RE: Panavia Tornado F3: Spotted
Discussion
aeropilot said:
It also guzzled fuel at a terrific rate at altitude as well, which meant, trying to get one to FL50 when clean even after topping up from a tanker meant you really didn't have enough fuel to hope to get to M2.2.....
I have talked to one ex.F.3 pilot that claimed to have seen M1.8 at FL43...once........ and he reckoned that was an achievement.....
FL50= 5,000 feet.I have talked to one ex.F.3 pilot that claimed to have seen M1.8 at FL43...once........ and he reckoned that was an achievement.....
FL43= 4,300 feet.
These are not spectacularly high altitudes.
Edited by Rovinghawk on Tuesday 22 May 22:30
frodo_monkey said:
4x AMRAAM or Skyflash under fuselage, 4x ASRAAM or ‘winders under wing. At the same time you could carry 2x drop tanks (large or small) and also a towed radar decoy/chaff pod on the outer stubs.
And it could do Mach 2+, I have done it (Falklands, dedicated tanker)...
I was part of the design team that converted the BOZ chaff pod into the towed decoy version as an urgent operational requirement. Helped protect the F3's, but did little to help its performance. The outer wing pylons were only fitted when this UOR came out.And it could do Mach 2+, I have done it (Falklands, dedicated tanker)...
Edited by frodo_monkey on Tuesday 22 May 17:28
I got to go into Marham through my work some years ago. Was out on the airfield with these taking off at regular intervals, a brilliant experience. The most surreal thing was while driving out of the base around the perimeter we had to stop at red lights to let one taxi down to the runway.
McGraw said:
Much prefer the dogfighting performance of the similar era F16.
The rear wing looks wrong on these too.
Do you mean "tailplane" or "horizontal stabilizer"?The rear wing looks wrong on these too.
The tailplane on the Tornado is interesting. Most aeroplanes use wing mounted ailerons for roll control. Because the Tornado has swing wings, it does not have wing mounted ailerons. Instead, roll control is effected by differential movement of the tailplanes. Pitch control is by operating the tailplanes in unison.
MadDog1962 said:
Hopefully a few of these will be preserved.
It's still a wonderful aircraft. It's amazing to think these fist entered service in 1979.
I still vividly remember seeing (and hearing!) one break the sound barrier at the end of the airshow at RAF Saint Athan back in 1981.
Not the F3 version. They entered service in 1984/85 following initial use of the rather less than capable interim F2.It's still a wonderful aircraft. It's amazing to think these fist entered service in 1979.
I still vividly remember seeing (and hearing!) one break the sound barrier at the end of the airshow at RAF Saint Athan back in 1981.
frodo_monkey said:
4x AMRAAM or Skyflash under fuselage, 4x ASRAAM or ‘winders under wing. At the same time you could carry 2x drop tanks (large or small) and also a towed radar decoy/chaff pod on the outer stubs.
And it could do Mach 2+, I have done it (Falklands, dedicated tanker)...
You must know Dave Gledhill then?And it could do Mach 2+, I have done it (Falklands, dedicated tanker)...
Edited by frodo_monkey on Tuesday 22 May 17:28
I went to a fantastic presentation of his that included in cockpit video from his time as Nav on Tornado F3s in the Falklands.
He was also on Phantoms before, and he's written a few books on this and other subjects.
Amanitin said:
Rovinghawk said:
FL50= 5,000 feet.
FL43= 4,300 feet.
These are not spectacularly high altitudes.
that's 50,000 and 43,000 sir, and while maybe not spectacular they do qualify as pretty damn high. Not many aircraft can cruise at FL50.FL43= 4,300 feet.
These are not spectacularly high altitudes.
Edited by Rovinghawk on Tuesday 22 May 22:30
F3 always used to lose the 'brakes off to 10000' challenge' vs an unladen Chinook in the Falklands!
Eric Mc said:
Do you mean "tailplane" or "horizontal stabilizer"?
The tailplane on the Tornado is interesting. Most aeroplanes use wing mounted ailerons for roll control. Because the Tornado has swing wings, it does not have wing mounted ailerons. Instead, roll control is effected by differential movement of the tailplanes. Pitch control is by operating the tailplanes in unison.
The ‘tailplanes’ are technically called tailerons for exactly that reason.The tailplane on the Tornado is interesting. Most aeroplanes use wing mounted ailerons for roll control. Because the Tornado has swing wings, it does not have wing mounted ailerons. Instead, roll control is effected by differential movement of the tailplanes. Pitch control is by operating the tailplanes in unison.
z06tim said:
You must know Dave Gledhill then?
I went to a fantastic presentation of his that included in cockpit video from his time as Nav on Tornado F3s in the Falklands.
He was also on Phantoms before, and he's written a few books on this and other subjects.
I’ve read his books and am aware of him, but he’d left the jet before I arrived on it in 2004.I went to a fantastic presentation of his that included in cockpit video from his time as Nav on Tornado F3s in the Falklands.
He was also on Phantoms before, and he's written a few books on this and other subjects.
Love it. I'm sitting here thinking about where in my yard it could sit! Imagine the kids faces when the lorry rolled up with that on the back!
Wildcat45 said:
This has the Blue Circle radar, right?
Actually this makes me feel very old. As a kid in 1981 my mates Dad was in the RAF, based at Cottesmore. He took us there to see their brand new GR1s.
The F3 was a good looking jet.
In the early F2/F3 days there were not enough AI24 radar packs to go round. So quite a few jets had the ballast fitted, it was actually metal not concrete. Lots of fun was had on night shift removing radar packs from a jet that had gone unserviceable and stuffing it into one that had no radar fitted. Actually this makes me feel very old. As a kid in 1981 my mates Dad was in the RAF, based at Cottesmore. He took us there to see their brand new GR1s.
The F3 was a good looking jet.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff