TOMCAT Pilot Talks About His Exchange Tour Flying the Tornado F3 with the RAF | Interview Clips

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[beechbonanza]

I was the first USN exchange pilot on the F3. It had a roomy, quiet cockpit. It had thrust reverse and a civilian capable ILS. Dual IRS. You could see how your Nav (RIO) was using the radar in search modes and what he was seeing. For a skilled user, it had a form of NCTR (A-scope). The 25mm cannon was very accurate, and because you wore an air-mix O2 mask, you could smell the burnt powder - and its ammo bay, when empty, allowed two sets of gulf clubs plus your overnight gear. In the Tomcat, you were limited to a change of socks and a shaving kit. Self starting with an APU. Tomcat required two carts, air and electric and somebody available who knew what they were doing. It had a weapon systems controller which gave you some pretty impressive off-bore sight no-radar-lock capabilities with the AIM-9. English winters aren’t conducive to training, so we’d head down to Deci (Sardegna) or Cyprus, tanking off of the magnificent Victor. It was a blast. As for the language, you have to know your limitations. Americans should not attempt “Bloody Hell” and brits should stay away from “Kick Ass.”

[uiator]

I was stationed on a Brit base, flying the U-2 and we had a very good rapport with our hosts. Oral is right, I used my mess dress, service dress and a tux (subject of a humorous story in itself) multiple times that year. The RAF puts a very high value on socializing and likes to keep it highbrow, though, paradoxically, the parties to get crazy at times. I very much enjoyed my year with the Brits.

[garethonthetube]

Tornado pilot. "Cows' legs 200 feet, sheep's legs 100 feet". Buccaneer pilot " Ants' feet, steady as she goes"

[Bodneyblue]

Just heard a story of F3 and Hawks up against F14's and 18 during friendly DACT sorties in the late 80's early 90's..During a particular 3 day session the RAF beat the USN 12-0..So it's not always the aircraft..which helps of course..but also the pilots and tatics. For those slagging off the F3.

[brendancull]

When I was in the RAF in the 80s at Leuchars, I was ground crew on Phantoms, we always had two American crews seconded to our squadron. One of the pilots we had was a highly decorated Vietnam veteran. I always found the yank aircrews a lot more down to earth and approachable than our own aircrew, when they came back from leave, the first thing they really wanted was a decent beer, instead of what they got state side.

[andrewwhittle]

The engines in the F3 are the same both sides, i.e. based on those in the GR1 and 4 but with "extended reheat". The intake strakes are different between the left and right sides because the intakes are mirror images of each other but the engines, obviously, are not. As a result the flow field the left intake provides to its engine is different from that of the right, in terms of rotational flow. Therefore optimisation of the intakes required different solutions for left and right hand sides.

[stephenmurray]

I know next to nothing about combat aircraft but I used to love going on holiday to the Scottish countryside and seeing Tornadoes scream through the valleys. I also saw F15's doing the same thing. As a kid and young teenager I built model kits of both. Seeing these planes flying low level above a river with the mountains in the background was something special.

[malakabig]

By the end of its service life, the F3 was equipped with link-16, ARMAAM, ASRAMM, and the Foxhunter, which had been fully optimized for excellent Fox 3 / BVR performance. In addition, the range and loiter capability remained outstanding which enabled the crews to bide their time and chose when and how to engage. Moreover, RAF pilots/navigators had honed their tactics, over the years, to the point where the aircraft and crews could hold their own against anything in the allied inventory, including Luftwaffe Mig-29s. It would be an understatement to suggest that no RAF pilot would even consider merging or turning with an agile aircraft, as this would mean being shot down after the first turn. It is a pity that the F3 came into its own as an interceptor/fighter around the same time as the Typhoon was being introduced into service.

[angusmcangus]

Interesting. Earlier generation mud-moving RAF fighter pilot here. I did my service on Hawker Hunter, Bae Harrier and Tornado GR1. Flew 1, 250 hours on Tornado. Retired to airline flying in 1989. God that was b.o.r.i.n.g. In the 1970s and early 80s the UK Orientation Course was done on the Hawker Hunter on which I was a weapons and combat instructor. We had many exchange officers from NATO air forces coming through prior to their 3 year tours with front-line squadrons or OCUs. We learned a lot from each other. The Americans learned how a cash-strapped Air Force did the job without things like ABCCC, Rivet Joint, Wild Weasels and fighter escorts while we marvelled at the 120-ship gorillas! Red and Green Flag were fantastic. Never did Maple Flag. Happy days. The spirit is alive and well.

[nickhammond]

Ewan McGregor's brother Colin used to fly Tornado GR4. His call sign was Obi-Two

[janwitts]

The F3 was designed to head off to the north Sea. . Select slowest cruise.. and wait for soviet bombers... then it would close and attack... it was essential to kill soviet bombers before they could release their stand off weapons... for this specific purpose it was well suited

[Lrx_o]

I am a regular visitor to the Channel and being from the UK I thought it was awesome that Mover knew what the Mach Loop was and also how cool it is that Oral got 500 hours in the Tornado F-3!

[jaguar]

The original ADV's had manual wing sweep and different engines and were used on the OCU. The Squadron aircraft all had auto wing sweep, auto maneuvering devices and upgraded engines.

[HomemConservador]

Great video! That reminds me of my exchange programm with Royal Navy flying the Lynx helicopter... The language barrier (I had to learn that a ride in US is a lift in UK, the Growler callsign (my flight element) actually in UK means "natural bush", if you wanna get drunk in US in UK you "get pissed", UKOC at RAF Shawburry, low level flying sistem, dissimilar AC... Well I had a great time there!

[notmenotme]

I was on 56 Squadron from 2000 to 2004 as an Avionics Technician. I remember the whole sqn was relocated from Coningsby to Leuchars, as Coningsby was re-roled to fly the Eurofighter Typhoon.
The Tornado F3 is the interceptor version and the Tornado GR4 is the bomber version. Mostly different avionics. I say avionics in the loosest sense, as this was before glass cockpits, everything was an analogue gauge.
The wing sweep angle also depended on what size external fuel tank was fitted to the wing. If you had the big jugs you couldn’t sweep the wings back as far.
I heard the dog fighting ability was zero, the Tornado F3 was just an AMRAAM carrier, built to intercept Soviet TU-95 and TU-22 strategic bombers flying between Norway and Iceland.
The tail on the Tornado was so huge (for a fighter) it had a 440kg fuel tank in there.
The engines were so underpowered but noisy that we joked the Tornado was variable noise fixed airspeed. You (and everyone else in a 5 mile radius) really heard it takeoff in reheat, especially when you were sleeping off a night shift. Watching a fully loaded Tornado GR4 takeoff, it used the curvature of the Earth to leave the ground, undercarriage narrowly missing the fence at the end of the runway.
500 hours is impressive as we only flew 1 hour to 1.5 hour sorties.
Talking to another American exchange pilot, he described us as more reserved and formal. We reminded him of the Japanese (previously based in Okinawa?)
When I moved from the Tornado to the Eurofighter Typhoon, the generational leap in technology and capability was blatantly obvious, it’s like going from a morse code wireless set to an iPhone.
Leuchars was an enjoyable posting, being close to a few towns and cities 🍺. Unfortunately it closed and is now used as an Army armoured regiment garrison.

[andykewley]

Hi Mover! Really enjoyed that little interview. The Tornado, affectionately known as the "Tonka" in the UK after the well known rugged toys, was never intended to be a dedicated "interceptor" despite replacing the English Electric Lightning F6's that were in RAF service on Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) up until the late 1980's. Perhaps worthy of note here is that some SQN's didn't receive the Tornado initially, instead retaining the McDonnell Douglas Phantom with Rolls Royce Spey engines until they were retired in 1992. Its initial development designation with the Panavia consortium was the MRCA - Multi Role Combat Aircraft. Similar in concept to the US Navy VFAX program, the design specification encompassed capabilities from a number of other retiring types such as the Blackburn Buccaneer, and British Aircraft Corporation's Canberra and ill fated TSR2 project. Entering service with the RAF, it was given 2 designations. The IDS (Interdiction strike) and ADV (air defence variant). Both versions saw design developments leading to the GR4 and F3, as described by "Oral", respectively.

Incidentally, the "Mach Loop" isn't in the south of England. It's in mid-central Wales and passes through a series of valleys between the towns of Dolgellau to the north and Machynlleth to the south. Despite the obvious modern aviation reference, it's the name of the latter town which gave the name to the route having been used for low level training by the RAF since the 1930's.

[Hustlerg]

Interviewing tomcat pilots is very popular and I love it. No one can resist "Interview with Tomcat pilot" title. Grim reapers have done 2 in a month or so. Interesting learning about the f3

[brianmaloney]

Flew the “Orange and White” with Oral in our VT IP days! Cheers brother! Good “seeing” ya again! -Heinous

[coyote]

I remember being on holiday in Scotland high up on a valley with the kids and a couple of Tornado's tore down the valley at eye level the kids waved frantically and the pilot waggled his wings, great sight, great sound.

[Akm]

Minor point but the RB199 on the Tornado is a three-spool turbofan, not a turbojet. Our last turbojet powered tactical aircraft were the Lightning and the Canberra. EDIT: ...and the original Buccaneer S.1 with Gyron Junior turbojets. The later S.2 variant used Spey turbofans.