Question for RAF aircraft technician crew

[Jayviator]

I recently posted a thread asking for details relating to a Tornado GR4A control stick top which i have got for my project to try and build a Tornado GR1/4 front cockpit.
I got some very good and interesting information about the specific aircraft it was once fitted to, and I am very appreciative of the help i got, I almost feel guilty about asking more but I would like to find out as much as I can about the history of the various parts I have accumulated.
I have aimed this question at aircraft technicians as I think they might be in a better position to answer questions about specific aircraft parts rather than the aircraft itself.
My main question is if there is a way I can track down the period the item was fitted and in use, for example my stick top has accompanying paperwork MOD form 731 maybe someone here has filled in one of those forms so will know how to interpret the data, It says Ship/Station/Unit contractor St Athan, So I guess this is where the stick top was removed, it lists a work number, the aircraft serial number and gives a date 27/02/02 would this be the date it was removed, or the date it was deemed to be unserviceable?
Unfortunately the info that would be most useful for me has been left blank, that shows the life data for the item, including the most useful info, the date it was installed, with this info I would be able to have a much better idea of the history of the item when it was actually in use.
There are other bits of info on the form but I am not sure they are relevant, it lists the NATO stock code, the part number and serial number.
On the stick itself is a data plate which has a date code what I think reads 3QDE06/96, I don't know what the 3Q means but assuming DE is December 1996, does this date code indicate the date of manufacture or the date it was installed? if its the date installed and the 2002 date on the form is when it was removed at least i have a idea of when it was actually fitted to ZA369
It gives the reasons for removal as Reduntant MOD 02274 I think that is part of the MLU.
Hopefully someone can answer some of my questions as it will apply to all of my other items as well.
Cheers

[gr4techie]

That date is for when that Serial Number Of Work, was raised in the aircrafts log book ( F700 ).
There would have been a jobcard ( F707B ) with the same snow number and date. On that form the technician signed and dated when (s)he replacied the control column. These job cards were kept for x number of years incase someone needed to look into what happened that day. I don't know if they get shredded after x years ?
More recently, parts movements were tracked on a computer system.

[Alber Ratman]

Stick top is an "On Condition" item. It would have no life limiting off point, such as flying hours , calender date or fatigue etc.. So the life data of hrs since fit would never been filled in. It means nothing to you. The nato stock number is tied to the part number. All the store men in the RAF and MoD are interested in is the NSN.. However the only info to you that has any relevence (if it is for a set aircraft modification state) is the part number.. Alas you need an illustrated parts catalogue to tell you if the modification state of the part number ties up with a mark number of aircraft. You have already mentioned "made redundant by a Modification". I suspect it is a GR1/1A stick top.

[plans123]

Check your PMs.

[Jayviator]

Stick top is an "On Condition" item. It would have no life limiting off point, such as flying hours , calender date or fatigue etc.. So the life data of hrs since fit would never been filled in. It means nothing to you. The nato stock number is tied to the part number. All the store men in the RAF and MoD are interested in is the NSN.. However the only info to you that has any relevence (if it is for a set aircraft modification state) is the part number.. Alas you need an illustrated parts catalogue to tell you if the modification state of the part number ties up with a mark number of aircraft. You have already mentioned "made redundant by a Modification". I suspect it is a GR1/1A stick top.
You are correct its from ZA369 which was built as a GR1 then converted to GR4A then GR4A, the other parts are from other Tornadoes and some i dont have a aircraft serial number for, I am attempting to build a tornado front cockpit based on the GR1 but its nice to know a bit of history about the aircraft they were fitted to, its faorly easy to find out certain things but it would be cool to know when it was fitted then i would know if they have actually seen action, if the date code on the stick is the date in was made then i can rule out that my stick was in place during the first gulf war and if it was removed in 2002 then i think the only ops the Tornado did in that time scale is perhaps the Kosovo war, although being a GR4A i don't think it saw any action but its still exactly the same stick used in the GR1/4A.
Maybe ZA369 is not the only aircraft it was fitted to but perhaps the last one before it got replaced by the newer HOTAS sticks.
I think by the looks of it its going to be impossible to track down the history of my parts.

[NutLoose]

Registering and asking here may help

https://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?111179-Aircraft-Cockpit-Sections-Instrument-Panel-Projects-Part-2&

https://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?121888-Your-Favourite-Control-Column-Stick-Yoke-Grip!

https://forum.keypublishing.com/forumdisplay.php?4-Historic-Aviation/page1

[NutLoose]

3Q is normally third quarter off. that way you do not have to put individual times etc, just a portion of the day / month / year it was produced.

[Jayviator]

Registering and asking here may help

https://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?111179-Aircraft-Cockpit-Sections-Instrument-Panel-Projects-Part-2&

https://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?121888-Your-Favourite-Control-Column-Stick-Yoke-Grip!

https://forum.keypublishing.com/forumdisplay.php?4-Historic-Aviation/page1
Cheers for that suggestion, I have registered it seems that there is quite a long wait time for mods to approve my request but it looks like there are collectors of aircraft parts there so I think it will be useful to me.

[Jayviator]

That date is for when that Serial Number Of Work, was raised in the aircrafts log book ( F700 ).
There would have been a jobcard ( F707B ) with the same snow number and date. On that form the technician signed and dated when (s)he replacied the control column. These job cards were kept for x number of years incase someone needed to look into what happened that day. I don't know if they get shredded after x years ?
More recently, parts movements were tracked on a computer system.
Thanks for your reply, I am not sure I fully understand what you said, can you clarify, i think what you essentially said was the date I have is not the exact date the item was removed, rather its the date the job was raised. I would assume the job would have been done fairly soon after, at least within the same year. If so I can rule out the stick was in use during operation Telic.
If it was fitted fairly soon after it was made in 96 (if the data plate date is the date it was made) there is a chance it saw action during operation desert fox, that is if ZA369 took part in that operation.
It looks in pretty good condition compared to some of the other examples I have seen so I dont think it saw an awful lot of use, even if it was fitted the same year as it was made it would have only been in place for 6 years, but maybe they get replaced more often than that.
The form says its from a GR4 but in found out its actually a GR4A but the stick is the older type fitted to the GR1.
On my other thread someone mentioned that their were a few GR4s that still had the non HOTAS sticks for a while so perhaps it was one of those.

[NutLoose]

Re post 8.

My pleasure. :)

[Rigga]

The control of parts and components by MOD/RAF is notoriously poor and their history more poor still.
Although parts and components may be passed through all types of bay maintenance the records of that maintenance may be desgtroyed just two years afterwards, whether the part is used or not. The only real record may be that a Log Card mayb contrail when a task was done, if at all.
Hence even when a whole aircraft is let into public ownership all you get is a 700 and some log cards, but no detail ss of what exactly happened top the parts and components.
In a former job, I once calculated that it would take 18-24 months of component reconditioning and rebuilding to establish one GR4 to an ‘airworthy’ condition - i.e. one aircraft with a known history of its parts and components - assuming that the data for the actual airframe could be relied upon, where most data was also known to be fault ridden.