INTRODUCTION

Ian Hall

The Tornado GR1 was conceived as a tactical nuclear bomber, a low-level interdictor for the Cold War era. Its crews knew their job, which was to demonstrate the expertise, equipment and readiness required to deter the Warsaw Pact from attacking NATO nations. But when it had been in service for little over a quarter of its life a series of extraordinary transformations began. The Tornado force participated in live combat – far from the anticipated theatre of operations. The Warsaw Pact collapsed. The aircraft was upgraded to GR4 standard, outwardly almost indistinguishable but with combat capability undreamt of in the early days. Tornados would continue, for many years, on operations as different as chalk from cheese from those for which the aircraft had been designed.

This volume, a compendium of tales by those who have flown, serviced, supported and commanded Tornado operations, gives a flavour of the many and varied aspects of the Tornado GR1/GR4 world over the years. Most of the contributors are people I met during my own, single Tornado tour, and many of them went on to experience the extraordinarily diverse nature of the aircraft’s eventual tasking.