Tornado Farewell at Cranfield

[alhenderson]

Was very pleased last week to find out Cranfield was on the list for day 2 of the farewell flypasts, since I work there. Duly headed out of the office and was amazed by the number of people that had turned out! It was bedlam on the main road past the end of the runway, thought there were going to be a number of road rage killings! The weather was OK, but a bit dull. Unsure of the exact routing I positioned myself slightly offset from the runway, hoping for a slightly sideways view. Was not to be, they came straight for me! Still, fantastic to see the old girl for one last time, can't believe the plane I have grown up with is being consigned to the scrap heap..

Just a small sample of the number of people that saw an opportunity to skive off work for half an hour

IMG_3272 by Alistair Henderson, on Flickr

Usually don't see another soul on this fenceline!

Tornado Fever by Alistair Henderson, on Flickr

Inbound - nearly missed them cos I was chatting to someone

IMG_3289 by Alistair Henderson, on Flickr

Unmistakable Tonka shape:

IMG_3288 by Alistair Henderson, on Flickr

And off into the distance..

IMG_3312 by Alistair Henderson, on Flickr

IMG_3300 by Alistair Henderson, on Flickr

Woburn Ridge by Alistair Henderson, on Flickr

Not the best of pics of the flypast you'll see on here, but I quite like the last few. Three cheers for the Tonka!!

Al.

[herc15]

looks like you had similar weather to what we had....
got to Brize at 8:30 and it was lovely blue sky, it then clouded up for the flypast before finishing the day with some beautiful lighting, you just got to love the British weather

always great to see pics of the old girl

[alhenderson]

looks like you had similar weather to what we had....
got to Brize at 8:30 and it was lovely blue sky, it then clouded up for the flypast before finishing the day with some beautiful lighting, you just got to love the British weather

always great to see pics of the old girl

Yep, we had some lovely light for the rest of the afternoon! Still, if it wasn't for the rubbish British weather the Tornado may never have been invented

[Petepilot]

Nice shots! The Tornados certainly brought out large crowds (projecting forward to the end of the F-35, I wonder if they will prove so popular.... )

[TONKA938]

Nice mate!

[F3]

It is clear from the massive turnouts at all the venues just what an absolute aviation icon Tornado was and how much she'll be missed. The crowd in the 2nd pic is unbelievable.

[Ghostrider01]

They beat up the Linslade end of Leighton Buzzard moments later at no more than 500ft

Magnificent sight and sound.

Most annoying thing was my blasted camera refused to focus and take the shot

[Blue Diamond]

They beat up the Linslade end of Leighton Buzzard moments later at no more than 500ft

Magnificent sight and sound.

Most annoying thing was my blasted camera refused to focus and take the shot

I feel your pain. Mine did the same at Duxford. Did all the "pre flight checks" or so I thought but had somehow moved the focus limiter to "full".

[Ghostrider01]

They beat up the Linslade end of Leighton Buzzard moments later at no more than 500ft

Magnificent sight and sound.

Most annoying thing was my blasted camera refused to focus and take the shot

I feel your pain. Mine did the same at Duxford. Did all the "pre flight checks" or so I thought but had somehow moved the focus limiter to "full".

I wonder if they could do a re-run next week for us ... I'll dig out my old Yashica FX-D and good old manual focus lenses to ensure a shot !

[Blue Diamond]

They beat up the Linslade end of Leighton Buzzard moments later at no more than 500ft

Magnificent sight and sound.

Most annoying thing was my blasted camera refused to focus and take the shot

I feel your pain. Mine did the same at Duxford. Did all the "pre flight checks" or so I thought but had somehow moved the focus limiter to "full".

I wonder if they could do a re-run next week for us ... I'll dig out my old Yashica FX-D and good old manual focus lenses to ensure a shot !

I wish. All the test shots I did of stuff prior to the arrival of the Tornados were fine but of course the one I really wanted, I didn't get. C'est la vie.

[cj9ru]

Great photos. Thanks for posting. Will remember today for a long time. Managed to catch them at Leuchars

Chris