Farewell to the Harrier

[dkwookie]

Due to spending cuts in the UK the Harrier is being withdrawn from service today. Sad to see it go

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkFOEE6vUds

[Gilly]

Another sad day in our recent military history. I've just watched them on the BBC leaving Cottesmore. Yet another of our brilliant designs consigned to history. Very sad to see them go.

[winny]

I logged on to post a goodbye to the harrier thread but the wookie beat me to it.. A sad day for a superb aircraft.

I wonder how much a used harrier costs these days..

[dkwookie]

Originally Posted by winny

I logged on to post a goodbye to the harrier thread but the wookie beat me to it.. A sad day for a superb aircraft.

I wonder how much a used harrier costs these days..

I was thinking about how much they cost. They will be up for sale soon they said on BBC. They will probably end up in a middle east country. I doubt Argentina will be bidding for them!

I watched that take off from Cottesmore too Gilly, very sad day.

A good article on the decision to scrap them:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11997084

[flynlion]

Doesn't this leave the Royal Navy without a fixed wing combat aircraft? Seems odd that they would retire the Harrier before the F-35 is ready, guess they plan to do it all with land based planes.

[dkwookie]

Yeah we won't have any carrier based fixed wing until 2020. If things go tits up somewhere we won't be able to respond

[olife]

the harrier!!
what a great plane!!
congratulations to the english people,u know how to built a very good planes!!!
...and snif the harriers kick the ass of a french product called MIRAGE in the falkland war..but it was good...because save the freedom
respect english boys

[flynlion]

Originally Posted by dkwookie

Yeah we won't have any carrier based fixed wing until 2020. If things go tits up somewhere we won't be able to respond

Aren't things already tits up? What's the Royal Navy fighting with now?

[winny]

Originally Posted by flynlion

Aren't things already tits up? What's the Royal Navy fighting with now?

Dunno maybe we're just gonna let the French navy do our dirty work for a while.

Are the Royal Navy retiring thiers too? Or just RAF?

[FOZ_1983]

Originally Posted by winny

Dunno maybe we're just gonna let the French navy do our dirty work for a while.

Are the Royal Navy retiring thiers too? Or just RAF?

Royal navy are retiring theirs to. Were relying on the tornado to our jobs for us, but already they are over pushed in afghanistan as the runway is pretty short, where as the harriers had a 95% success rate for missions, the tornado is much less.

Until the F35 comes into active service were pretty much relying on land based aircraft and erm.... the rest of europe!!


Shocking!!