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Originally Posted by ATSA1 (Post 11117589)

Reading this thread, it seems that the F2 and F3 were not really fit for purpose as Medium to High level Interceptors...

or am i missing something?

You are. AMRAAM, ASRAAM and JTIDS!!

All good stuff, but how capable was the airframe to get the missiles into suitable envelopes to fire?

I heard at the time that when the MiG29s first visted Farnborough in 1988, the F3 escorts struggled to keep up with them!

No they didn't!

I flew the VC10K with the press party (AP, ITV, BBC, TASS, AvWeek, Flight etc.) on that trip; one problem was that the F3 outfit had an extra jet which they positioned between the VC10K and the MiG 29s, which was an infernal nuisance. After we met them over the North Sea, all went fine until the descent through the Daventry sector, when ATC weren't very helpful. We had to leave the formation and rejoin below cloud, by which time the F3s were doing their own thing contrary to the brief.

But the journos got their shots for rhe magazines and the video went out on the evening news!

ExAscoteer2

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Did the F3 have the capability of an unrefuelled transatlntic crossing?

Yes! As per my previous post.

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A Tornado F3, ZE155, flew unrefuelled in ferry fit non-stop across the Atlantic from Goose Bay to Warton on 24 Sep 1987. It was the first RAF fighter aircraft to do so without air-to-air refuelling. The flight took 4 hours 45 minutes.

You are of course correct that Blue Spruce isn’t in the NATS, my poorly written post, but it is detailed within NAT Doc 007 which is what I was trying to point out. There is not much chance of an F3 flying at FL285+ in the cruise in Ferry Fit, hence it would have been below the NAT tracks. I suspect it cruised between FL150 and FL200 for most of the transit in that fit. Even clean, ie. with no tanks, the aircraft didn’t like cruising above FL330, but it could get above FL500 (allegedly :cool:) if you were doing M1.2+. But then you would be in min reheat and so you wouldn’t be up there for too long!