UK Harriers to make final operational flights today

Steyr

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/12/15/350937/pictures-uk-harriers-to-make-final-operational-flights.html

Aircraft
DATE:15/12/10
SOURCE:Flightglobal.com

UK Harriers to make final operational flights today
By Craig Hoyle

Operations with the UK’s BAE Systems Harrier GR9/9A ground-attack aircraft will come to an end today, with the nation’s Joint Force Harrier organisation to perform a final series of sorties from the Royal Air Force’s Cottesmore base in Rutland.

The farewell is to involve a 16-aircraft formation which will perform flypasts at the RAF’s facilities at Wyton, Cranwell, Waddington, Scampton and Coningsby and also over Stamford, Lincoln and Oakham before returning to land at Cottesmore. The aircraft should take off from around 13:15 local time and land around 90min later, the Ministry of Defence says.


© Jamie Hunter/Aviacom

In total, 13 single-seat aircraft and three two-seat trainers were involved in rehearsal flights conducted earlier this week.

One of the aircraft has been painted in a retrospective colour scheme previously used with early RAF versions of the Harrier, as shown in this image from Aviacom photographer Jamie Hunter. Three others are shown with their tail fins painted to mark their operation by the RAF’s 1 and 4 squadrons, and by the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm’s 800 NAS.


© Jamie Hunter/Aviacom

Each of the units operated Harrier GR7A/9As from Kandahar airfield in Afghanistan in support of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force over an almost five-year period ending in mid-2009. The type was replaced in theatre by the RAF’s Panavia Tornado GR4 strike aircraft after more than 8,500 sorties and 22,000 flight hours.

Operations with the UK’s Harriers were due to have continued until at least 2018, when it was to have transitioned to Lockheed Martin’s short take-off and vertical landing F-35B. However, the nation’s coalition government in late October announced a decision to retire the current type by 31 March 2011, and to shift the UK’s planned production commitment to the Joint Strike Fighter programme to the F-35C carrier variant.

The UK had already reduced the size of its Harrier ground-attack fleet over the last several years, but Flightglobal’s MiliCAS database says the type’s early retirement still leaves around 52 aircraft as surplus to requirements. This includes 28 recently upgraded GR9s and 16 GR9As – the latter version is powered by Rolls-Royce’s uprated Pegasus 107 engine – plus eight T10/12/12A two-seat trainers.

One of the jet age’s most iconic designs, the Harrier was first flown in prototype form in 1960, as the Hawker Siddeley P1127. The UK’s “Jump Jet” achieved legendary status with its pivotal role during the 1982 Falklands War, when the RN’s newly-fielded Sea Harriers shot down numerous Argentine air force aircraft.


© John Jockel/Rex Features

The then-British Aerospace also collaborated with McDonnell Douglas to develop the AV-8B Harrier II. MiliCAS says more than 140 of these remain in service with the US Marine Corps, with the Italian and Spanish navies also operating the type. The Indian navy also flies eight Sea Harrier FRS51 fighters and three trainers.

Today’s event in the UK marks the nation’s second Harrier retirement in less than five years, with the Ministry of Defence having retired the RN’s last Sea Harrier FA2s in March 2006.

AND PICS FROM TODAY ON THE GROUND AT RAF COTTESMORE:

http://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=29659

http://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=29640

A truly sad day for anybody with the slightest interest in any bit of this remarkable and unique Aircraft.

Im very happy we were able to have had these Display at Salthill.

Turbulent Bill

Steyr wrote: »

Operations with the UK’s Harriers were due to have continued until at least 2018, when it was to have transitioned to Lockheed Martin’s short take-off and vertical landing F-35B. However, the nation’s coalition government in late October announced a decision to retire the current type by 31 March 2011, and to shift the UK’s planned production commitment to the Joint Strike Fighter programme to the F-35C carrier variant.

The UK had already reduced the size of its Harrier ground-attack fleet over the last several years, but Flightglobal’s MiliCAS database says the type’s early retirement still leaves around 52 aircraft as surplus to requirements. This includes 28 recently upgraded GR9s and 16 GR9As – the latter version is powered by Rolls-Royce’s uprated Pegasus 107 engine – plus eight T10/12/12A two-seat trainers.

Wonder if the UK would consider selling these? From the above there's plenty of airframes, including ones recently upgraded. If the MOD removed any restricted equipment and put them on sale, another country could get an instant VSTOL force on the cheap!

Tenger

A sad day for military aviation. Another legend soon to be gone.......

Nforce

Turbulent Bill wrote: »

Wonder if the UK would consider selling these? From the above there's plenty of airframes, including ones recently upgraded. If the MOD removed any restricted equipment and put them on sale, another country could get an instant VSTOL force on the cheap!

Who'd have them,though?

Much as I like the Harrier...it's fair to say that they are an absolute nightmare to maintain and operate. I was thinking that India would be interested, but apparently they've already rejected them.

ambasite

we have 85 billion euro...

Steyr

Nforce wrote: »

Who'd have them,though?

Much as I like the Harrier...it's fair to say that they are an absolute nightmare to maintain and operate. I was thinking that India would be interested, but apparently they've already rejected them.

Alot of them were only recently upgraded so the rumours be its the USMC who are the interested party.

Tenger

Steyr wrote: »

Alot of them were only recently upgraded so the rumours be its the USMC who are the interested party.

Are the GR7/GR9s the same as the AV-8B? I knew they have similar capabilities. Seems hard work to integrate a new sub-type to the USMC. On paper it would make sense to allow the USMC to bridge any delay to the F-35B.

Steyr

Tenger wrote: »

Are the GR7/GR9s the same as the AV-8B? I knew they have similar capabilities.

Apparently the only difference is the GR9/9A is a better standard compared to the AV-8B+ apart from the radar systems.

Steyr

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/12/18/351053/sea-harrier-revived-by-former-usmc-pilot-for-air-show-circuit.html

Aircraft
DATE:18/12/10
SOURCE:Flight International

Sea Harrier revived by former USMC pilot for air show circuit
By Stephen Trimble


Not long before the UK Royal Navy decommissioned the last British Aerospace Sea Harrier in March 2006, Maryland resident and aircraft mechanic Christian Vlahos received a phone call from a close friend.

Art Nalls, calling from England, immediately got to the point.

"He said, 'Christian, I want to buy a Harrier,'" Vlahos recalls nearly four years later. "I was like, 'As in, a 'Harrier'-Harrier?!'"

As unusual as the conversation may seem, it was not entirely out of character for Nalls. A former US Marine Corps test pilot-turned-real estate-millionaire, Nalls has an eccentric streak. Not only had Nalls restored - with Vlahos' voluntary assistance - an assortment of Yakovlev and Aero Vodochody aircraft to fly on the airshow circuit, Nalls had once owned the Guinness record for designing and riding the world's tiniest bicycle, standing about 12.7cm (5in) high.

Nalls wanted to know if Vlahos, a former US Navy F/A-18 mechanic, could help him restore the world's only privately owned - perhaps "only" for a good reason? - Sea Harrier.

"If you want to buy it, I'll make it fly," Vlahos assured him, knowing something of the challenge involved. The Sea Harrier evolved in the late-1970s from the Hawker P.1127, which achieved its first flight 50 years ago, becoming the only successful operational vertical and short take-off and landing (V/STOL) fighter in Western service.

"I love this airplane. I want to get it," Nalls replied to Vlahos.

Nalls flew Harriers in the 1980s, but his motivation was not merely nostalgic. The self-made millionaire sensed a business opportunity. The Marines' official Harrier display team is the most requested aircraft among US airshows, Nalls said in an interview.

"I [bought the Sea Harrier] as a financial decision," he says. "The marines get more requests for the Harrier every year than the Thunderbirds and Blue Angles combined."

But Nalls knew he could not restore the Sea Harrier by himself. Until he secures a sponsorship deal, which still eludes him, he needs volunteers to help him realise his goal.

Vlahos remembers that Nalls gave him one last opportunity to say no on the fateful phone call in 2006. Before hanging up, Nalls asked one more time: "Are you sure we can do this?"

"Absolutely," Vlahos said.

So began an odyssey of restoration and flight tests that would consume Nalls, Vlahos and 25 volunteer mechanics for two years. Along the way, the team would encounter serious obstacles, including a nose-gear collapse after an in-flight hydraulics failure that forced Nalls to perform a vertical landing in Harrier for the first time in 16 years during an emergency. A fire would consume a single, critical component that costs $250,000 to replace.

Reflecting on their achievement, Nalls remains in "disbelief that we even did it." Surprisingly, he encounters people even within the aviation community who brush off the complexity and audacity of the restoration project. "They say, 'Anybody could have done it. You put it together, you flew it'," Nalls says. "They have no idea of the technical challenges."

MOTIVATION

It may seem like a curiously altruistic affair for Nalls' support team. After all, this group of aircraft mechanics voluntarily donates hundreds of hours every year for Nalls to realise his dream to again fly the Harrier, a jet he came to love during his Marine service.

Vlahos, the full-time owner of Chesapeake Aviation Services, has several theories for what keeps the group working on the Sea Harrier. Some are motivated by the desire to prove doubters wrong, others want to part of something bigger than they are, while still others hope for personal employment. For Vlahos, however, the reason is more personal.

"To be perfectly honest, the reason is Art," Vlahos says. "Being the person that he is, he does anything in the world for anybody. He's the most giving, most kind person you'll ever meet in your life. I'm going to do what's in my power to make this airplane fly."

That spirit may be what keeps the project still going after four years. When the Sea Harrier arrived in early 2006, its condition seemed bleak.

"You're looking at this airplane and you're thinking 'whoa'," Vlahos says. "It's probably overwhelming at this point. The aircraft is sitting on three different stands in pieces."

There were many unknown variables about the Sea Harrier. Nalls' experience with the AV-8B Harrier II was of little help, as the aircraft are "entirely different animals", Vlahos says.

"Everything is more critical with the Harrier. You're talking higher speeds, reactionary control nozzles at the nose, tail and wingtips, tubing that carriers the hot air for the nozzles," he says. "If there is the slightest scratch or dent in these tubes it causes a hot spot that burns everything in the vicinity."

Nalls bought the Sea Harrier from an aircraft broker who guaranteed the surplus aircraft was completely intact. However, Nalls says, they discovered much of it needed to be restored and major parts and systems needed to be re-engineered to make it flyable. Among the items were the pitot-static system, the emergency blow-down system for the landing gear and ejection seat installation.

"So much stuff was missing from the airplane," Nalls says.

The restoration project was also slowed by lack of availability of parts. Standing up a private supply chain to support a Sea Harrier requires as much as pluck as cash. Nalls recalls a spare-hunting trip to Pensacola NAS, Florida. At the time, he was desperately short of spare gas turbine starters, a system as costly as it is mechanically fickle.

"We found one in the trash in Pensacola," Nalls says. "The people there they were throwing that away. I said, 'Can I have that?' We put in the pack of our pick-up truck."

Piece by piece, the aircraft was restored and returned to flyable status. But setbacks delayed the pace of the team's progress. The lowest point may have come when the primary hydraulic system failed on Nalls' second flight. The nose landing gear dropped, but - unknown to Nalls - failed to lock, crushing the nose after it collapsed.

"When it got tough we kept pushing," Vlahos says. "Everything was a small problem up until that [hydraulic system] failure. When he got it safely on the ground, we're looking at it. It's a twisted wreck sitting on the tarmac at Patuxent River. Everybody knew what this meant to Art. I just looked at Art and said, 'We'll get it back up'."

Nalls, however, did not show any signs of despair. With the damaged Sea Harrier transported by truck from Patuxent River to Vlahos's hangar, Nalls rode in the open cockpit dressed up as Santa Claus, waving to confused onlookers.

CROWD FAVOURITE

As thousands of air show attendees across the USA already know, Nalls eventually restored the Sea Harrier, received FAA certification and a type rating as a pilot. Nalls' Sea Harrier is now a favourite on the US airshow circuit, with Nalls completing each show with a 30e_SDgr nose-down "bow" to the audience.

"The first time I tried [the bow] it looked anaemic," he says. "You can't even see the nose move a little bit. Then, this Brit who has since become a friend emailed. He said, 'Mate, your bow looks horrible! You don't know how to do it.' He told me the procedure. I'm just stupid enough to go out and try that."

"It was outstanding," says Wayne Boggs, air boss of Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture fly-in at Oshkosh, where Nalls performed in July. Nalls "did a great job".

Nalls' Sea Harrier may join the air show circuit again next year, or it may not. Nalls was interviewed by phone while en route to a doctor's appointment, a follow-up visit after undergoing knee replacement surgery.

"It could end in the next 15 minutes," Nalls says. "With this knee replacement I could lose my medical" clearance.

Even if Nalls is sidelined, the Sea Harrier now has a back-up pilot - Joe Anderson, a retired USMC major general. But the Sea Harrier will need more than a pilot to keep it flying.

"If we can stay ahead of the curve here with life-limited parts then it's just maintaining everything else, which requires money, which is becoming a scarce thing," Vlahos says.

Nalls agrees: "We've done all of this relatively on a shoestring [budget]. If we had somebody who showed up with a fair amount of money - we're talking tens of millions of dollars - we need to hire volunteers as full-time maintainers."

As always, Nalls is taking an optimistic approach to the future. "We could be one phone call away," he says. "There could be an aviation enthusiast out there who says, 'I like these guys. I like their spunk. I like what they've been able to do'."

IrishB.ie

Steyr, did you get my PM?

Turbulent Bill

Nforce wrote: »

Who'd have them,though?

Much as I like the Harrier...it's fair to say that they are an absolute nightmare to maintain and operate. I was thinking that India would be interested, but apparently they've already rejected them.

I thought India might take them too, they'd be in a very strong buying position.

Steyr wrote: »

Apparently the only difference is the GR9/9A is a better standard compared to the AV-8B+ apart from the radar systems.

Could be a pride/ego thing about buying second-hand stuff from the UK, you never know!

Stovepipe

Hi there,
What a shame to see a really useful aircraft, that the troops on the ground in Afghanistan love to have on hand, being grounded for good so as to save the unwanted Tornados. Theyre even getting rid of the Sentinels. Before long, they'll be putting weapons on the Hawks and sending them out to the warzone.
regards
Stovepipe

Nforce

Maybe they'll mothball them...like the USAF did with the F117 (which is back operational again,btw).

Steyr

Nforce wrote: »

Maybe they'll mothball them...like the USAF did with the F117 (which is back operational again,btw).

She is retired and not Operational, I posted this here as some people had reported sightings of Stealth's Airborne extremely recently and Flightglobal reported it, so as far as we know she is not Officially Operational with the USAF but that does not mean that LM have not brought one or two back for whatever purpose.

Steyr

IrishB.ie wrote: »

Steyr, did you get my PM?

I did sorry I forgot to reply. PM sent.

Nforce

Steyr wrote: »

She is retired and not Operational, I posted this here as some people had reported sightings of Stealth's Airborne extremely recently and Flightglobal reported it, so as far as we know she is not Officially Operational with the USAF but that does not mean that LM have not brought one or two back for whatever purpose.

There's video footage of one flying, captured by a couple of guys out spying...err,walking...in the desert near Tonapah. It's not official.....but then again neither was it officially operational prior to '88.;):D

Edit: adding video..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvyaG7EIC18

Steyr

Nforce wrote: »

There's video footage of one flying, captured by a couple of guys out spying...err,walking...in the desert near Tonapah. It's not official.....but then again neither was it officially operational prior to '88.;):D

Edit: adding video..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvyaG7EIC18

That was the video/sighting that FG reported, but as can be seen no date put to the video and it looks old so as far as they are concerned that could have been taken years ago.