C130Hcc Posted December 15, 2010 Share Posted December 15, 2010 http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/12/15/350937/pictures-uk-harriers-to-make-final-operational-flights.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jansen Posted December 15, 2010 Share Posted December 15, 2010 Please don't cut and past an entire article next time. It's a copyright violation and the site could get in trouble. The guy who writes this for a living depends on us actually visiting the website so he can get paid and continue writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C130Hcc Posted December 15, 2010 Author Share Posted December 15, 2010 Sorry Jansen, I knew that as soon as I hit submit. This is the first time I've posted a whole article, I normally just put in a link with the title. But then again it's okay for Julian Assange to steal government secrets and post it all over the internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 15, 2010 Share Posted December 15, 2010 Fixed..posted the link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Railrunner130 Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 Sucks. I figured that jump jets would be the future. The Brits really learned alot from the Falklands War and had plans for some fairly inexpensive alternatives to aircraft carriers. Employment options were totally unlimited. That whole cancellation was a huge blow to the F-35B, which, in my opinion is the best variant. The lift fan is simple and very ingenious. If I were King for a day (and funding wasn't an issue), I'd cancel the other versions and go with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoenL Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Seems I've missed this topic! Went over to England to visit RAF Cottesmore for the retirement of the UK's most famous post war military aircraft and it was a sad day indeed. If anyone cares I can post some images from the Harrier's last few days. Koen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Railrunner130 Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 While it's depressing, I would like to see them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoenL Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 Alright in that case here's an impression of my short UK trip. Having heard the news about the Harrier's early retirement after the UK's defense review was published I talked to an English friend of mine who promptly invited me to come over. According to rumours the Harrier's retirement was going to be on either December 14th, 15th of 16th depending on the weather so I booked a cheap Ryan Air ticket and all was set. Having flown to London Stansted on Sunday the 12th we drove past RAF Wittering which was one of two RAF Harrier bases before their retirement. A quick chat with the guard and we were allowed to take a few shots of an old Harrier GR3 that is preserved at the main gate: The next day it was time for the first of our trips to RAF Cottesmore, the last home of the RAF Harrier. As we looked out of the window we could already see what we were afraid of: fog! We went over to the base anyway to have a look around and see what the latest rumours were for the day's flying. Originally the plan for the Monday had been for the crews to practice the 16-ship formation and take some air to air photos. Having stood in the fog for a while we were surprised to hear the familiar sound of the Pegasus engine starting up followed by the typical sound of a Harrier moving into action. The aircraft went past us (barely visible), entered the runway and throttled up to break off its take off before returning to the ramp. Not much later we saw other people grabbing their cameras and sprinting to the basefence. There is an engine test facility right up against the fence which is where we got to finally photograph the first Harrier of the day: As you can see it was still quite foggy and we weren't expecting to see much during the day at all but after several hours of fluctuating visibility things finally seemed to start getting a bit better. We started hearing rumours that the day's 16-ship practice was going to be cancelled but that a smaller group would be going up for some work later. Not that long after multiple engines could be heard starting up and it was time for the first sortie of the day with Ninja flight leaving for a photographic flight. The photoship: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoenL Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 800 squadron, 1 (F) Squadron and 4 (AC) Squadron special tails leaving together: While these, plus a 4th special marked jet were up we could see the clouds breaking up and the formation flying over the base various times. Some more Harriers went up for a flight and a further example arrived from nearby RAF Wittering: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoenL Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 By now as you can see the clouds had broken up nicely and a nice low winter sun made it feel about 15 degrees celsius warmer in the muddy fields outside the base! Soon Ninja formation arrived back at the base where most aircraft practiced some approaches and hovering to the delight of the few dozen people that had been outside the fence all day long. Special retro scheme Harrier: 4 (AS) Squadron special: Bit of hovering practice right above us! And then it was time for some Harrier sunset shots... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoenL Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 With the sun setting we walked back to the car and spent the night in the pub, trying to defrost. The next day's weather was predicted to be even worse so we didn't go to RAF Cottesmore but had a look at RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath. On Wednesday however, we did go back to Cottesmore as we had heard this was going to be the retirement day with snow predicted on the 16th, making the 15th the better choice. Again when we arrived the weather was horrible with mist and drizzle. The RAF was kind enough to drive a truck outside the base where people could purchase hot drinks and a gentleman from ATC came out to brief the gathered spectators on the day's planned proceedings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoenL Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 Sadly due to the weather a 16-ship overflight of the homebase (and many of the other planned overflight points during their flight) wasn't going to happen so instead the aircraft came back in 4-ships for nice low run and breaks followed by some hovering and a taxi to the end of the runway where we had positioned ourselves. The special marked aircraft were to taxi to the ramp last and as such it was decided not to taxi those past the people at the end of the runway so I was happy to have photographed them on the Monday. Here are some of the aircraft that did make it to the end of the runway though: Then we watched the specially marked aircraft touch down rougly halfway down the runway and taxi back to the ramp to the waiting family and press. As we walked back to the car we heard the last RAF Harrier shutdown after its last flight.... (Sorry for the rather lengthy explanation but hope the pics make up for it ;-) ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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