Outstanding low-pass departure of a special colored Royal Air Force Tornado from RAF Northolt

Watch this Tornado perform a deafening low take-off instead of the usual noise abatement departure.

RAF Northolt is a Royal Air Force airport located in west London, 10 km to the north of London Heathrow airport.

The airport is the homebase of No. 32 (The Royal) Squadron of the Royal Air Force that operates VIP and general air transport roles and also handle a large number of general aviation flights.

According to aircraft spotters, fast jets visit the airport every now and then (unless they are deployed there as happened during the Olympic Games in 2012), usually adhering to strict noise abatement procedures that foresee a quick climb and are aimed to cause the least disturbance in the areas surrounding the airport in Greater London as well as proper deconfliction with the rest of air traffic.

But, there are some interesting exceptions, as happened on Oct. 7 when Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 ZG750 “Desert Pink”, the special colored “Tonka” that celebrated the 25th Operation Granby Anniversary, performed a pretty unusual and awesome low take off on departure from RAF Northolt after a night photoshoot organized there.

Here’s a cool video, published by BluelightTV YT channel, showing the low take off (much lower than usual according to the locals) from a head-on point of view!

About David Cenciotti
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.