Way back in mid-September, I responded to Manfred’s disappointment that he had no Tornado GR1 AI aircraft for his in-progress retro RAF Brüggen scenery for P3Dv4. The reason for his disappointment is that we have no license to convert the Fernado Martinez (FMAI) FS9 model in the way that we do for many other of our FS9 AI aircraft. I was only too pleased to help and the following summarises what happened after and how a full range of Tornado’s is becoming available for all 3 sim versions.
I decided at the outset that I would only build the GR1’s and for FSX/P3Dv4 only this time, but that expectation was short lived. What began to change my mind and pursue a much wider project was a visit to The Imperial War Museum at Duxford (UK) to photograph the two Tornados there. I just got hooked on the aircraft because of the opportunity for some varied animation, including the thrust reverser buckets. What cemented it was a close look at the FMAI models and a complete lack of load-out options. That seemed a pity given the range of stores the Tornado can carry. The visit inspired me to make the remaining RAF GR4’s, pending their retirement in the spring of 2019. Various MAIW members also pulled me in a number of directions, in particular for German, Italian and Saudi aircraft also. Not only that, but there was a desire to have all the models in FS9 and FSX/P3Dv4 format also.
AI aircraft on their own are not really of much use unless scenery and flight plans are available in which to deploy them. I was immensely grateful that I didn’t have to go down that route and it’s been a pleasure to work with Giorgio, Gert and Dale who have provided homes for my aircraft, Dale in fact also painting the Royal Saudi Air Force fleet.
To date, 4 packages have been completed representing the present day GR4, IDS and ECR deployments with scenery of Marham (UK), Ghedi (Italy), Buchel and Schleswig (Germany) and King Abdulaziz (Saudi Arabia) air bases and associated flight plans. In all some 40 different models have been produced in 3 sim versions plus 235 paints.
The 4 components, RAF, Italian AF, German AF and Royal Saudi Air Force have been released in separate packages for FS9 and FSX/P3Dv4::
JYAI RAF GR4/4As with Marham scenery (John Young):
JYAI Italian AF IDS/ECRs with Ghedi scenery (Giorgio Perotti)
JYAI German AF IDS/ECRs with Buchel and Schleswig scenery (Gert van Beek)
JYAI Royal Saudi Air Force IDS with King Abdulaziz scenery by Dale Ashcroft
Within the packages are a number of special paints, including these:
The 4 packages are available in the MAIW Download Hangar. A search with the following names should find them:
- Package Panavia Tornado GR4’s for FS9 (JYAI)
- Package Panavia Tornado GR4’s for FSX & P3Dv4 (JYAI)
- Package Panavia Tornado IDS and ECR’s, Italian AF, for FS9 (JYAI)
- Package Panavia Tornado IDS and ECR’s, Italian AF, for FSX and P3Dv4 (JYAI)
- Package Panavia Tornado IDS and ECR’s, Luftwaffe, for FS9 (JYAI)
- Package Panavia Tornado IDS and ECR’s, Luftwaffe, for FSX and P3Dv4 (JYAI)
- Package Panavia IDS Tornado’s, Royal Saudi Air Force for the existing Dale Ashcroft FS9 Dhahran scenery (JYAI)
- Package Panavia IDS Tornado’s, Royal Saudi Air Force, with FSX Dhahran scenery by Dale Ashcroft (JYAI)
The next part of the Tornado project is to return to the retro GR1s that I started 3 months ago to create the individual paints for the upcoming RAF Brüggen and RAF Honington sceneries.
John Young