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Description
The Panavia Tornado was a joint effort between the UK, West Germany and Italy to produce a two-seat, dual-engine aircraft with variable-sweep wings. The Tornado took its maiden flight on August 14, 1974 with the first aircraft being delivered to the German Air Force on July 27, 1979. There are three main variants of the Tornado, the IDS (interdictor/strike), ECR (electronic combat/reconnaissance) and ADV (air defense variant) interceptor. By the end of production in 1998 there had been 992 aircraft of all versions built of which 745 were IDS variants.
Tornado ECR 46+28 c/n 830/GS261/4338 was completed in 2008 and assigned to Aufklärungsgeschwader (AG) 51 “Immelmann” whose role was reconnaissance. The unit was equipped with 39 aircraft comprised of 3 variants of the Tornado. In 2013 AG51 was renamed Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 51 “I” (TaktLwG 51 “I”). In 2014 16 different units participated in the NATO Tiger Meet “NTM” that ran from June 16 – June 26 and was hosted by the TaktLwG 51 at Schleswig Jagel AB. Tornado ECR 46+28 was given a special “Tiger Spirit” paint scheme and represented the squadron.
