However, although the preserved aircraft remained in very good condition and could easily be restored to flying status, all the various updates and small changes that the rest of the fleet had meanwhile went through rendered those two Tonkas useless, for all intents and purposes.
Genuine question - why would they be useless? Is it because we cannot (institutionally) see beyond any form of technical obsolescence? I'm certain that a sqn of Tornado GR4 al 1.3 could work quite effectively independently from a sqn of Tornado GR4 al 1.9. And if immediately not realisable, surely a cost benefit analysis to make it happen could be justified? A number of jets a year or two behind the tech drag curve at Akrotiri might make the difference right now between achieving (potentially priceless) political objectives.. and not.