To those wise soles who would wish to see the GR4 given a send-off befitting such a brilliant and iconic jet, I fully agree.
I had the privilege and pleasure of working on the RB199 engine during both development, production and in-service support.
I spent time working at Warton, TTTE, Marham, Honington, Bruggen, Laarbruch, Coningsby, Leeming, Leuchars, Lossiemouth and St Athan.
Of course the engine had a number of problems in service but it was an extremely challenging design requirement given the technology and materials of the time.
To all those who worked on and of course flew in her, you can be immensely proud of what was achieved.
First flight 1974. First production delivery 1979 and just short of 1000 produced.
Tornado was designed to take on the might of the Warsaw Pack forced. It had to be good and it was /is still very good.
It will be remembered as a fantastically capable and reliable front line fighter/ bomber and should be treated with hugh respect.