Form 414, my RAF Logbook continues with me leaving Australia and the Hornet unhappily in my rear vision mirror as I was heading back to Blighty and a cold winter in Lincolnshire.  No 229 Operational Conversion Unit was the training unit that would give me my first taste of the Mighty Fin, the Swing Wing Super Jet, Mother Riley’s Cardboard Aeroplane otherwise known as the Air Defence Variant of the Tornado.

Not just a British aircraft, the Tornado was a project involving Germany and Italy as well.

A cutaway of the ADV Tornado

Just some of the multitude of limitations that Tornado pilots were required to memorise

The Tornado cockpit showing the wing sweep lever

The Mighty Fins of 43 and 111 Squadrons

The RB199 lacked sufficient thrust to allow the F3 to perform adequately at medium and high level but it did have a way of going backwards!

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Surruno, Panavia, BAe, the RAF Museum, Mike Freer, Kevan Dickin, Chris Lofting and the RAF.