(Image: Andy Purbrick; derelict Tornado airframes ZA322 (left) and ZA375)
Until fairly recently, it was normal for a visit to an RAF airfield to include a pilgrimage along the fence line to a neglected corner of the base where the forlorn hulks of defunct warplanes – often the same types as those still screaming off the active runways – had been towed to await their fate. Some were used for fire, battle damage repair (BDR) training and decoy duties, while others simply awaited scrapping, their airframe hours and fatigue lives thoroughly exhausted, and useful parts removed.
RAF Coningsby, then an active Tornado F3 station, was at various times home to the stripped out fuselage of an old Buccaneer, several Lightning F2As (one of which later became the strangely iconic ‘A1 Lightning‘) and a gaggle of tired Phantoms. Scampton’s long-serving fire dump resident was Vulcan XL384 and the line up of hollow, spares-recovered Lightnings made for an interesting feature on the west side of RAF Binbrook (a few of them survive today). Of course, that’s only scratching the surface of Lincolnshire.
(Image: Phil Adkin; spares recovered Tornados ZA361 (closest), ZA322 (TAC) and ZA375, coded AJ-W)
Nowadays, with certain exceptions, fire dump aircraft aren’t as visible as they once were, while the Cold War decoy line-ups and graveyards of fast jets awaiting the shredder are no longer the norm in the far corners of windswept airfields. Panavia Tornado GR4s reaching the end of their service lives, for instance, are being reduced to produce inside the hangars at RAF Leeming.
And unlike their less fortunate F2/F3 brethren, as well as early batch TTTE airframes and much of the Tornado GR1B anti-shipping fleet, their stripped-out carcasses have yet to be dumped outside as scrap (as far as I’m aware). The scenes at RAF Marham in Norfolk ten years ago, however, echoed days gone by.
(Images: Google Earth; abandoned Tornado GR1s and other assorted parts)
The above images, snapped at RAF Marham in 2005, may have been one of the last times such a scene was witnessed on a UK fast jet base. With the exception of military storage facilities like St Athan in Wales, we haven’t seen many redundant Tornado IDS variants abandoned on lonely dispersals. The planes seen on Google Earth include the former Tornado Weapons Conversion Unit and Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment (TTTE) airframes ZA322 (centre) and ZA361 (left). To the right is ex-617 Squadron Tornado GR1B ZA375 and behind them, a pile of wreckage that may once have comprised another Tornado.
Delivered in 1980, 1981 and 1982 respectively, these jets were used for ground instructional purposes at Marham after their withdrawal from flying duties. Any usable spare parts have been well and truly stripped, but their paint looks relatively fresh, suggesting the aircraft hadn’t been long out to pasture. Perhaps incredibly, given the fate of many such airframes, the least complete of them all, ZA361, has been slowly rebuilt in recent years. This Tornado GR1 (pictured below on a farm in New York, Lincolnshire) is now understood to have moved to a warmer retirement home in Spain. Unfortunately ZA322 and ZA375 didn’t fare so well. Both aircraft were scrapped in 2006.
(Image: Dave Collins; Panavia Tornado ZA361 in January 2014)
Meanwhile, a handful of Tornado GR1B maritime attack variants have survived as gate guards, museum pieces, private collectibles and ground instructional airframes. Two of them – ZA474 and twin-stick trainer ZA409 – are understood to reside somewhere in the back of one of RAF Lossiemouth’s expansive hangars. Examples of a rare breed, when – and if – they will next see the light of day is anyone’s guess, but we’re hoping preservation one day finds them.
Related – Tornado GR4 Prototype XZ631 in Striking New Paint Scheme at Elvington
The post Derelict Tornado GR1 Carcasses (ZA322, ZA361 & ZA375) on Marham Dump appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.