Tornado Fmk3 In Op Granby

[Troffa]

Prompted by the discussion regarding the Tornado F MK3 in Op Granby, here are a few of the snaps I took at the time.

Apologies for the quality of the scans, but they are 20 year old prints!

A couple of views of the aircraft on the "Egyptian line" late in January 1991, the concrete splinter protection units were a recent addition.

A shot of the PHIMAT chaff dispenser as installed on the Starboard outer Sidewinder Pylon:

 

General view of the aft end of an AIM-9M missile as installed:

 

 

Shot of the ALE-40 Flare dispenser installation. These aircraft were rotated back to UK and replaced with Vinton Flare equipped aircraft.

 

 

The later Vinton Flare installation:

 

 

Shot of a AIM-9M as fitted to the F Mk3, of note is the Radar absorbant paint on the leading edges of the wing, wing nib and pylon:

 

 

Phimat Chaff dispenser on a trolley, view of the aft end.

 

 

Forward end of the same Phimat pods, note the RAM paint on the nose of the pod and on the conduit forward faces:

 

 

Skyflash missile on a "Y" Loader, the aircraft about to have an engine change:

 

 

Enjoy, I know I did!

 

Troffa

[AnonymousFO98]

lots of bits and bobs and dangly stuff

nice one Troffa

[Col.]

Thanks for sharing those Troffa, interesting and inspiring stuff. Seems the flaps and slats are not always deployed when parked up with wings forward?

[Troffa]

Thanks for sharing those Troffa, interesting and inspiring stuff. Seems the flaps and slats are not always deployed when parked up with wings forward?

No Col, on the F-3 Fleet we rarely saw flaps and slats deployed on the deck, although if the periodic greasing of the slat and flap runners was due the riggers would get the crew to drop them on shutdown to save an APU run or fitting the Hyd rig.

[Antoine]

Thanks for those nice pics.

[Col.]

No Col, on the F-3 Fleet we rarely saw flaps and slats deployed on the deck, although if the periodic greasing of the slat and flap runners was due the riggers would get the crew to drop them on shutdown to save an APU run or fitting the Hyd rig.

Thanks for clearing that up Troffa, nice to know I don't have to buy two sets of Paragon parts or do a lot of cutting and scratch-building on the two in the stash

[AirfixAndy]

Great piccies , thanks for sharing them

Andy

[Shaun]

Thanks for clearing that up Troffa, nice to know I don't have to buy two sets of Paragon parts or do a lot of cutting and scratch-building on the two in the stash

I also read that the flaps/slats were closed in the Gulf of avoid a build up of sand dust on the flap tracks and other sticky areas.

If you study photo's of Gulf War Tornado's it very rear to see the flaps extended on parked aircraft.

Shaun.

Edited February 8, 2010 by Shaun

[Mentalguru]

OMG- looks wise- they make F-16's look like flying turds

[AnonymousAA72]

Fantastic!! They have answered a lot of questions!!!

[Paul Brickles]

Cracking pics - its a dirtyy beast aint it!!

Paul

[Smiffy]

What a fantastic set of pics.

No Col, on the F-3 Fleet we rarely saw flaps and slats deployed on the deck, although if the periodic greasing of the slat and flap runners was due the riggers would get the crew to drop them on shutdown to save an APU run or fitting the Hyd rig.

That's something I didn't know either.

You just saved me a few bob (was also gonna order another set of Paragon Slat/flaps), cheers.

Thanks fer sharing these great shots.

[Jabba]

Thanks for shring these photos, it does answer several questions at once.

[Troffa]

I have had these pics for nearly twenty years now (gulp!) and have thought of posting them before, but never got round to it.

The other day I was looking at some Phantom pics on the Air Britain site and thought how fantastic that the photographer had shared his pics from the early 1970's and allowed me to answer some research questions I had.

That got me thinking, and then the thread on the Tornado F3 Gulf war fit sealed the deal.

Glad you like them!

[vulcan-rigger]

Ye gods I remember being the ground eng on the tanker that dragged them there. Thanks for the memories.

Cheers

V-R

[Jabba]

I have had these pics for nearly twenty years now (gulp!) and have thought of posting them before, but never got round to it.

The other day I was looking at some Phantom pics on the Air Britain site and thought how fantastic that the photographer had shared his pics from the early 1970's and allowed me to answer some research questions I had.

That got me thinking, and then the thread on the Tornado F3 Gulf war fit sealed the deal.

Glad you like them!

Unfortunately I did not take a camera to the first Gulf war, and only bought one whilst at Ali al Salam in the second, but I am glad that I did.

[Fulcrum]

Great shots here!

I ignored Tornado F3 carried ALE-40 during Operation Granby.

Keep them coming.

Cheers!

[Selwyn]

Selwyns claim to fame!

My team  at Leeming MSF (about 10 of us) built up from boxed stock all the Skyflash missiles sent to  Dharan for the F3's We worked non stop overnight and packed them up onto  ATSR (Air Transportable Storage Racking) mounted on S type trolleys ready to go onto the herks.  It was the first RAF use of the Super TEMP version of Skyflash IIRC. A week later I found myself at Dharan with the 5/29 sqn det operating the Sidewinder coolant plant (ZWICK) that had just been introduced in the RAF as I was one of the few guys (3 i think) that had been trained to use it. At that time we were operating under the sun shelters next to the Saudi F15c's.

 

Selwyn.