Sadly heading for the scrap yard early next year, the last 4 harriers left Ark Royal on Wednesday 24th November 2010 and went to RAF Cottesmore where they will be junked early next year...
the flypast...
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/gsxrmovistar1/harrier1.jpg)
heading towards land...
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/gsxrmovistar1/harrier2.jpg)
arriving at Cottesmore...
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/gsxrmovistar1/harrier4.jpg)
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/gsxrmovistar1/harrier5.jpg)
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/gsxrmovistar1/harrier6.jpg)
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/gsxrmovistar1/harrier7.jpg)
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/gsxrmovistar1/harrier3.jpg)
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/gsxrmovistar1/harrier9.jpg)
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/gsxrmovistar1/harrier8.jpg)
What a shame to lose the Harrier.... especially when there\'s nothing ready to replace it.
Fab photo\'s.....and agree, such a shame for such an iconic plane!
I want one :Thumbs-up
pics are ace matey ;) and like already said.... such a shame to scrap such a technological masterpiece like the harrier!
Jono
Such an awesome machine, i remember being woken up by a pair flying over our harbour area out on the ground. Still dont understand why there scrapping them they might as well dry store them just incase.
I\'ve never seen one in action, as in landing / taking off hovering.
seen them a few times at the airshow..... doing the famous \' take a bow\' routine.
Very versatile aircraft.
Some amazing pics :)
Real shame to lose them :(
The second photo down is a Sea Harrier, I didn\'t think any of those still flew. In fact I am pretty certain of it.
Certainly none of the four landing at Cottesmore are Sea Harriers.
It\'s a crying shame, particularly since it\'s my line of work, I don\'t do the flying but I\'ve been an Officer of the Watch on Ark\'s sister ship and Fixed Wing Operations were always cool. It was quite a feeling being the person driving the Ship that gave the clearance for the Harriers to take off and land.
Further to my last, just checked my old logs from my time on the Carrier, the last Sea Harrier flights from an aircraft carrier were in Feb 2006 from HMS ILLUSTRIOUS.
Quote from: Will66;729963The second photo down is a Sea Harrier, I didn\'t think any of those still flew. In fact I am pretty certain of it.
Certainly none of the four landing at Cottesmore are Sea Harriers.
correct, pic 2 was thrown in as it\'s such a cool pic.... the 4 planes in formation were all part of the retirement “celebrations†for the Harrier. Two of the aircraft have been painted with commemorative tails and were deployed to Ark Royal a few days before they were due back on the 24th.
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/gsxrmovistar1/har1.jpg)
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/gsxrmovistar1/ha2.jpg)
The sea harriers were all decomissioned in 2006
I\'ll try and find the video I shot of the last time ILLUSTRIOUS had two Sea Harriers landing on. It shows just how damn small the Invincible Class actually were.
Awesome pictures-we live not far from RAF Yeovilton so seen these at the air day. Won\'t forget the noise these make in a hurry, like the world is about to end.
Ahem, RNAS Yeovilton please!
Yep, a great loss to be honest, back to Cottesmore they go...to sit idle until they are stripped...
I work as an inspector for a company that makes parts of the harrier...and I\'ve loved them for as long as I can remember, it makes me sad to think that they won\'t be in use, they\'re so versatile...and so, well, British :(
Maybe very naive,but instead of just scrapping them,could they not sell them to another country that may be interested in them?Is there no overseas market for these?
ta stu..
The problem with that is security, plenty of items on there are the sort of things we don\'t want to give to the highest bidder. Also there\'s are issues with fatigue, these aircraft have spent a lot of time in the air over Afghanistan and are probably getting close to needing major overhauls. Those cost a lot and take the aircraft off frontline duties for quite a while.
It\'s a relatively short term saving since we\'ve now lost our fixed wing carrier aviation capability and that will cost a lot to get again. We\'re sending Navy pilots to America to learn how to fly off their carriers so we have people experienced in flying off carriers to start training the next generation of Navy fixed wing pilots.
bit of trivia for ya....
the time that a Harrier can spent in a hover for any reason is limited only by the amount of water it can carry on board (IIRC its 90seconds). As there is no forward motion and thus no air getting though the Pegasus engine, water has to be injected to keep it cool.
Kinda like a turbo timer when you switch off Rexy!!
I\'ve got a bit of aircraft / car related trivia too....
A fully fuelled Vulcan would carry enough fuel to run a Ford Escort for 35 years doing 10,000 miles a year.
Love the Vulcan-saw the only remaining survivor make a rare appearance at the Bournemouth Air Show on the beach. Great day.
Quote from: captainbizzaro;730285Love the Vulcan-saw the only remaining survivor make a rare appearance at the Bournemouth Air Show on the beach. Great day.
Living 5 miles from RAF Waddington, ive been fortunate to see a fair bit of it over the last few years.....round airshow time.
I also remember seeing them land at RAF Swinderby when i was a little boy, which is just 8 miles up the road from me.
When you see it in the sky now, its truely mesmorising.....theres nothing else like it.
It\'s a credit to the foundation for Vulcan XH558 that it\'s still in the air and not grounded like the rest of them on museums, seeing it float gracefully across the seafront and then just unleash it\'s power and launch itself almost vertically was mindblowing. Apparently it\'s gonna make an appearance at the Olympic opening ceremony.
Quote from: trotter;730275bit of trivia for ya....
the time that a Harrier can spent in a hover for any reason is limited only by the amount of water it can carry on board (IIRC its 90seconds). As there is no forward motion and thus no air getting though the Pegasus engine, water has to be injected to keep it cool.
Kinda like a turbo timer when you switch off Rexy!!
I seem to remember it only being 60 seconds. They only hover to land as well since they can\'t do it with full fuel. It focusses the mind when you see the size of the flight deck of a carrier, it looks quite big but there\'s not much space for errors, the pilots do earn their money on deck landings, particularly at night. I am just glad I got to see it up close and personal.
Ive had word that on the 15th december, and weather permitting, there is going to be a 15/16 Harrier formation fly from whereever they are based, upto conningsby and scampton!
Quote from: Dan Norton;730519Ive had word that on the 15th december, and weather permitting, there is going to be a 15/16 Harrier formation fly from whereever they are based, upto conningsby and scampton!
tremendous, i\'ve been working on an oilfield about 5mins walk from Scampton. Getting a bit fed up of the red arrow airshows tbh!!!
I love the fact we have an oilfield in Lincoln.....i know which one you mean.
As soon as i get full details, i will post them.
Quote from: trotter;730549tremendous, i\'ve been working on an oilfield about 5mins walk from Scampton. Getting a bit fed up of the red arrow airshows tbh!!!
Full details for anyone in Lincoln / want to see this.
16!!!!!! Harrier formation low pass at Raf Waddington at 14:02, and RAF Scampton at 14:04, tomorrow, wednesday 14th.
Im going upto to Waddo with the Camera
Change of time. 13.30pm over waddo.
Fook me.......stood up there from 1-3pm....no show!
Absolutely gutted.
Apparently they did leave to come up here but stayed high and decided the weather was too poor!
It was better than yesterday.
Really disappointed.