(Image: Steve Tron; pre-production Panavia Tornado XZ631 after refurbishment at Elvington)
By the second half of last year, the Yorkshire Air Museum’s Panavia Tornado GR4 was beginning to look rather sorry for itself. But by last summer, the early pre-production Tornado, which served as the GR4 prototype before retiring to the museum in 2005, received a full makeover. Pictured here in October 2015, the historic airframe looks absolutely stunning.
First conceived during the 1960s under the Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA) programme – ultimately a collaboration between Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom – the Panavia Tornado IDS (interdictor/strike) went on to become one of the most formidable fast jet bomber platforms of its age, and remains a potent weapon system to this day.
(Image: Steve Tron; the pre-production aircraft, designed P.15, served as the Tornado GR4 prototype)
A total of sixteen prototype and pre-production Tornado airframes were built during the 1970s, the first one taking to the air on August 14, 1974. Split between the three participating nations, the 10 initial prototypes were followed by a series of six pre-production airframes. Among them were two British jets, XZ630 and XZ631, which both survive almost 40 years later.
Tornado XZ631, which also carried the pre-production designation P.15, first flew on November 24, 1978 with aircrew Jerry Lee and Jim Evans at the controls. P.15 was also the first of Panavia’s early development batch machines to receive the production-standard rear fuselage with fin-mounted fuel tank – a feature of RAF Tornados, but not German/Italian ones.
XZ631’s flying career last 26 years, longer than many early production airframes that were not selected for the Tornado’s mid-life upgrade (MLU) to GR4 standard. The 10 year programme, which began in 1993, saw 142 of the RAF’s original fleet of 228 Tornado GR1 aircraft upgraded to GR4 standard between 1997 and 2003.
(Image: Steve Tron; Tornado XZ631 first flew in 1978 and made its final flight in 2004)
Airframe P.15/XZ631 served as the Tornado GR4 prototype and continued flying in the development role throughout the decade-long process. But as the upgraded GR4s rolled off the BAE Systems lines at Warton, Lancashire, and made their operational debut in the US-led Operation Southern Watch, the ageing Tornado XZ631’s task was almost complete.
The aircraft made its final flight on June 21, 2004 and was withdrawn from use thereafter. P.15 was retired to the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington the following year. On that day, Elvington became the first independent UK aviation museum to get its hands on a Tornado, and the first to acquire the GR4 version which remains a front-line strike jet today. Only one other Tornado GR4, the time-expired ZA452 at Coventry’s Midland Air Museum, is on public display.
(Image: Steve Tron; P.15 is now displayed at the Yorkshire Air Museum with Tornado GR1 ZA354)
Until recently, P.15/XZ631 still wore the early grey/green Cold War camoflage seen on production Tornado GR1s and GR1As. But thanks to its recent refurbishment, the aircraft has been repainted in the modern all-over light grey scheme worn by most surviving GR4s. Finished in the markings of No. 2 Squadron RAF, the retired combat jet looks stunning as a result.
In addition to P.15, the Yorkshire Air Museum is also the custodian of a Tornado GR1 airframe, ZA354. Let’s hope this machine also receives a freshening up of its early grey-green camouflage in the near future.
Related – Tornado F2 ZA267: Rare Surviving Prototype of the RAF’s Air Defence Variant
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