Thanks and goodbye

I had an aixfix model and poster of this bad boy as a kid.

The RAF's Harrier jump jet was retired this week after more than 40 years of service as a result of defence spending cuts. The aircraft, which had been in active service since 1969, marked its retirement with a final flight over RAF Cottesmore.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVJ1G...layer_embedded

 

it was great to see a pair of them flying around dunsfold a few weeks ago, its a shame it wasn't the last place they got to fly seeing at it was developed and flown there. the skys won't sound the same again.

 

Anyone know roughly what it would cost to keep one or even two Harriers in service for a few years? A lot I know but it would have many supporters and could command high appearance fees at big ticket air shows in Europe.

dl

 

It is still active in some air forces - I think the some of the 16 from Cottesbrook were being sold to Italy.

 

my old co. used to make the blades for the pegasus engine, there was a **** up with one of the machined dimensions by one bloke who they couldnt even sack because of union rights etc because of that one guy hundreds were made redundant afterwards, the co. nearly went bust.all the harrier engines had to be returned to have this dimension remachined and the co. had to foot the full cost, the boss of the raf at the time said our co. had been the biggest threat to uk defense than russia, china etc etc.
funny thing was this guy left about 5 years later, he won the lottery!!!

david, its about the engines, i heard they used to have share engines!!!
the blades need replacing after so many air miles and they aint cheap, i think thats where the main cost comes into it, if they have loads of spares which they will have it shouldnt be too bad and they want to buy up all the blades they can now before theyve all gone

 

Always remember the 4 they had in Belize, they use to practice the vtol on a daily basis, even attend air shows in central america, good to see but shame to see them go

Tony

 

 

http://www.flightlevel350.com/forum/...showtopic=8719

Anyone wanna go halves. i wish. would be a good project. Harrier with a few sti goodies.

 

 

So, now we have no aircraft to go on our carriers, how long will it be before Argentina stake a new claim to some British territory ?

 

was the deltic that crazy triangular engine with opposing pistons that nearly meet each other. what a design and it was very good for the time

 

Plenty of typhoons stationed on the falklands.

 

Yes, that was the one, designed for Motor Torpedo Boats, so quite an old design, by Napier. High speed, two-stroke diesel.

the name, "Deltic" referred to the shape of the engine which resembled the Greek letter delta.

However, the engines were installed with the triangle pointing downwards, which is the Greek letter nabla, so they OUGHT to have been "Nablics".

 

no manufacturing anymore, did anyone see that pogramme about hong kong and why they do so well, it was a civil servant from britain who started hong kongs industry by simply reducing taxes, china saw what was going on and followed suit and we can all see how much china are struggling. afaik in hong kong top tax is 15%, low earners dont pay tax, no vat yet the government still get plenty of money because there is a big pot to start with because business is thriving.

why hasnt any of our governments sussed this, are they thick as ****.the private sector pays for everything in the public sector yet our private sector is declining because of taxes etc etc so the money pot is shrinking so we have to borrow billions so therefore we have to pay more taxes. oh thats where we are now... ******* government tossers
******* labour dimwits

 

Now now stedee, don't pull your punches, say how you REALLY feel

 

i saw a programme on the design of it, it looked awesome i just remember all the pulleys and cogs thinking how the hell would you sort that pulley belt out.i like clever mechanical engineering so much harder than electrical

 

lol its true, doesnt help i`m now out of a job and it seems so easy to put the country back on its feet, we need someone with a bit of backbone

 

i really did lol

 

o

Here is a bit more info for you


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_Deltic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2LgpzeAexM

http://www.ptfnasty.com/ptfDeltic.html

 

I'm kicking myself big time! I was off yesterday and could have gone to see the last flight had I known I've let my plane geek skillz lapse! Didn't think they were going till April.

Still, my last memory of a Harrier was one blasting overhead through the Mach Loop

 

Our MD used to fly Harriers.

http://www.flyingbooks.co.uk/acatalo..._Squadron.html

This is his book on the subject.

 

Am I correct in saying the maintenance practice of American Harriers is a little more cost effective than that of the UK?

I've heard stories from my friends in the gas turbine industry that where RAF/Rolls would replace entire engine casings outright...the Americans would just weld theirs.

Maybe its that belt-and brace approach that was the craft's demise. Ironic really when you look at the Nimrod upgrades (codge some wings on and away we go, oh crap, they don't fit).

 

Another former Dunsfold local here, grew up with the Harriers doing their test flights 2 or so days a month and could hear the engine runs from our house 2 miles away. Been gone for a good few years now, replaced by 3 middle-aged blokes filming a car programme.

Spent a weeks work experience there when I was at school. Confirmed my interest in going on to get an engineering degree, but with the way the world is I now work in the service sector...

As a country though we are still making exceptional achievements, but generally its in the less impressive, but more lucrative industries like bio-tech and IT. Its not the same though!

 

The harrier is an awesome piece of kit, gone but I'm sure it'll never be forgotten......

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-7zHlOi4T4

 

A desperate and dishonest way to save some money...maybe so that maybe they can give even more away to impress the other world leaders!

The Harrier is an outstanding aircraft both as a close fighter and a ground attack machine.

We cannot afford to lose its services and those of the Ark Royal. We now have a hole in our defences which cannot be covered for an estimated 10 years!

Its like not bothering to pay the insurance premium in the hope that nothing untoward will happen!

Grossly irresponsible.

Les

 

 

A great, and stupid loss

Those, and the Nimrods, were the only things in our armoury actually capable of supporting the poor b@stards on the ground doing the dying


But still, the RAF brass got to keep their supersonic jets, and they'll still get to squander yet more of our cash on that bloated American white elephant


Funny how the USMC are more than happy with their Harriers, and had to be strong-armed into backing the F35 by Rumsfeld and the DoD