Last flight of the Harrier (UK only)

[inkworm]

Very cold and wet day spent at Cottesmore but what a day. Also had a SHar 2 and GR1 in the Hangar as well which were nice to see. All on here plus a few more and will add others at some point.

Highlight or low point was 17 Pegasus engines all shutting down at exactly the same time, the dying whine of a wonderful aircraft and the following silence hanging over a soon to be abandoned airfield was eerie and emotional.

[Vacajun]

Ink,

Very nice---thanks for sharing. Yet another page is turned in aviation history.

I still can't get over the retirement of the F-14!!!

[gamary]

I still can't get over the retirement of the F-14!!!

Good comparison IMHO. My reaction to both these retirements was "what the hell?!?". And now the Royal Navy will have no jets for some 10 years, and the RAF might end up with only 6 squadrons if fast jets in 2020, making it something of a non air-force IMHO.

BTW, there was talk of axing the Red Arrows to save money. If the RAF is really meant to shrink that much, I imagine it's going to happen. Why have an expensive demo team when you can barely afford real combat units. Does anyone have news about this?

[inkworm]

I really don't think they will be able to get away with axing the Red Sparrows or the BBMF, public outcry would be too great, long gone are the days when just about every flying unit had its own display team and everyone does know the Sparrows.

I'm already hearing on the grapevine that the government are thinking they made the wrong choice over the tonka and the Harrier, who knows, they might change their mind as the fleet are all going to be mothballed for the next couple of years.

[Serval]

Great photo's.

[adlabs6]

Thank you for the photos, very nice.

[gamary]

I really don't think they will be able to get away with axing the Red Sparrows or the BBMF, public outcry would be too great, long gone are the days when just about every flying unit had its own display team and everyone does know the Sparrows.

I'm already hearing on the grapevine that the government are thinking they made the wrong choice over the tonka and the Harrier, who knows, they might change their mind as the fleet are all going to be mothballed for the next couple of years.

I do hope you are right. However, I don't believe that decisions made by governments and administrators necessarily make sense. Unless seen within the scope of that particular administration agenda, but that is motive, not sense.

I can understand why people murder other people, not condone it or make sense out of it.

What's the tonka? I always thought it was the sound of John's head hitting the desk when he's had a little too much Bacardi and passes out while commenting on our Lancasters (i.e. Sparty's and mine).

[Vacajun]

Oh, by the way, how are those 187 F-22s gonna replace over 1,000 F-15s?? IMHO one of the worst decisions made by our government.

[inkworm]

Tonka, as in Tonka toys, very robust but crude, an insulting term for the Tornado given the reliability issues it has compared to the wonderful Harrier.

As for the decisions, under the previous government there was an unsubstantiated rumour that the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight would be grounded, the newspapers immediately started complaining and crying how unfair and un-British it would be to scrap the unit, immediate back down by the government, same I expect would apply to the Red Sparrows, upsetting students is one thing, getting rid of the only aircraft the British public can normally recognise is political suicide.

Glad you like the photos though and I've got some shots of a SHar and GR1 which were in the hangar as well, though under the lighting they aren't good for colour, only reference.

[gamary]

Oh, by the way, how are those 187 F-22s gonna replace over 1,000 F-15s?? IMHO one of the worst decisions made by our government.

Well, that would be because they can achieve a 232:1 kill rate according to the USAF. And, of course, they will have no attrition due to accidents, which is very important when you have so few. (How many are there now? It's no longer 187 I think. One went down in Alaska recently and a few others ones have also bought the farm).

As much as I like the F-22, its numbers are clearly insufficient. I see Western countries drastically down-sizing their armed forces in a way that history has showed us often bears heavy consequences.