strike aircraft are being retired as the fleet is gradually wound down and individual aircraft reach the limits of their fatigue lives.
When that time comes, the ageing jets are stripped of all external stores and make their final flight to RAF Leeming in Yorkshire. Once there, a team of engineers stands poised to remove all useful parts in a bid to keep the remaining force flying. In an ongoing process known as RTP – reduce to produce – the Tornados’ empty fuselages are then dumped for the scrapman.
The latest victim of the RTP programme was Tornado GR4A ZA373, which first flew on September 10, 1982 and was one of the oldest Tornado airframes still in service. The aircraft was captured in these superb images by Howard Sinclair, as it made a fast, low-level pass through the Machynlleth Loop several weeks ago, on its final flight of June 23.
Better known as the Mach Loop – and boasting its own website – this series of valleys in west-central Wales is a hotbed of military aircraft activity, as aircrew constantly ply their craft in the low-level arena.
ZA373, which still wore the markings of No. 12 Squadron RAF and operated under the callsign Tarnish 21, was piloted that day by a civilian crew from the defence contractor BAE Systems. The aircraft was one of 25 dedicated reconnaissance versions of the Tornado GR4. Carrying the designation GR4A, it had been upgraded during the 1990s from a production run of 30 original GR1A airframes.
The Marham-based Tornado, which also served with Nos. 2 and 9 squadrons during its almost 33 years of service, was on charge with 12 Squadron as late as April 2015. Its tail code, 007, reflected its relative vintage alongside other survivors of the type. Now that ZA373 has been withdrawn from service, only two older Tornados – ZA370/004 and ZA372/006 – are understood to remain flying.
And like another ex-12 Sqn machine – ZA395 – before it, Tornado ZA373’s final low-level trip through the Mach Loop made a fitting tribute to a successful combat aircraft designed for low-level strike missions.
Related – Preserving ‘Raspberry Ripple’ Tornado ZA326 at Bruntingthorpe
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