With HMS Invincible being decommissioned, our faithful friends the Sea Harriers will not be far behind.
May I suggest a thread to commemmorate their long and faithful service, too?
I will kick off with a few pictures from possibly one of their last displays, at Waddington recently, There must be some great pictures available (far better than mine), so let’s see them!
By: Ja Worsley - 5th August 2005 at 04:09
Are there any pics of a SHAR landing on the flight deck of a frigate??? I had heard that the RN ahd done this a few times as an experiment but never seen it…
By: Shadow1 - 5th August 2005 at 00:20
I am not the one who took these pictures but rather, I found them on airliners.net. It is too bad the aircraft is coming to a term in its service career with the Royal Navy. Another great machine heading into the sunset!
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/382748/L/
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/383944/L/
By: snakeman - 4th August 2005 at 20:25
Last Of The British Classics !
Fly Navy !
By: SteveO - 4th August 2005 at 20:00
Wonder why didn’t they just buy a version of the harrier II to begin with instead of wasting their money on that overrated merlin helo
It would have been nice to see a Harrier II+ in FAA service, but the FA2 was just entering service as the ASW Sea Kings needed replacing, so the priority was to buy ASW Merlins.
It is a shame the RN continued to spend so much money on ASW in the post-Cold war period when future operations would highlight the need for more capable strike aircraft and carriers. I wish HMS Ocean entered service as a 30kt capable, 25,000t flexible carrier with a airgroup of Sea Harrier IIs and Commando Merlins 🙂
By: Papa Lima - 4th August 2005 at 16:43
Lovely picture with Gibraltar in the background – evokes fond memories of servicing the Rebecca beacon at the very top in the 1960s!
A question – when a Harrier is parked on the very tip of the ramp, a) how does it get there, and b) how does it get off?
By: Prowlus - 4th August 2005 at 16:25
Wonder why didn’t they just buy a version of the harrier II to begin with instead of wasting their money on that overrated merlin helo
By: SteveO - 4th August 2005 at 16:13
Pics of HMS Invincible with SHARs from http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/rn/content.php3?page=670&gmode=quick&cat=69
By: SteveO - 4th August 2005 at 16:04
I always thought it was a shame that the SHAR didn’t get the proposed ”Kingston Big Wing” when it was upgraded to the FRS2/FA2 standard. This ”Big Wing” was intended to upgrade RAF GR3s and would have had more fuel and hardpoints and improved aerodynamic performance.
It would have been nice if the RAF and FAA had co-operated and modified their GR3s and FRS1s with the ”Big Wing” and then made a joint purchase of a Blue Vixen radar equipped Harrier II+ in the early 1990s.
”Big/Tin Wing” info and pics from http://www.vectorsite.net/avav8.html
By: Ja Worsley - 4th August 2005 at 13:01
Excelent thread guys well done, suppose I should add some pics as well…
Coverage of the Falklands conflict including Harrier pics on the Atlantic Conveyor
By: Lamps - 4th August 2005 at 11:56
A superb aircraft that went beyond its expectations, especially in the Falklands. A great aircraft that will be sorely missed 🙁
Some pictures, from the Royal Navy website and defence images database.
By: Nils - 3rd August 2005 at 21:49
Lets not forget there excelent performance during the Falklands and Bosnia, where they shedded there teeth for the first time 🙂
By: SteveO - 3rd August 2005 at 20:40
More SHAR pics from http://www.defenceimagedatabase.mod.uk/fotoweb/
By: SteveO - 3rd August 2005 at 16:27
I love the Sea Harrier, it’s far from perfect but it’s operational career surpassed many more capable and expensive aircraft in UK service. We will have to wait for the F-35B JSF before we get a aircraft as flexible as the SHAR 🙁
Here are some good SHAR sites http://www.targetlock.org.uk/seaharrier/ and http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NAVY/Harrier.html
Sea Harrier pics from http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/rn/content.php3?page=670&gmode=quick&cat=70
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August 3, 2005 at 4:10 pm