Tornado E...

[Archibald]

Just buy Heller Tornado GR.4 on friday. quite cheap, but maybe not very accurate (well, it's Heller after all ). Nearly finish the plane itself, and plan a whatif camo and weapon load...

[Archibald]

paint sheme...

[Archibald]

Remember that? http://www.whatifmodelers.com/forum//index...&hl=mirage+4000
to say the things briefly : Aeronavale and AdA adopt the F-1 M53 as their standard fighter (replacing no less than seven different aircrafts!)
After that, the AdA still need a nuclear bomber to replace the Mirage IVA. with Pollux (now on hollidays in Africa) we had imagined that the Mirage 4000 was to replace the Mirage IV.
Key moment was in 1975, when the ACF (4000 forerunner) was scrapped. At the time, the AdA seriously wanted a twin-jet fighter bomber, particularly for nuclear strike. As the ACF had been scrapped, main candidates were the F-15B and the tornado.
April 1976, Edwards AFB : F-15B with french roundels. This is NOT a photoshoped picture
Here's an alternate scenario. the winner is... the tornado!!

[Archibald]

other picture...

[John Howling Mouse]

Very nice....love the Tornado.

     

[nev]

A real double take there Archie, because she looks so similar to the Italian Tornadoes.

So now the TTTE is the QTTE? Would make a very interesting, yet subtle whiff    

[Archibald]

translation needed please!!

TTTE is the QTTE

[Tophe]

Very nice....love the Tornado.
   

I love the Tornado sailplane , kinda wing-less twin-boomer, alas the Tornado plane is no catamaran...
(from http://www.collinsfibreglass.co.za/images/p13fig1.jpg )

[elmayerle]

translation needed please!!

TTTE is the QTTE

TTTE = Tri-national Tornado Training Establishemnt

QTTE = Quadra-national Tornado Training Establishment

[Archibald]

Thanks Elmayerle! This look like a rigid european organisation...but in the end, it was not so bad, after all the Tornado is a good aircraft!
France was GB partner in the AVFG between 1965 and 1967, before the project was sunk by Dassault. How can the AdA have Tornado with this man lobbying hard against it?
Quite simple! Its plant is overloaded by F-1E orders (500 planes to produce, Ie 380 for the AdA and 120 for the Aeronavale). More, its plane the ACF (super mirage) is too expensive!
So the french governement says to Dassault "Hey , you have 500
F-1E  to produce (and 170 more for Belgium and Spain some months later!) so shut up and let us have Tornado to replace the Mirage IV!"
Had the tornado been adopted by the AdA in this scenario, it would have been a pure nuclear bomber (noticed the ASMP under the belly). All the others roles(attack and interception)
would have been fulfilled by the F-1E (with M53 engine)  

[Archibald]

The four aircrafts envisaged by the AdA to replace the Mirage IVA at the beginning of the 80's.

In the end, the Mirage IVA were upgraded to the P standard pending the arrival of...the Mirage 2000N in 1991. The Mirage IVA nevertheless stayed in nuclear alert until july 1996, and was used for recon until last year!