The aircraft was the sole Tornado to be painted in the colourful 'raspberry ripple' livery and entered service with the RAE in 1983. Its work included laser terrain-following trials and the aircraft joined the Defence Research Agency fleet at Boscombe Down, when its Bedford base closed in 1989. Today it still flies on various trials as part of the civilian-operated QinetiQ fleet from Boscombe Down, Wiltshire.