A GIANT bell cast from the metal of a decommissioned RAF Tornado warplane has been unveiled as the region's latest piece of public art.

Turner Prize nominee Fiona Banner has installed the piece on Gateshead's Quayside, which opens to the public on Saturday and can be rung by passers by.

The Tornado F3, which was once stationed at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire, has lain without wings in a Seaham scrapyard until it was found by the artist.

Around 1.5 tonnes of aluminium from the fighter was sent to one of the world's oldest surviving bell foundries in Leicestershire, and transformed into the work of art, named ZE 728 after the Tornado's serial number.

The artist said: "I remember the first military object I got excited about. My grandfather's flat in Birkenhead was full of war memorabilia.

"When I was very young, and when he wasn't looking, I used to climb up onto his chair and ring the big bell he had salvaged from a warship.

"The feeling of power that came from it was incredible - the sound, and the space around it was way bigger than me."

The sculpture will be on display at Hillgate Quay, Gateshead until September 5, with the opening times to coincide with the Cultural Olympiad's Open Weekend of July 24 and 25.

Newcastle-based art project Locus+ has been working on the project.

Director John Bewley said: "The Ministry of Defence has a department that looks after selling on decommissioned equipment so you can actually buy stuff when it comes to the end of its life and has been made safe.

"Some weapons have depleted uranium in them and that obviously has to be removed."