Panavia Tornado
The Tornado IDS/ECR (Luftwaffe) in the 21st Century

by Andreas Klein and Christian Gerard

Reviewed by Ken Bowes

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Detailed walkaround style reference books are increasingly common these days, with series produced in the UK, Europe and the US all competing to provide the ultimate reference works for modellers and enthusiasts. In the past I have tended to refer to those published by DACO in Belgium and by Jake Melampy in the US as key references for my builds. However this new volume, which promises to be part 1 of a new series from Double Ugly Books under the Fox Two Details and Markings banner, is a definite keeper. Billed as covering the Panavia Tornado in Luftwaffe service it is nothing less than a comprehensive tour d’force of the subject.

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First impressions always count in a competitive market place and I admit when first receiving this book I was reminded of the old DACO Uncovering series which covered such types as the F-14, F-16, F/A-18, B-1 and T-38 amongst others. Noting the authors, Andreas Klein and Christian Gerard had also previously published volumes for AirDOC and the series editor was Willy Peeters who was responsible for some of the aforementioned DACO volumes this impression was hardly surprising. Certainly the overall presentation and organisation belie this origins with probably the greatest difference being size (being full A4 Landscape), page count and inclusion of a set of beautifully rendered 1/48 scale plans that have been based on the measurement of actual airframes rather than recycling others work. One point the authors note is that they believe that for the first time they have accurately determined the Tornado’s overall length (including pitot) being some 50cm longer than indicated in official and other data which is indicative of the lengths they have gone to for accuracy in this publication.

The actual content of this book is conventional with a short bi-lingual (English and German) history and set of tabulated data over the first 10 or so of the 208 pages, followed by representative overall shots. The remainder of the book contains numerous detailed high quality photographs of the entire airframe and cockpit from several Luftwaffe subtypes (both IDS and ECR). Logically organised in sections from nose to tail, it is relatively easy to find the relevant section for a particular detail. The level of attention from the authors became obvious when they provided two near identical photographs of the rear cockpit of the the IDS and ECR and point out the smallest differences between the two sub-types. Final sections include photographs of all the principle armaments, EWSP and recce pods of the Luftwaffe Tornado both installed and loaded or on trolleys along with a section of four view colour schemes to round out the book.

It is clear that this volume has been put together by a team who know what is important for modellers and that they have attempted to produce one of those elusive ultimate references. To my mind they have largely succeeded. That this volume will assist but not provide complete help to other than Luftwaffe modellers is no fault of the Authors who are entirely focussed on the German operated airframes. It will still be useful to anyone building a Tornado from any of the operating nations. It is easy sometimes to overhype reviews, but this book in particular definitely deserves the praise.

Thanks to Fox Two for this review sample.

Review Copyright © 2012 by Ken Bowes
This Page Created on 12 April, 2012
Last updated 14 April, 2012

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