Book Review of
Panavia Tornado GR.1, GR.4, IDS/GR. 1B, ECR, ADV.
Author: Anirudh Rao
Top Drawings No. 115
Kagero Publishers
ISBN: 978-83-66673-42-7
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2021
MSRP: $24.95
ISBN: 978-83-66673-42-7
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2021
MSRP: $24.95
HISTORY:
The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and West Germany. There are three primary Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS (interdictor/strike) fighter-bomber, the suppression of enemy air defences Tornado ECR (electronic combat/reconnaissance) and the Tornado ADV (air defence variant) interceptor aircraft.
The Tornado was developed and built by Panavia Aircraft GmbH, a tri-national consortium consisting of British Aerospace (previously British Aircraft Corporation), MBB of West Germany, and Aeritalia of Italy. It first flew on 14 August 1974 and was introduced into service in 1979–1980. Due to its multirole design, it was able to replace several different fleets of aircraft in the adopting air forces.
The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) became the only export operator of the Tornado in addition to the three original partner nations. A tri-nation training and evaluation unit operating from RAF Cottesmore, the Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment, maintained a level of international co-operation beyond the production stage.
The Tornado was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), Italian Air Force, and RSAF during the Gulf War of 1991, in which the Tornado conducted many low-altitude penetrating strike missions. The Tornados of various services were also used in The Bosnian War, Kosovo War, Iraq War, in Libya during the 2011 Libyan civil war, as well as smaller roles in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Syria. Including all variants, 990 aircraft were built.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Role: Multirole aircraft, strike aircraft
National origin: Italy, West Germany, United Kingdom
Manufacturer: Panavia- Aircraft GmbH
First flight: 14 August 1974
Introduction to service: 1979
Status: In service
Primary users: German Air Force, Italian Air Force, Royal Saudi Air Force, Royal Air Force (historical)
Produced : 1979–1998
Number built: 990: 745, Panavia Tornado IDS, 194, Panavia Tornado ADV, 51, Panavia Tornado ECR
Variants: Panavia-Tornado ADV
THE BOOK:
Kagero Publishers is based in Lublin, Poland
This book is soft-cover of 20 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” format and printed in both Polish and English.
The cover art shows 2 color side views of Tornados, posed against a black background. A red background at the top of the cover. The black background has a white line-drawing of a top-view of a Tornado.
The top one is overall tan, with a black nose and a shark-mouth on the nose and 32 bombing mission tallies under the windscreen,
The bottom one is in a wave pattern of brown and grey. It has a insignia of a British roundel centered on a spear point, outlined in yellow. A yellow strip above it has black “RESCUE Gear on this side” on it.
The first page has the introduction of the book, over 6 small black and white cover arts of other books that Kagero publishes: “Club 1/72 Aircraft Drawings, the best of Mariusz Lukasik”, “ The Japanese Battleship Kongo 1944”, “The Aircraft Carrier HMS Invincible”, “Sturmpanzer IV Brummbar”, Me-210/Me-410” and “Ta-154”.
There is a 5-view line-drawing of a Tornado Gr-1, showing its sides, front, rear and top.
A line drawing of the top of it, showing one wing extended and the other one collapsed.
A line drawing of the bottom of it.
Line drawings of weapons and ECM pods mounted on its bottom
A side-view line drawing that points out the inner bulkhead locations and illustrations of the bulkheads.
These are all to 1/72nd scale and of the Gr-1.
Next is a color side profile of a Tornado Gr-1 shown as it looked during “Desert Storm” in 1991. It is overall tan, with a black nose. It has an illustration of a reclined naked gal, wearing black knee-socks, under black “Hello Kuwait, G’bye Iraq” and 26 black bombing mission tally marks. It has white outlined AE on its rudder. It was with the RAF, but no unit is provided.
Another side-view is in the same color scheme as the first one above. It has a shark-mouth on its nose, 31 bombing mission tally marks under the windscreen, red small “Gulf Killer” following the shark-mouth and a white outline GK on its rudder. Also shown as it looked during Operation “Desert Storm” in 1991.
A 4-view of a Tornado GR4, as it looked during Operation “Allied Force” in April 1999. It is the Tornado featured on the cover art in the brown and grey wave pattern camouflage. It further shows a small small yellow circle on the rudder with a black elephant on it.
A side-view of a Luftwaffe Tornado IDS, as it looked in the early 2000’s, in a two very dark shades of green splinter camouflage pattern. It has the Luftwaffe cross on its sides under the cockpit, a small blue shield with 3 white aircraft leaving white trails on it, outlined in white and a tri-color above the shield.
A side-view of a RAF Tornado GR-4, as seen during Operation “Unified Protector over Libya”, Spring 2011. It is has a black nose and is overall light-grey. On the side of its nose is a grinning black panda bear, facing another panda that is wearing a striped sweater, black pants, boots and is looking at the other panda through a yellow telescope. Over yellow “Born Fighter” outlined in black.
Next is a 3 view line-drawing in 1/48th scale of a Tornado Gr.1, showing its nose, rear and back half of the fuselage.
The next page shows 1/72nd line-drawings of 16 different weapons, 1 types of wing pylons and an ECM pod.
A 3-view of a Tornado GR.1, showing head-on line-drawings with different weapon loads loaded, in 1/72nd scale.
A side-view line drawing in 1/72nd scale of a Tornado GR.1 and another side view of a GR-4.
A side-view line drawing in 1/72n scale of a Tornado IDS/GR.1B and another side-view of a Tornado ECR.
A side-view line-drawing in 1/72nd scale of a Tornado GR.1 and another side-view of a Tornado ADV.
A 1/32nd scale line-drawing of the cockpit interior of a Tornado GR.4 (RAF F/31), and the cockpit of a Tornado Gr.1.
A 6-view 1/144th scale line-drawings of a Tornado, that does not say what type it is.
The back cover has 2 more color side-profiles on it.
The first one is a Tornado IDS, from the 1st Stormo, Aeronautica Militare. It has a black nose and is in a wave pattern camouflage of dark-green and grey. It has a white outlined 36 Italian roundel 57 on the sides of its nose and a yellow lightning bolt, with a blue circle with an eagle on it that has small lightning bolts in its beak. Circle is outlined in white and has lettering on it too small to read.
The second color side-view is overall tan with a black nose. It has a horizontal bar under the cockpit that has red and yellow stripes on it and a small black circle in the center with yellow bat on it. On its rudder is a second yellow bat. It was a RAF GR.4, with Operation “Ellamy”, 2014.
Inserted into the book are 2 sheets of line-drawings that are printed on both sides in 26 ¼” x 18 ¾” format, folded 4 times to fit the book.
Side letter A shows a 4-view line-drawing of a Tornado Gr.1 in 1/48th scale.
Side letter B shows a 2-view line-drawing of it in 1/48th scale.
Side letter C of the second sheet shows a 1/32nd line-drawing of a GR.1 3-view.
Side letter D shows a top view of the Gr.1 and its bottom with bombs and ECM pods illustrated in 1/32nd scale.
This is a neat book on Panavia Tornados. It will be of great interest to modelers who plan on building one and to aviation historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample. Casemate is the N. American distributor of Kagero books and all Kagero titles can be seen on Casemate’s website at:
The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and West Germany. There are three primary Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS (interdictor/strike) fighter-bomber, the suppression of enemy air defences Tornado ECR (electronic combat/reconnaissance) and the Tornado ADV (air defence variant) interceptor aircraft.
The Tornado was developed and built by Panavia Aircraft GmbH, a tri-national consortium consisting of British Aerospace (previously British Aircraft Corporation), MBB of West Germany, and Aeritalia of Italy. It first flew on 14 August 1974 and was introduced into service in 1979–1980. Due to its multirole design, it was able to replace several different fleets of aircraft in the adopting air forces.
The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) became the only export operator of the Tornado in addition to the three original partner nations. A tri-nation training and evaluation unit operating from RAF Cottesmore, the Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment, maintained a level of international co-operation beyond the production stage.
The Tornado was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), Italian Air Force, and RSAF during the Gulf War of 1991, in which the Tornado conducted many low-altitude penetrating strike missions. The Tornados of various services were also used in The Bosnian War, Kosovo War, Iraq War, in Libya during the 2011 Libyan civil war, as well as smaller roles in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Syria. Including all variants, 990 aircraft were built.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Role: Multirole aircraft, strike aircraft
National origin: Italy, West Germany, United Kingdom
Manufacturer: Panavia- Aircraft GmbH
First flight: 14 August 1974
Introduction to service: 1979
Status: In service
Primary users: German Air Force, Italian Air Force, Royal Saudi Air Force, Royal Air Force (historical)
Produced : 1979–1998
Number built: 990: 745, Panavia Tornado IDS, 194, Panavia Tornado ADV, 51, Panavia Tornado ECR
Variants: Panavia-Tornado ADV
THE BOOK:
Kagero Publishers is based in Lublin, Poland
This book is soft-cover of 20 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” format and printed in both Polish and English.
The cover art shows 2 color side views of Tornados, posed against a black background. A red background at the top of the cover. The black background has a white line-drawing of a top-view of a Tornado.
The top one is overall tan, with a black nose and a shark-mouth on the nose and 32 bombing mission tallies under the windscreen,
The bottom one is in a wave pattern of brown and grey. It has a insignia of a British roundel centered on a spear point, outlined in yellow. A yellow strip above it has black “RESCUE Gear on this side” on it.
The first page has the introduction of the book, over 6 small black and white cover arts of other books that Kagero publishes: “Club 1/72 Aircraft Drawings, the best of Mariusz Lukasik”, “ The Japanese Battleship Kongo 1944”, “The Aircraft Carrier HMS Invincible”, “Sturmpanzer IV Brummbar”, Me-210/Me-410” and “Ta-154”.
There is a 5-view line-drawing of a Tornado Gr-1, showing its sides, front, rear and top.
A line drawing of the top of it, showing one wing extended and the other one collapsed.
A line drawing of the bottom of it.
Line drawings of weapons and ECM pods mounted on its bottom
A side-view line drawing that points out the inner bulkhead locations and illustrations of the bulkheads.
These are all to 1/72nd scale and of the Gr-1.
Next is a color side profile of a Tornado Gr-1 shown as it looked during “Desert Storm” in 1991. It is overall tan, with a black nose. It has an illustration of a reclined naked gal, wearing black knee-socks, under black “Hello Kuwait, G’bye Iraq” and 26 black bombing mission tally marks. It has white outlined AE on its rudder. It was with the RAF, but no unit is provided.
Another side-view is in the same color scheme as the first one above. It has a shark-mouth on its nose, 31 bombing mission tally marks under the windscreen, red small “Gulf Killer” following the shark-mouth and a white outline GK on its rudder. Also shown as it looked during Operation “Desert Storm” in 1991.
A 4-view of a Tornado GR4, as it looked during Operation “Allied Force” in April 1999. It is the Tornado featured on the cover art in the brown and grey wave pattern camouflage. It further shows a small small yellow circle on the rudder with a black elephant on it.
A side-view of a Luftwaffe Tornado IDS, as it looked in the early 2000’s, in a two very dark shades of green splinter camouflage pattern. It has the Luftwaffe cross on its sides under the cockpit, a small blue shield with 3 white aircraft leaving white trails on it, outlined in white and a tri-color above the shield.
A side-view of a RAF Tornado GR-4, as seen during Operation “Unified Protector over Libya”, Spring 2011. It is has a black nose and is overall light-grey. On the side of its nose is a grinning black panda bear, facing another panda that is wearing a striped sweater, black pants, boots and is looking at the other panda through a yellow telescope. Over yellow “Born Fighter” outlined in black.
Next is a 3 view line-drawing in 1/48th scale of a Tornado Gr.1, showing its nose, rear and back half of the fuselage.
The next page shows 1/72nd line-drawings of 16 different weapons, 1 types of wing pylons and an ECM pod.
A 3-view of a Tornado GR.1, showing head-on line-drawings with different weapon loads loaded, in 1/72nd scale.
A side-view line drawing in 1/72nd scale of a Tornado GR.1 and another side view of a GR-4.
A side-view line drawing in 1/72n scale of a Tornado IDS/GR.1B and another side-view of a Tornado ECR.
A side-view line-drawing in 1/72nd scale of a Tornado GR.1 and another side-view of a Tornado ADV.
A 1/32nd scale line-drawing of the cockpit interior of a Tornado GR.4 (RAF F/31), and the cockpit of a Tornado Gr.1.
A 6-view 1/144th scale line-drawings of a Tornado, that does not say what type it is.
The back cover has 2 more color side-profiles on it.
The first one is a Tornado IDS, from the 1st Stormo, Aeronautica Militare. It has a black nose and is in a wave pattern camouflage of dark-green and grey. It has a white outlined 36 Italian roundel 57 on the sides of its nose and a yellow lightning bolt, with a blue circle with an eagle on it that has small lightning bolts in its beak. Circle is outlined in white and has lettering on it too small to read.
The second color side-view is overall tan with a black nose. It has a horizontal bar under the cockpit that has red and yellow stripes on it and a small black circle in the center with yellow bat on it. On its rudder is a second yellow bat. It was a RAF GR.4, with Operation “Ellamy”, 2014.
Inserted into the book are 2 sheets of line-drawings that are printed on both sides in 26 ¼” x 18 ¾” format, folded 4 times to fit the book.
Side letter A shows a 4-view line-drawing of a Tornado Gr.1 in 1/48th scale.
Side letter B shows a 2-view line-drawing of it in 1/48th scale.
Side letter C of the second sheet shows a 1/32nd line-drawing of a GR.1 3-view.
Side letter D shows a top view of the Gr.1 and its bottom with bombs and ECM pods illustrated in 1/32nd scale.
This is a neat book on Panavia Tornados. It will be of great interest to modelers who plan on building one and to aviation historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample. Casemate is the N. American distributor of Kagero books and all Kagero titles can be seen on Casemate’s website at:
Highly recommended.