Royal Air Force (RAF)
The inside story of Tornado Storm Shadow missions to Libya
Mark Ayton got the inside story on the Tornado GR4's long-range missions to strike targets in Libya using Storm Shadow missiles
When RAF Tornados went to war in Europe
A new Balkan crisis erupted in the province of Kosovo in the late 1990s that saw the Tornado GR1 thrown into battle again – and for the first time in Europe. In the June 2018 issue of AirForces Monthly the then wing commander at RAF Brüggen, Greg Bagwell, discussed the Tornado’s campaign with Thomas Newdick
Tornado’s two-seat teams – insights from the back seat
In the April 2019 issue of AirForces Monthly, Thomas Newdick spoke to two of the final navigators to fly the ‘Tonka’ – Flt Lts Phil McGlone and Sam Baker
What the final role was for the last ever Tornado F3s that flew from Boscombe Down
In the July 2012 issue of Aviation News Editor Dino Carrara reported from MoD Boscombe Down on the work being undertaken by the last Tornado F3s in service anywhere in the world
Inside story of the world's first frontline Tornado squadron
Group Captain Peter Gooding (Ret’d) provides insights into the Tornado’s early RAF career as he tells Dino Carrara what it was like to be the boss of the world’s first frontline squadron flying the then new swing-wing bomber.
Falklands Nimrods: a pilot's account of sub-hunting in the South Atlantic
Hunting for Argentinean naval threats to the UK’s Task Force during the Falklands War, the RAF Nimrod MR2 community largely stayed out of the limelight —but it did notch up a piece of air force history
UK MOD told to consider advantages of operating mixed F-35A/B fleet
The UK parliament’s Defence Select Committee was told that the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review set out plans for the UK to buy 138 F-35B Lightning IIs. As of May 1, 2023, the UK had taken delivered of 31 F-35Bs, with a total of 48 due to be delivered by the end of 2025 as part of an initial Tranche 1 order
RAF fast-jet training problems branded ‘farcical’ by new report
An engine fault on the RAF’s Hawk T2 advanced jet trainers has caused substantial delays in fast-jet pilot training and has cost the UK MOD more than £50m, a report by an influential group of British MPs has found
UK MOD told to reverse cut in E-7A Wedgetail fleet size by British MPs
The decision by the UK MOD to cut its E-7A Wedgetail AEW1 fleet from five aircraft to three is “perverse” and must be reversed, the findings of an aviation procurement investigation has said
RAF urged to mothball Tranche 1 Typhoons instead of scrapping them
The RAF’s Tranche 1 Typhoon FGR4 fighters should be mothballed rather than scrapped, an influential group of British MPs have concluded in a new investigative report