RAF Leuchars is located in Leuchars, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland, near St Andrews.

It is home to two Tornado Squadrons - 111 Squadron and 43 squadron. They operate the Tornado F3 aircraft, which has a crew of two, a pilot and a weapons system officer who controls the radar, missiles and defence systems.

Both Leuchars squadrons saw action in Iraq - in 1991 in the Gulf War, and in 2003 in Operation Telic.

The F3 came into service with the RAF in the 1980s.

Thursday's crash in Argyllshire, sadly, was not the first for the base.

A Tornado jet from RAF Leuchars crashed into the sea off the east coast of Scotland in October 2005. The pilot and navigator suffered minor injuries after ejecting from the £20million fighter jet shortly after taking off from its base.

In November 1999 engine failure lead to an RAF Tornado from Coningsby in Lincolnshire crashing into the North Sea near Torness nuclear plant in East Lothian in November 1999.

The two crew members were commended by the Ministry of Defence for demonstrating "exceptional levels of airmanship and awareness in the most adverse of conditions".

In November 2007 a Tornado jet came within twenty feet of a head-on crash over a Perthshire loch. The near-miss between the Tornado from RAF Lossiemouth and a Harrier from RAF Kinloss happened over Loch Rannoch.
 
Last year it was announced 80 posts and a squadron will be lost at RAF Leuchars when the Tornado is replaced by the new Typhoon fighter which is due to begin flying out of the base this September.

In August 2008 it was announced £140million would be spent to secure the future of RAF Leuchars for the next 40 years.