History
The Tornado was first shown to the British public on 14 April 1978 at RAF Boscombe Down. The RAF planned to buy 220 of them, and 165 of the ADV variant. 809 for all three countries had been ordered, with 212 for the German Air Force, 112 for the German Navy and 100 for the Italian Air Force. Cost at that time was £7.8m for the GR1 and £9.4m for the ADV. As a historical comparison, a Tornado could carry twice the bomb load of an Avro Lancaster. The plane was chosen above contemporary American aircraft at that time because the F-16 lacked all-weather capability, the F-15 had inferior radar and electronic countermeasures and the F-14 was too expensive. The Tornado was the first RAF plane with Terrain Following Radar (TFR). The German Navy was the first to get the planes. When the TTTE was established, the RAF was concerned it may not have enough trained pilots to fly the planes, due to poor recruitment and perceived low pay.
Read more about this topic: Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“There is one great fact, characteristic of this our nineteenth century, a fact which no party dares deny. On the one hand, there have started into life industrial and scientific forces which no epoch of former human history had ever suspected. On the other hand, there exist symptoms of decay, far surpassing the horrors recorded of the latter times of the Roman empire. In our days everything seems pregnant with its contrary.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“Certainly there is not the fight recorded in Concord history, at least, if in the history of America, that will bear a moment’s comparison with this, whether for the numbers engaged in it, or for the patriotism and heroism displayed.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“What has history to do with me? Mine is the first and only world! I want to report how I find the world. What others have told me about the world is a very small and incidental part of my experience. I have to judge the world, to measure things.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)