New Strike aircraft delivered to RAF

July 2, 1980

The most important new strike aircraft to enter service in Britain in 30 years, the Anglo-German-Italian Tornado, was delivered to the Royal Air Force Tuesday. The Tornado, capable of reaching the Soviet Union from Britain with nuclear bombs but designed primarily for a battlefield rather than strategic role, is the RAF's most significant acquisition since the Vulcan and Victor nuclear bombers of the 1950s, the Defense Ministry said. The two Tornadoes delivered will be the first of about 50 British, West German, and Italian aircraft to be based at a three-nation Tornado training establishment in south Leicestershire.