United Kingdom

IDS

The first unit to receive the Tornado was the TTTE at RAF Cottesmore on 1^st July 1980. The British air crews, once qualified on the type at the tri-national training facility, were posted to the TWCU (Tornado Weapons Conversion Unit), formed on 1^st August 1981 at RAF Honington, where they learned to use the Tornado as a weapons platform. The first operational front line squadron to receive the Tornado was 9^th Squadron at RAF Honington, reformed for the occasion on 1^st June 1982, followed by 617^th Squadron (1^st January 1983) and 27^th squadron  (12^th August 1983), both based at RAF Marham. With the role of developing the best operational attack tactics, the RAF established at 1^st September 1983 the TOEU (Tornado Operational Evaluation Unit) at RAF Boscombe Down, subsequently re-designated the SAOEU (Strike/Attack Operational Evaluation Unit). Amongst other duties the unit was engaged in the development of the best tactics for target acquisition and attack procedures. 

The first Tornado was assigned to RAF Germany on 1^st November 1983, delivered to 15^th Squadron at RAF Laarbruch, while 16^th and 20^th Squadron received their first aircraft on 29^th February and 29^th June 1984, replacing the Buccaneers. Furthermore, the three attack squadrons based at RAF Brueggen, 14^th, 17^th and 31^st Squadrons, replaced the Jaguar fighter bomber, while the last squadrons of RAF Germany to convert to Tornado was the II Squadron based at RAF Laarbruch in December 1988. With the end of the “Cold War”, the attack forces assigned to RAF Germany were progressively reduced, with the disbandment of numerous units and the closure of the two Tornado bases on German territory, the remaining squadrons taking their aircraft back to bases in the United Kingdom with concentration of operational units at Lossiemouth in Scotland and Marham in east England, before ceasing all Tornado operations in the UK in March 2019.

ADV

Considering the ADV version, the first fighter aircraft Tornado were delivered in September 1984 to 229^th Operational Conversion Unit. The first front-line unit to be equipped with the definitive F.3 version was 29^th Squadron at RAF Coningsby, in February 1987, following successively by the last two units operating the Lightning, 5^th and 11^th Squadron, which received their first F.3s in January and July 1988. In the course of the following years 23^rd, 25^th, 43^rd, 56^th and 111^th Squadron were equipped with the ADV, gaining the new aircraft until May 1990. The last unit receiving the Tornado F.3 was 1435 Flight, based at Mount Pleasant airport in the Falkland Islands/Malvinas, replacing the last Phantom QRA with four fighters in July 1992.

The Tornado ADV was retired from operational service with the RAF in 2011 due to planned replacement by the Eurofighter Typhoon.