GR1s were upgraded to the existing GR4 and GR4a, aside for those that were retired when numbers were reduced.

The F3 has filled the role it was designed for very well – cold war long-range threat neutralisation. It’s out of date now, but rest assured it was very well suited to it’s original designation.

Hi guys

Just a few notes for you…

The F3s are being broken up as part of the ongoing retirement of the type due to Eurofighter Typhoons coming into service. One of the 2 squadrons (11 Sqn) at Leeming was disbanded late last year and those are the ones you can see being broken up on the photos (the ones with the yellow logo and black eagles on the tail). You can also see a 56 Sqn Tornado there (red checkquered tail markings) being worked on. 56 Sqn is still active at RAF Leuchars in Scotland, but this particular aircraft has been withdrawn from use, so is being broken up too. It may have been replaced on 56 Sqn by another Tornado that’s in better condition from a squadron that’s been disbanded. A good resource for getting info on retired aircraft is here: http://www.demobbed.org.uk Go to the ‘Aircraft’ section and look up the serial number of the aircraft in question. You can see that ZE837 (the 56 Sqn aircraft in the photo at the top of this thread) is registered as ‘WFU’ at Leuchars in Scotland… OK, so now it’s at Leeming (they can’t update their websites as quick as Tornados move!), but it’s generally a very good resource.

The GR4 Tornado’s are a different aircraft altogether. The F3’s aren’t being replaced by the GR4’s, as the GR4 is the ground attack/ strike variant of the Tornado. The F3 looks slightly different (longer nose to house the air-to-air radar systems). GR4’s aren’t based at Leeming and aren’t moving there in the future. The GR4’s are based at RAF Marham in Norfolk and also RAF Lossiemouth in northern Scotland.

As I mentioned before, the Eurofighter Typhoons are replacing the F3’s and whilst RAF Leeming was initially earmarked to be a Typhoon base (along with RAF Coningsby and RAF Leuchars, with Coningsby being the first base to receive Typhoons last year) , it now looks very unlikley. Leeming’s remaining F3 Squadron will disband in 2008 and that will mark the end of Leeming’s role as an interceptor base. The hawks of 100 Sqn are rumoured to be staying until 2015 now, but nothing’s official.

The future of RAF Leeming is uncertain, although the MoD has said they wish to retain it and it may be handed over to the Army, or even be kept by the RAF. Some additional RAF ground units are being moved to RAF Leeming very soon, so it does have a future of some sort, but whether or not it remains a busy flying station is in question. You never know, the RAF may still put Typhoons there one day, but it’s unlikely.

Another rumour is that the Red Arrows may move there as the future of their base (RAF Scampton in Lincs) looks more and more uncertain with each passing week. It certainly seems to make sense to put the reds at the same base as other Hawks from a cost perspective, but it’s a very tricky situation as Lincs is very proud of the reds, so there’s lots of local politics to consider.

Hope this helps. Not trying to patronise anyone here, just thought I’d give some info to those folks who aren’t as ‘up to speed’ on the things as others are. Don’t mind anyone correcting me either!

Harrogate.