The Harrier, a unique aircraft and known by the world over for its capabilities, had been in service with the RAF for many years and on the 19th October 2010 its fate was sealed with the announcement that the Joint Harrier Force was to be dismantled along with the decommissioning of the Royal Navy's flagship aircraft carrier, Ark Royal. As you can imagine, this was shocking news to everyone but there were many rumours going around prior to the announcement so it wasn't a total surprise.
All squadron's were to be disbanded by March 2011. But, the final flights occured in December 2010, just prior to Christmas. The Harrier bases weren't too far from where I live in England so I had the opportunity to spend a couple of very good days gathering a final few images of this fantastic machine.
The 15th December was to be the final day and some good friends of mine were invited to attend the celebrations at RAF Cottesmore. Unfortunately for them, they were unable to attend so they invited me to go in their place. An opportunity I was not going to miss!
However, on the 13th, there was plans to conduct a 16-ship formation practise and I was able to get the day off work. Due to the weather I very nearly didn't make the trip but I knew I would kick myself if I didn't go so I headed up to base perimeter. The plan for the day was to conduct a 16 ship flypast practise in preparation for the final day on the 15th and also do a farewell tour of some of the other local RAF bases. The weather beat them but they still sent the four specially marked aircraft up for a photo shoot.
1. A number of paint schemes were commissioned to commemorate the final days of the Harrier. This jet was a replica of the original Harrier GR1 scheme and was flown by Force Commander Joint Force Harrier and Station Commander RAF Cottesmore, Group Captain Gary Waterfall.
2. Joint Force Harrier was made up of both RAF and Fleet Air Arm squadrons. Here is 800 NAS.
3. 1 Squadron
4. Returning to base.
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7. 4 Squadron special.
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12. On the 15th, I had my very own escort for the day who did a fantastic job catering for every request we had. We were able to walk the pan before the flying was to commence later in the day. I must say, although the weather was truly awful, it was one of the most magnificent sights I've ever seen. A total of 32 Harriers were on the flight line in 3 rows. Every single one serviceable and ready to go. It meant that if there was a problem with any aircraft involved in the flypast, each pilot had a spare jet available. What a fantastic achievement by all involved.
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19. A hangar was laid out to host all the visitors. A huge screen was mounted which played loads of videos and pictures from over the years. The pilot briefing for the flypast was also shown live. Because of the weather, the flypast was continually being delayed in the hope that a gap in the weather would allow them to proceed.
20. I was able to take up position at the tower to watch the takeoffs and recoveries. From there you can see the edges of the airbase. This photo shows the amount of people gathered outside the fence and this is where I was positioned on the Monday.
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24. The gap in the clouds never materialised so the flypast was cancelled. The 16 aircraft plus one for weather recce then came home.
25. Mixed emotions as they taxiied past the tower.
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33. All the Squadron CO's flew their own special jets. All four of them waited for all the aircraft to land before they all taxiied back to the flight line. They then simultaneously shut down their engines as one. Because we were at the tower we were unable to catch that moment but we could feel the atmosphere! On our way back to the flight line we joined the crowds watching all the crew, ground and air, walk as one, away from the jets. Very emotional!
34. The final bow...
35. This shot and the next one were taken during the summer time. If only we knew it would be their last.
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37. At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them.
Nice piece on the RAF Website:
http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive.cfm?storyid=4F95BCA0-5056-A318-A8C68AE12CC22FECThanks again!
Andy
