GOODBYE TO A TRULY GREAT AND GROUNDBREAKING AIRCRAFT

F

flying_spud

Charter Member
The RAF and FAA are no longer going to operate the iconic Harrier and Sea Harrier - victims of the latest spending cuts..........

These all time great's have seen combat over the Falklands, Bosnia/Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the Falklands they enjoyed something like a 30 to 0 kill ratio over Argentine aircraft, not one Harrier was lost in air-to-air combat.

Goodbye but never forgotten.
 
flying_spud said:
The RAF and FAA are no longer going to operate the iconic Harrier and Sea Harrier - victims of the latest spending cuts..........

These all time great's have seen combat over the Falklands, Bosnia/Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the Falklands they enjoyed something like a 30 to 0 kill ratio over Argentine aircraft, not one Harrier was lost in air-to-air combat.

Goodbye but never forgotten.
Click to expand...

I remember seeing the prototype flying on the evening news. Sixties.......


Cees
 
I've often had that same thought - wondering whether we shouldn't set up new production for Spitfires and Mosquitos, and of course Merlins ...
 
Well, you can bet that somewhere in her majesty's military budget is a future fleet of RAF and FAA F-35's. Great Britain has made sizeable investments in the joint development of the F-35 JSF over the years and its about time for the payoff. Out with the old, in with the new...:salute:

It won't be much longer til you begin to see US Navy and Marine F/A-18C's going to mothballs -- or bone yards -- to make room for the planned F-35 JSF procurements. In the 1990's, the Pentagon put forth a plan for the future of naval aviation involving the F-35 as the primary fleet defender, the FA-18E/F as the main strike AC and the EF-18G Growler replacing the aging Intruders in the electronic warfare game.
 
BC, I think you've hit the nail on the head.

The Harriers/Shars are going to be 'mothballed' for 8-9 years. Do people really think that they're going to dust them off and put them back into service after all that time, when the STOVL carrier version of the F-35 will have proven itself by then!!?

A shame, truely a great groundbreaking aircraft, but that's ecconomics and progress.

Cheers Shessi
 
Actually, it's more about politics than economics, and doesn't constitute progress at all in my opinion ...
 
Politics and economics share the same blood...economics is the eldest brother, but the baby boy always gets the most attention and often the last word. At the end of the day, they are both served at the same dinner table.
 
The first thing ya do when your country is going broke is to hock your protection....how many times has history taught us that lesson..after WW2,we,the US,were so Happy with the prospects of peace ,that we "BEAT OUR SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES?..A few years later..KOREA proved the result of that folly!..Soon followed by years of catch up!!..You remember when .Carter had promised during the campaign that he would kill the B1 Then . bomber. ... President Ronald Reagan announces 100 B-1s will be produced.!! What does that tell you??.Ironic today some countries are "BEATING THE PLOWSHARES INTO SWORDS"at great misery to their people.......The Romans lived by the motto...:To Keep The Peace ,Prepare For war"....until they too went broke......Then like now ,The Barbarians are banging at our gates!........like the Romans we too are committing sucide!!.......Giving up yer Colt .44Mag. does not make yer home and family safe!!..911 just won't do it...911 being the UN!! :kilroy:

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
 
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