Tornado, ECR Luftwaffe, Germany Airforce
The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine combat aircraft, which was jointly developed by the West Germany, United Kingdom and Italy. There are three primary versions of the Tornado; the Tornado IDS (Interdictor/Strike) fighter-bomber, the suppression of enemy air defences Tornado ECR (Electronic Combat/Reconnaissance) and the Tornado F.3 (only United Kingdom) a air fefence variant. It is one of the world’s most sophisticated and capable interdiction and attack aircraft, with a long range, large payload and high survivability. Developed and built by Panavia, a tri-national consortium consisting of MBB of West Germany, British Aerospace, and Alenia Aeronautica of Italy. The Tornado first flew on August 14, 1974, and saw action with the RAF and AMI (Italian Air Force) in the Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm). International co-operation continued after its entry into service within the Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment, a tri-nation training and evaluation unit operating from RAF Cottesmore, England. Including all variants, 992 aircraft were built for the three partner nations and Saudi Arabia (first export customer). Panel, GAUGES, model, sound and textures by – Author: A.Meyer.
