Navy Tornados - more added!

[BigClick67]

Between 1981 and June 2005 the German Naval Air Arm - the MARINEFLIEGER - operated two full wings of Tornado fighter bombers, mainly in the anti-shipping and recce roles. These were Naval Air Wing 1 (MFG 1) at Schleswig-Jagel, and Naval Air Wing 2 at Eggebek. By the end of 1993 MFG 1 was disbanded, NAS Jagel transferred to the Luftwaffe to become the new home of Recce-Wing 51, with one squadron worth of Tornados each transferred to the Luftwaffe and to nearby MFG 2 at Eggebek to form a third Navy Tornado squadron under MFG 2. Further defense cuts in 2004 brought the final end for German Navy Tornado operations with the disbandment of MFG 2 in June 2005 and the closure of Naval Air Station Eggebek, ending nearly fifty years of German Navy jet operations. Here I would like to share some photos of these once omni-present jets which I have taken over the years.
Enjoy…and don’t forget: FLY NAVY - VIKINGS RULE!!
#1 43+73 of MFG1 in the original grey/white camo scheme (Norm 81), leaving its HAS for another mission. Jagel,August 1991:

#2 45+57 of MFG2 in Norm 87-camo, touching down on RWY19 at Eggebek, August 1990:

#3 45+27 of MFG 2 taxiing out for a practice bombing mission, Eggebek August 1991:

#4 45+52 of MFG 2 armed with two AGM-88 HARM practice rounds, Eggebek August 1991:

#5 45+59 of MFG 2 taxiing for take-off, also loaded with HARMs; Eggebek August 1990:

#6 45+14 in a different load-out with two KORMORAN anti-ship missiles; Eggebek August 1991:

#7 43+87 of MFG 2 , the last Navy Tornado in the original Norm81-camo scheme, recovering to Eggebek in July 1997:

#8 45+37 with Kormoran-missiles during the 1997 Spotters Day:

#9 45+46 on finals RWY19 at Eggebek, July 1998:

#10 followed by his wing man 45+49 / Mission4514B:

#11 46+12 on take-off from Eggebek's RWY01 for a BALTOPS-mission, June 2002:

#12 46+20 on finals at RNLAF base Leeuwarden during a practice diversion after beating up Vliehors range, July 1997:

#13 46+20 some seven years later, as the 2004-season solo display ship on take-off during RIAT2004:

#14 moments later...

#15 and during landing roll.

#16 45+30 - colour bird for the 90th anniversary of German Naval Aviation in August 2003; photo courtesy of MikeX! cheers,mate!

#17 Navy Tornado Colours:

Happy Easter to all of you!
Cheers,Chris

[Tommy]

Love your threads, Chris!

I would have really loved to have seen the Marineflieger demos of old... The videos I have seen make them look awesome

[Wes_Howes]

I always thought the MFG Tonkas looked the business and yes Tommy, the solo display was excellent, plenty of noise and smoke

[Ranger]

Wonderful set of pictures. Can't wait to see your next set. Hopefully it will be all about the Marine F104.

Cheers,
Ranger

[Niallxg]

Excellent.

I remember their swan song at Eggebek.

[reheat module]

Simply stunning!
Working with GR1/4 during nearly 14 yrs in RAFG, we relished any opportunity of interaction.
Those images are superb

[Wissam24]

Tornados don't get much better!

[BigClick67]

Thank you all for your nice comments, I do appreciate that!
I would like to add a few more photos that I found while digging through my harddrive:
#18 46+20 at the 2003 Twenthe Airshow, seen here in full thrust reverse:

#19 two pix my Dad took in 1992 during a backseat ride with MFG 1, showing a pair practicing buddy-buddy refueling over the Skagerak:

#20 and here seen from the receiver’s position::

Believe it or not, in 1997(?) MFG 2 successfully deployed a detachment of 8(?) Tornados across the Atlantic to Roosevelt Roads/Puerto Rico, using exclusively this buddy-buddy AAR-technique !! Quite an achievement and certainly an effort that received the full respect of the entire military aviation community.
@ ranger: Momentarily I can only provide you with these three F-104 VIKING shots that I took on 11th September,1986 at Eggebek during the official MFG 2 Tornado inauguration. Please excuse the poor image quality, these are scans of 30 year-old prints… unfortunately I wasn’t shooting on Kodachrome yet at that time…
#21 F-104G 26+72 with KptLt Axel Ostermann as lead

#22 26+72 & 26+63 2-ship fly-past before splitting into singletons for the noisier part of the display routine

#23 top-side pass with air brakes out in order not to go supersonic!

Unbeknown to most enthusiasts the VIKINGS had a very brief career on the Tornado, too! Re-starting as a Tornado 2-ship for the 1988 airshow season they put up a very powerful show, as far as possible in comparison to the legendary F-104. I had the luck to see their last demonstration on 28th August,1988 at Nörvenich where they were scheduled to perform at Nörvenich and Ramstein on a single day. While performing at Nörvenich tragedy struck at Ramstein with the Frecce Tricolori crashing into the crowd…you know the story.
Anyway, here is a copy of the last VIKINGS display sequence showing all detail.
#24

#25

#26

#27

I hope these are of interest.
Cheers, Chris

[DeanW]

Top collection there. Always liked the Marine Tornados, they looked the business in the Norm 87 scheme.

[Ranger]

You are forgiven.

Cheers,
Ranger

[Wissam24]

Any more details about the buddy-fuelling deployment?

[BigClick67]

I can only recall that their route took them via Portugal to Madeira and then further across the pond to the US East Coast, probably Cherry Point or something.

[st24]

Great stuff, amazing to think how many Tornadoes were out there in their heyday. Really interesting to see the Vikings routine, not that much different from the F-104 era then by the looks of it including the crowd rear arrival, cross over and high speed/low speed cross. I see they were down for Brawdy but only a MFG2 solo turned up - can't recall if they made the programme without checking. I'm sure they were down for Lakenheath and Leicester (I'm sure they were featured in the programme) too, but that was the same weekend as Ramstein. Lakenheath had an MFG1 solo jet, whilst Leicester shared the GAF F-104 display. Would loved to have seen them but as said, we all know what happened. At the time the Germans were really getting big in the airshow world - solo and 4/5 ship F-4F/RF-4E teams, Alpha Jet solo & 4 ship, Tornado solos, Marine Vikings pair and a planned AF 5 ship team....

[Wrexham Mackem]

Outstanding thread, and, after all these years news to me that the the Vikings did in fact reform on the Tornado. It had been mooted for a while but seemed like it wasn't going to happen.

German Tornado demos were always good to see. I seem to remember the hard braking and reverse thrust was done a bit more violently than the RAF.

[st24]

Outstanding thread, and, after all these years news to me that the the Vikings did in fact reform on the Tornado. It had been mooted for a while but seemed like it wasn't going to happen.

German Tornado demos were always good to see. I seem to remember the hard braking and reverse thrust was done a bit more violently than the RAF.

Indeed Nige, Ramstein put pay to so many things. I agree on the hard braking- followed by a take off, most impressive!

[Wissam24]

I can only recall that their route took them via Portugal to Madeira and then further across the pond to the US East Coast, probably Cherry Point or something.

That's one hell of an achievement

[SPLAT]

I love the blue and white versions , ever since I saw a pair buddy tanking at ILA BErlin in 1992 and the wheels up shots are great

[Rob666]

This is a great thread and thanks for you're other efforts brilliant.

Rob

[Stagger2]

Another fine collection of images to help recall what we've seen come & go! It isn't just memory that makes the 'good old days' special.....they were!! Eggebek was a particularly great location for stunning photos.

Outstanding thread, and, after all these years news to me that the the Vikings did in fact reform on the Tornado. It had been mooted for a while but seemed like it wasn't going to happen.
German Tornado demos were always good to see. I seem to remember the hard braking and reverse thrust was done a bit more violently than the RAF.

Indeed Nige, Ramstein put pay to so many things. I agree on the hard braking- followed by a take off, most impressive!

Just as Ramstein was the catalyst for positive changes to Air-shows held elsewhere, I do feel that Shoreham 2015 may well transpire to be our nemesis here in the UK.

[SCARECROW 451]

Great pics and bring back happy memories, working at TTTE Cottesmore for 3 years made sure I saw a lot of them.
Even sat in the very first UK MFG 2 Tornado to visit the UK.