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.

staker

Another excellent post again Steyr. As a man who knows next to nothing about aeroplanes, I'm constantly reading your posts as they're always very interesting and informative.

Steyr

Thank you very much.

concussion

staker wrote: »

Another excellent post again Steyr. As a man who knows next to nothing about aeroplanes, I'm constantly reading your posts as they're always very interesting and informative.

Hear hear - I thoroughly enjoy reading the latest news. Top service Steyr

Manic Moran

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

Almost unique.







And, of course



NTM

si_guru

Manic Moran wrote: »

Almost unique.







And, of course



NTM

I am ready to be shot down... but I believe the Harrier is the only single engine (Rolls-Royce of course) VTOL. Therefore UNIQUE.

SG

PeakOutput

some great pics there steyr

id say the pilots cannot wait to get their hands on the f35 though

Manic Moran

am ready to be shot down... but I believe the Harrier is the only single engine (Rolls-Royce of course) VTOL. Therefore UNIQUE

Fair one.

It is also the only one to have been called 'Harrier'.

NTM

goldie fish

si_guru wrote: »

I am ready to be shot down... but I believe the Harrier is the only single engine (Rolls-Royce of course) VTOL. Therefore UNIQUE.

SG

The harrier is also unique in that it was successful and reliable. The russians abandoned theirs after the lift engines started melting aircraft carrier decks and killing pilots.

arybvtcw0eolkf

staker wrote: »

Another excellent post again Steyr. As a man who knows next to nothing about aeroplanes, I'm constantly reading your posts as they're always very interesting and informative.

+1.

And everytime I read his posts I promise myself I'll scan some old photo's from the Baldonnel airshow's and post 'em up.

Great work Steyr :cool:

Fratton Fred

I had a great view of one at the white waltham airshow several years ago. With the binoculars I watched the pilot effortlessly make the plane hover, turn, bow and fly off backwards.

A really remarkable piece of engineering, especially when you consider the concept is over 40 years old.

Captain Chaos

si_guru wrote: »

I am ready to be shot down... but I believe the Harrier is the only single engine (Rolls-Royce of course) VTOL. Therefore UNIQUE.

SG

The F-35B, VTOL but will be used in STOVL most of the time. Single engine made by P&W but the lift fan is made by Rolls-Royce and some other parts of the powerplant.

who the fug

Fratton Fred wrote: »

A really remarkable piece of engineering, especially when you consider the concept is over 40 years old.

More like 50 Years:eek:

Manic Moran

The harrier is also unique in that it was successful and reliable. The russians abandoned theirs after the lift engines started melting aircraft carrier decks and killing pilots

In fairness, the attrition rates for Harriers are far higher than those of any other combat jet, a function of the acknowledge difficulty in flying the thing, and the Forger had an active service life of a full decade.

I don't think you can really blame the Freestyle itself for its failure. It was a very capable design, just when the USSR collapsed, the funding went with it. Then Lockheed Martin got in on the program, threw a few hundred million at it, and you can't help but notice the similarities between the F-35 and the -141.

NTM

Fratton Fred

Manic Moran wrote: »

In fairness, the attrition rates for Harriers are far higher than those of any other combat jet, a function of the acknowledge difficulty in flying the thing, and the Forger had an active service life of a full decade.
NTM

I think a lot of it was down to its very nature as well, the extra number of moving parts, the huge stresses created when going vertical etc.

OS119

Fratton Fred wrote: »

I think a lot of it was down to its very nature as well, the extra number of moving parts, the huge stresses created when going vertical etc.

to back up MM's point, its long been the case among the Winged Breathren that the cream of the crop went to Harrier, then Jag (before it reached to apogee of its effectiveness and they scrapped it...) and the rest went to Tornado/Phantom/Buccaneer...

not saying that Tonka crews are mongs, just that Harrier - and to a lesser degree the other single-seaters - required a very rare flying skill.

Fratton Fred

OS119 wrote: »

to back up MM's point, its long been the case among the Winged Breathren that the cream of the crop went to Harrier, then Jag (before it reached to apogee of its effectiveness and they scrapped it...) and the rest went to Tornado/Phantom/Buccaneer...

not saying that Tonka crews are mongs, just that Harrier - and to a lesser degree the other single-seaters - required a very rare flying skill.

I remember hearing a Fleet Air Arm pilot refer to it as throwing away the hand book and starting again.

Although he spent most of his career working on Tornados, my cousin trained on harriers as well and had to go through the whole guerilla warfare role training every couple, where they practice operating one from the middle of a forest. From what I can gather, this involved him being woken up every night by the SAS as they politely told them they had been attacked and were now dead:D

Steyr

As OS119 has said and he is correct in saying the "Cream Of the Crop" were generally regarded by the RAF to be the Harrier and FAA SHAR Pilots.

For the short term they are potentially to be held fully serviceable in storage at RAF Cottesmore, long term there was rumours that the USMC might have been interested seeing as they had only been upgraded a short while ago and India has expressed an interest but has since withdrawn their interest.

Steyr

Oh and thanks for the feedback!

goldie fish

Steyr wrote: »

As OS119 has said and he is correct in saying the "Cream Of the Crop" were generally regarded by the RAF to be the Harrier and FAA SHAR Pilots.

For the short term they are potentially to be held fully serviceable in storage at RAF Cottesmore, long term there was rumours that the USMC might have been interested seeing as they had only been upgraded a short while ago and India has expressed an interest but has since withdrawn their interest.

What are we up to now, GR9? I know GR7 took all the features that the AV-8 had.

Steyr

goldie fish wrote: »

What are we up to now, GR9? I know GR7 took all the features that the AV-8 had.

GR9/GR9A they were/are said to be better than the AV-8B+ except for the Radar.

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'."

Fratton Fred

As a side note, Brian Hanrahan died yesterday. I remember as if it was yesterday his "I counted them all out and counted them all back" report on the Harriers going off to engage the Argentine airforce.

cyrusdvirus

Fratton Fred wrote: »

As a side note, Brian Hanrahan died yesterday. I remember as if it was yesterday his "I counted them all out and counted them all back" report on the Harriers going off to engage the Argentine airforce.

Was just about to post that...