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Questio for tornado experts


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I'm no expert but the ones I've seen were all extended (not swept back).

When on ground the wing position of the tornado is only in open or closed position or can be anywhere in between?
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On german Tornados the wings are normaly swept beck to 45°

Only time I've seen a RAF Tornado with the wings back is 1435flt down the Falklands & thats because the shelters were made before the F3 entered service & were made for Lightnings,FGR2's & Harriers.

Rarely if ever saw them with wings back on the Squadrons I was on.

Merv

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Hi Merv,

So, that nice 1/72 Airwaves set of "wings with deployed flaps" is not really neccesary?

Cheers, Stefan.

Depends how you are modelling the jet.With them out,You're more likely to see a jet taxing with them out & the jet is cleaned up before shut down.

Tt's also a H&S issue,especially in a HAS where space is tight & it's a lot harder to load.

(I spent over 4 years on GR1 &GR4's)

Edited by spike7451
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For British jets at least...

Tornado GR1/1A/4/4A has to be parked with wings forward else the centre of gravity is too far aft and it will fall on its back end, unless it is completely defuelled (especially the fin fuel tank!) and has no payload in which case I think you can sweep them back a bit, but don't let anyone tug on the tail!

The F3 is somewhat different, with its fuselage stretch and longer nose the centre of gravity is further forward so wing sweep maters much less. Indeed the F3 can sometime be seen taxiing with wings fully swept.

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Hi Merv,

So, that nice 1/72 Airwaves set of "wings with deployed flaps" is not really neccesary?

Cheers, Stefan.

On an RAF GR1 prior to the first Iraq War, they were almost invariably parked with the flaps and slats deployed., so if your aircraft is in that time period they can be used

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On an RAF GR1 prior to the first Iraq War, they were almost invariably parked with the flaps and slats deployed., so if your aircraft is in that time period they can be used
Beg to differ Dave,

Certainly did'nt see that much,if at all, at Bruggen when I was there from 1988.

Merv

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So it seems that they can be fully open, closed or 45°. Whatever i choose it's good! :P . It's all this true even for the italian IDS version?

Yes, although for parked aircraft most of the times I've seen shots of the Italian IDS with wings at 45°.

Example

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Italy---Air...;next_id=NEXTID

Ciao

Davide

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Hi Merv,

So, that nice 1/72 Airwaves set of "wings with deployed flaps" is not really neccesary?

Cheers, Stefan.

It's probably standard RAF practice for the slats and flaps to be cleaned up but it's not always the case and it's not unusual to see them fully deployed when parked.

DSCN2835.jpg

DSCN2800.jpg

DSCN2799.jpg

Same goes for wing sweep on the F.3, mostly forwards but you can find pics of them fully swept.

DSCN2849.jpg

Or even partially swept...

Picture014.jpg

As already mentioned the only no-no is a GR.1/4 with the wings swpt as it would tail-sit, but otherwise everything else is possible,

Gary

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Beg to differ Dave,

Certainly did'nt see that much,if at all, at Bruggen when I was there from 1988.

Merv

Just had a look at some older pics/books (up to about 88/89) and almost all are parked up on the flightline with the flaps/slats deployed (Aeroguides 4 and 24 on Tornado GR1; Osprey Superbase 4). But looking online, RAFG ones seem to have been parked flaps up.........

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Hi,

Thanks for all the replies.

I'm actually quite pleased to find out that the RAF Tornado's most often have the flaps retracted.

I have a couple of Italeri Tornados in the stash that I didn't plan to uy the Airwaves set for. The wings would be more expensive than the kit! :P

Cheers, Stefan.

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I'm actually quite pleased to find out that the RAF Tornado's most often have the flaps retracted.

I have a couple of Italeri Tornados in the stash that I didn't plan to uy the Airwaves set for. The wings would be more expensive than the kit! :salute:

Yes ....but they look good ? and isn't that the point

btw - I thoughally enjoyed scrachbuilding the flaps & slats, on my 3 out of 6 'tonkas'. I belive there are 7 combinations of wing/flaps ? that can be displayed (NOT including spoilers) ?

however - The Paragon sets I have for the future progects (another 6 tornados !!) are magic, and put my attempts to a....2nd place

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Just had a look at some older pics/books (up to about 88/89) and almost all are parked up on the flightline with the flaps/slats deployed (Aeroguides 4 and 24 on Tornado GR1; Osprey Superbase 4). But looking online, RAFG ones seem to have been parked flaps up.........

I'm going from personal experience not books.

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When I was on 617 Sqn (3 years) all of our jets had the flaps n slats in the mid (Take off) position when parked in a HAS.

The only time I saw them put up was when we were on detatchment and the jets were left out over night. This was done to keep out birds etc from the inner gubbins.

I think it depends on what the SENGO (Senior Engineering Officer) said !!

HTH

smeders

Edited by Smeders
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