Goodbye Harrier old friend

[Stringy]

I think Fleet Air Arm were entirely out-manouvered and hoodwinked by RAF top brass on this one

The RN managed to entirely out manoeuvre themselves by being unable to come up with any sort of credible justification for the carriers. I know someone who works on Ark Royal (in fact he's sat opposite me on his own laptop) and the RN honestly believed that they deserved no cuts at all, even with their escort fleet of 20+ frigates and destroyers. This sort of blind sense of self-worth endemic throughout the Navy allowed the RAF to justify the existence of the GR4 over the Harrier while the RN sat dumb and happy believing they were going to be fine.

As for the "we can't defend our territories now" argument that is tosh, the RN like to selectively forget about their own TLAM capability when defending the Harriers. Only an abject lunatic would invade the Falkland Islands when we can flatten their mainland with impunity.

 

[MOOGLEYS]

I have to love the way now that none of our defence carriers will have jets for the next 10 years....

"Hey, potential attackers, come on in!"

They may re-look at a naval variant of the Typhoon.. It has been looked at before and rejected but now there is more of a need.

 

[Stringy]

They may re-look at a naval variant of the Typhoon.. It has been looked at before and rejected but now there is more of a need.

-Materials/design of the Jet completely not suited to be put to sea.
-Airframe would need a redesign for the stresses of CATOBAR.

Would be impractical over procuring an already navalised jet (F35, F/A18, Rafale) Sounds about right for MoD procurement though, where do they sign? Maybe BAe have even got some De Havilland Comets lying about that they could convert for carrier launch...

 

[Kutter]

Back in the early 80's just before the Falklands war , one actually landed on the local REC ( yes im northern ) he waved to us then took off again. Im sure he broke a million rules, but it was the best thing my friends and I ever saw. We must have only been about 50m away from him when he landed.

 

[dsb]

Well today sees the last operational flight of Harrier as it leaves RAF Cottesmore and flies over various military bases.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11996936

I'm not debating here, the rights and wrongs of the scrapping of Harrier but just a heads up and and a chance for people to put down their memories of this ground breaking and venerable aircraft

I spent a good chunk of my life growing up in Gütersloh in Germany, my father was based at Mansergh Barracks, then home to 40th Field Regiment Royal Artillery, and just up the road was RAF Gütersloh where No.3 Squadren was based. My childhood was just constantly occupied with the noise of 3 Sqn operating it's GR3 and GR5s overhead.

For us as kids it just never got boring as soon as we heard the scream we were outside looking to see where they were and to this day whenever I saw a Harrier operating at airshows I still got that same tingle and joy from it.

For me? such a sad day today

My old man was 40 Regt, Javas, when they were in Hohne, Spent most of my life in Germany.

 

[big_white_dog84]

I think Fleet Air Arm were entirely out-manouvered and hoodwinked by RAF top brass on this one

Not quite correct. IIRC the only harriers left in service are RAF (inlcuding those flying off the carriers). I think the fleet air arm retired their harriers a few years ago.

 

[neodude]

A sad day indeed. Such an iconic plane.

On the up side though at least they won't be making my job a pain in the arse by buzzing all my helicopters as they pass north of the Donna Nook bombing range

 

[ianh]

Not quite correct. IIRC the only harriers left in service are RAF (inlcuding those flying off the carriers). I think the fleet air arm retired their harriers a few years ago.

Ooo Close - 800Sqn Fleet Air Arm were given RAF harriers when JFH was formed after the FRS.2 was scraped but they stayed a Navy Sqn.

 

[Monkeymatt]

Various Harriers took part in an amazing 16 ship fly past over different RAF bases the other day. I missed it due to leave but a friend took this photo.

16 Harriers? I call Care package glitch

But in all seriousness, does this mean that although we have Nuclear Subs, we have no other way of defending allies or our far reaching islands, without landing troops?

 

[ci_newman]

I lived at RAF Cottesmore for a couple of years when I was very young..

 

[Orcish-Horde]

Never seen one other than TV and pictures so am indifferent to it, out with the old and in with the new. I do think they should never have been took out of service before its replacement was in place, but thats Tory governments for you. Bean counters.

 

[arknor]

I see... and what exactly have you seen that looks/performs better? for a comarison basis here are the equivelent US bombers:

.

B1-B still looks modern thanks to its stealthy design looks mega awesome with itds wings in the swept back position to and its still capable of carrying a mamoth payload

 

[fozzybear]

s...

the F-35 looks a worthy replacement

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10648250

 

[physichull]

Incredible plane, pioneering technology, even the Americans couldn't figure of VTOL.

The iconic figure and hero of the Falklands.

I have had the pleasure of being able to stand on top of the bridge of HMS Invincible a fair few years ago on a family day when they took us round the Isle of Wight and watching a couple of those things take off over the ski-ramp! Was a truly awesome sight (and sound!) and one of which I will never forget.

 

[BruceLee]

I was lucky enough to head to Cottesmore today to see them all, managed a few photos, thought you might like them.


Last Vertical Touchdowns by kozicka, on Flickr


Harrier Four Ship Flyby And Break by kozicka, on Flickr


Harrier GR9 by kozicka, on Flickr


Harrier GR9 Pilot Thumbs Up by kozicka, on Flickr


Harrier GR9 Pilot Waving by kozicka, on Flickr

 

[ubersonic]

I guess modern warfare has changed over the years, the reason the Vulcan/Victor were retired was because we had Trident as a nuclear deterrent which meant they were only useful as tactical bombers, and why carpet bomb an entire village to take out a military installation when a Tornado/Typhoon can fly in and bomb just the military installation? (unless your American and think shock and awe is too cool to warrant considering collateral damage).

The harriers are redundant in most of their original roles these days as we have Tornadoes/Typhoons and of course Apaches.

I have to love the way now that none of our defence carriers will have jets for the next 10 years....

"Hey, potential attackers, come on in!"

As for inviting potential attackers in nobody would really be stupid enough to attack us. However don't worry about our carriers being empty they will be retrofitted so they can accommodate French Rafale jets (better than Tornado's and only slightly behind Typhoons in the war games)

 

[physichull]

Nice Bruce, thanks for sharing.

 

[Mp4]

A shame to see the good old harrier go rip!



Fozzybear nice linky!

F-35 seems nuts!

 

[Hank_Marvin]

Glad I saw one in action very recently at RIAT.

 

[ScarySquirrel]

I was at Biggin Hill earlier this year, when the England v Germany World Cup match was on a big screen. The Harrier was hovering not far away, pointing directly at the screen. It looked awesome, like the pilot was watching the game