The Plane Built to Break Russia

The Panavia Tornado was the first Royal Air Force aircraft to be fully designed for the digital age. Equipped with highly complex automated systems, the type had a remarkable advantage in electronic warfare and could easily jam or deceive enemy defenses.

However, the strike attack aircraft was initially conceived as far back as the 1970s, and it could carry either conventional or nuclear weapons and operate far and wide throughout Europe at an extremely low level.

With such state-of-the-art features, the Tornado quickly became one of the most advanced ground attack aircraft of its time and provided the Royal Air Force with a cutting-edge front-liner that was still creating havoc at the turn of the century…

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Join Dark Skies as we explore the world of aviation with cinematic short documentaries featuring the biggest and fastest airplanes ever built, top-secret military projects, and classified missions with hidden untold true stories. Including US, German, and Soviet warplanes, along with aircraft developments that took place during World War I, World War 2, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and special operations mission in between.

As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Skies sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect and soundtracks for emotional impact. We do our best to keep it as visually accurate as possible.

All content on Dark Skies is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas.

[richardnicklin]

It’s annoying to hear the Tornado referred to in the past tense: Tornadoes are still operational with the Luftwaffe, Royal Saudi Air Force and the Aeronautica Militare, and will be until at least 2030.

[ferventheat]

I'm no student of aircraft, but the tornado and the Grumman Tomcat were tops for me as a child, being swept wing, twin engined and twin crewed, they were the true battle tools of the skies

[psychoevolution]

Was deployed to Afghanistan in 2014. Got the pleasure of being around these incredible aircraft. Also the misfortune of being 4 o'clock behind one on full after burner takeoff. Good times.

[chrisanderson]

One of the VERY few planes ever built that could genuinely fulfill all its different combat roles. Reminds me of the Mosquito from WW2.

[anasevi]

Here's my plan for a Nuclear War with anyone:
1. no
2. no
3. nope for good measure.

[demonhighwayman]

I still remember the tornado's screaming down loch ness in scotland doing low level training in the 80's. A beautiful utilitarian design, kind of like a real life x-wing !

[michaelegan]

On a slightly different note, the tripartite training school for the Tornado was about thirty miles south from where I worked. For some reason the aircraft used the buildings that I worked in as a navigation point. The problem for us was, as engravers, every time a Tornado flew just above the building, everyone jumped and ruined their work. How much did the RAF owe the proprieters?.

[miketeeveedub]

Remarkable platform that was able to make the transition from nuclear strike fighter to air superiority, recon, electronic warfare and ground attack. Hard to believe the design is almost 50 years old!

[randytaylor]

Super video! Some planes are sleek, some are useful. The Tornado is just brutal, a fierce warrior in every role.

[Fyhrer]

Oh boy, the Tornado was a beast. In my hometown in northwestern germany you saw and heard them a couple of days per week when they were doing their aerial target simulation. Phantoms, Tornadoes and now the Eurofighters. Always great watching them chasing the Learjets!

[Thehuntedfew]

she was a beautiful airframe, I live close to Leuchars and had been woken by a few QRA launches from there. Was driving under the end of the main runway one night and a pair of Tornados taken off on QRA over the top of me, scared the living daylights out of me as there was no noise until the sky torn above me. If you are in Scotland they have a F3 in the montrose air station, which is well worth the visit

[jimgraves]

Seeing the Tornado fly directly overhead as it headed out to the bombing ranges on The Wash was quite a sight and sound that I wont forget as long as I live. When called upon to go into combat it proved itself time and again.

[marksadler]

@7:57. The F-111 (at least) had synchronized inner hardpoints that pivoted inversely with the wing sweep so that the pilons were always parallel to the roll axis. Just an FYI or correction.

[pigeonpoo]

Used to live by Lake Windermere in England. Watching these things flying through the valleys was sensational

[JonBvideostuff]

Tornado was conceived much earlier than you state!
I worked on it in the mid/late 60's... and it was in its late development stages then... about to go into full production.
At the time, it was called MRCA (Multi Role Combat Aircraft)
Love your vids!

[DavyRo]

I love this jet, nothing makes the ground shake like its engines. The noise from this beast I can say is my favourite bar none. Full afterburner roar cracking the sky wide open. I love that sound it stirs something inside me that ony 1 other engine does that I've heard for myself live. That is the newest engine the Russians have put in their SU 57. It has the most evil sounding howl type noise. I've heard nothing like it.

[smile]

I miss seeing these thundering around the Lake District in the 90s. I remember chatting to a Tornado pilot and asking him about the computer. It had 8k of memory if I recall, but he said it was very fast and worked perfectly.

[kevinmccorkle]

Second in sexy, only to the F-14. There's just something about cold war, variable sweep fighters.

[chrisspence]

Team Tornado is a fantastic book about a Tornado flight crew who were shot down and taken prisoner during the Gulf War. It was released in 1995 so may be hard to find but is definitely worth reading.

[stoopingfalcon]

I remember many years ago I was out hillwalking with a group of friends in Scotland. The hills we were walking at that time were pretty small, maybe 300 feet max. So we are following the path along the top of one hill that was at best 250 feet high. We were talking pics, admiring the view etc, then suddenly we heard this amazing sound. Our group leader pointed down, and we saw SIX Tornados zipping through the valley below us at least 150 feet lower than we were. These guys were not hanging around either, the valley was about two miles long, and the planes were gone in seconds. They were gone so fast we never even got a chance to take a photo. Incredible aircraft.