Retirement of the Tornado GR4 from the RAF

[patmurphy]

Headed over to RAF Marham in deepest darkest (quite literally as it turned out) Norfolk. The last of the Tornado GR4's in RAF service were due to put up a 9 ship for a flypast at RAF Cranwell and then finish with a series of flypasts over home base before Landing for the last time for most of the aircrew and the aircraft too.

The weather had been unseasonably warm and sunny in the UK, for the week before. Sadly, it was not to be on the day, with dark clouds and a little rain forecast. That didn't deter a few thousand hardy souls turning up toe MArham to stand at the fence and give the Tonka/Mighty Fin/Tornado (call it what you will) a good send off.

Taxiing out:

Tonka Taxi by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

camo taxi by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

Goldstars by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

3 Tonka Taxi by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

137 taxi by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

nose taxi by Pat Murphy, on Flickr


Then on to the departures. The poor light made for some great burner shots. The first one was actually the second to last one and I tried chopping the shutter speed down to a 40th with the 70D and 100-400 ii combo.


Tonka by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

Camo takeoff by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

092 takeoff by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

035 takeoff by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

Marham Takeoff by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

Then they were gone, 11 in total. They reappeared flying down the main runway banking away from us...

Tonka 9 ship 1st pass by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

Then round to the right for a topside towards us from the right. The light was pretty dire by now, so I have pushed the processing on this one a bit and gone for silhouettes. I think it just about works.....

9 ship silhouette by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

Then it was in to 2 formations. I got a shot of the missing man pull up but it was so far away and dark that it'll probably be kept for record only. Following that, we had the breaks and recoveries....

Tonka 4 ship by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

Tonka Break by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

Marham Landing by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

Tonka sunset by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

Nose on by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

Tonka Taxi in by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

close crop taxi by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

group taxi in by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

Just one more left, it's not a special shot in any way, other than the fact that it's the last shot taken by me, of a Tornado GR4 of The Royal Air Force under it's own power. Thanks for all the burner takeoffs, the swept wing passes, the airfield beat-ups, fancy tails, Role Demos and above all for the men and women, who did their job and their part, in keeping us safe. Thank you.

Last shot by Pat Murphy, on Flickr

[Calum]

Pity about the light Pat, what time was it?

Still you got some keepers there. Thanks for posting

[Dave Homewood]

Super photos Pat! Thanks for posting them.

[ZacYates]

Beautiful work Pat, thank you for sharing this special set with us.

I do love that retro-camo machine.

[patmurphy]

Thanks for the comments guys. The weather was pants on the day, murky, low cloud and increasingly dark. They did well to get up and perform the Diamond 9 in the first place. Time was from 2 till 4 in the afternoon. Most of the aircraft were preforming their last flights that day. It's been 1's and 2's in the air per day since then, 2 have flown over our house after Practice Diverts from Liverpool Airport
As for their fates? Most of the aircrew are heading off to the F35, some to other duties. The aircraft? Some to Ground Instructional use, one or two for preservation, including The Retro Camo ZG752 to a pole at RAF Honington. Lucky for me, I have 2 Tonkas/Mighty Fins/Tornados, call them what you will, close to my home. An F3, ZE966 at Broughton Airfield and a GR4 at DECA Sealand ZA607. The rest will be RTP'd and then scrapped

[skyhawkdon]

Awesome photos Pat.

[saratoga]

Great photos, looks like the age of the swing wing is over. Even the Soviet designs were better looking than the flat F-35.

[nuuumannn]

Captured this Tonka and F-35 at Fairford last year.

Tonka F-35 3

Tonka F-35 4-3