Thanks
 

Having spent most of the day at RAF Marham today I'd like to post a big thank you to everyone involved in todays flypasts. The fact that several hundred people turned up today shows how much affection the spotter's world has for both the jet and the people who made her work. Having OC Marham turn up on the fence to brief the spotters on the route was a really generous gesture on his part which we appreciate.

So, good bye Tonka. and thanks to all involved with her over close to 40 years. You'll be missed.

I was there all day yesterday, and I stayed until the airfield closed. The location where I was, went from about a thousand people and several hundred cars at its peak, to only a few cars and about six of us remaining when the second F-35 of the 2nd and last pair of the day shut its engine down.

I didn't get the best view of the elephant walk at the end because I opted to not go to the centre line, but the angle wouldn't have been great anyway - the RAF photographers had that privilege and it is one they earned.

It was a bittersweet day, a moment of happiness and a moment of sadness that the end is near. The engineers should be incredibly proud of themselves to get 11 out of 12 available jets airborne this late in to their service life, it was an outstanding achievement. The U/S jet was actually the Bat special, but as the Squadron would say: There's Always Bloody Something!
Oh, and it wouldn't be the Tornado if at least one of the 11 jets didn't have an IFE during the event and had to RTB early! It lost something on the runway as well, and I saw it being towed back to the HAS Site after the others had taxied in.
To everybody at RAF Marham who made this happen yesterday, thank you so much. I think the nation can be incredibly proud of you and I hope your hangovers aren't too terrible this morning after that massive hangar party last night!

I think it's now time to reflect over the many years of constant operations and Cold War deterrence that the Tornado Force has served on - both the GR Force and the Air Defence Force - and to remember those who sadly did not return home. Thank you all.

Found some video of the 9 ship..............

More videos of the 9-ship here:

Got a bit of dust in my eye watching those vids!

No, he isn't. Yesterday's performance was filmed by hundreds of people from all sorts of angles and most of them are going to look 'wrong' somehow. Not only did the Tornados put in a highly polished flypast over a Cranwell parade in what look like rubbish conditions: they had the confidence to put in a manoeuvring performance in Diamond 9 at Marham, and very presentable it looked too. That deserves a measure of respect rather than petty criticism, IMHO.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....50776751a7.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e2e8a0b1d3.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....ce3b063ef6.jpg

Another thing one should keep in mind: they aren't the Red Arrows. Diamond 9's are not their "bread and butter" like a professional display team. They did incredibly well considering they have not had an entire winter to rehearse that formation.

For those who are interested and who use facetube then pop onto the R.A.F MARHAM AIRCRAFT SPOTTERS GROUP ( link may not work for all as it is a closed group and you would need to request access.) where there are some fabulous photographs, not so much of the flights, but of the post-flight celebrations.

Regrettably I was in on the wrong side of the country to get any photos but from what I have seen then the guys did the us all proud.

Very well said. Everybody involved has much to feel extremely proud of. I never really thought that Tornado would turn in to such a brilliant workhouse because of its complexity but it became so flexible and adaptable.
Awesome piece of kit.

I agree entirely. Only a few weeks ago these crews were flying ops over Syria. They are not display pilots but what they put on for us this week was just wonderful and a worthy tribute to one of the best strike aircraft to serve with the RAF.

Very well said Sir!

I wonder how long it will be before the nay-sayers realise just how pathetically trivial they are and resort to complaining we can't take banter which merely highlights how misplaced their tone was in the first place.

I have some photos from the hangar party which if I can remember to do it, will post here.

Well said JAJ. Overall, I have been very impressed with the FINale. Some nice, composed and professional flying, IMO. :D

OAP

Ditto. Time to pass the mantle and remember the good times...

Bad reporting on the usually pretty good Torygraph though......
There wasn't 9, there was 10 in this image. And it was taken ~15 minutes after they all landed.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....7594237cc7.png