Engaging Top (and bottom) 10s including: Greatest fighter aircraft of World War II, Worst British aircraft, Worst Soviet aircraft and many more insanely specific ones. Steve was concentrating on tracking the second jet in his sights and he released his second Sidewinder. And from my morning flight I knew where they were going. A look into art and culture’s love affair with the aeroplane. The New F-15EX Has Been Officially Named “Eagle II”, Turkish Stars NF-5 Jet Crashes During Training Flight At Konya Air Base Killing Pilot, First Flight Test Of Air Force’s Hypersonic AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) Fails, Ever Seen A Drone Dropping Another Drone? On board were 20 BAe Sea Harriers, only in service since 2 years. The modification from the already well-proven ground attack Harrier was a design masterpiece. `Red Section! Fascinating insights into exceptionally obscure warplanes. I’m very short of fuel and must recover to Mother immediately.’. Known by its pilots as “SHAR,”30 years ago the Bae Sea Harrier embarked on its first combat mission. I called Brilliant, `Do you have any friendlies close to you?’. The U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II jump jet is one of the most upgraded military combat aircraft 30 years after its … It was the first UK fighter jet program in history to be on cost and on time! The one that got away!). The pilot must have seen it coming because he had already jettisoned the canopy before the missile arrived; when it did, he ejected. As I spoke, the three `seagulls’ stopped orbiting, headed towards the south and descended behind the line of hills. Video: Skydivers intercept gliders midair. “My first impressions of this wonderful aircraft were formed when I was the MoD Naval Staff desk officer for the Development and Production of the Sea Harrier from 1976 to 1979. But the Harrier's heaviest experience with combat was yet to come. `Passing between them now!’ Expert analysis of weapons, tactics and technology. AV-8B+s were utilized in the Lighthouse War by Erusea during Operation One Pair, O… He treated my lads like royalty and then climbed into the new jet and proceeded to give us a private flying display; including his famous vertical take-off transitioning into a near vertical climb away. It first entered service with the Royal Navy in April 1980 as the Sea Harrier FRS1 and became informally known as the "Shar". I checked Steve’s tail was clear but he was far too busy to think of checking my own 6 o’clock. `Brilliant, I can’t locate my Number Two but have picked up a SARBE signal. Otherwise he would have seen the third Mirage closing fast on my tail. I called Brilliant. As he turned towards the west and home he had been firing his guns at me in the turn but had missed. There was only one answer, he must have gone down! Change ), The Bother With V/STOL – The Diplomat - Newstime.world, The Trouble With V/STOL – The Diplomat | PG-Intel, The Trouble With V/STOL – The Diplomat – Voice of World, The Trouble With V/STOL – The Diplomat - Self Defense Coach, F-20 versus Lavi: The Tigershark, the Young Lion and the Viper, Saddam Hussein had a gold-plated jewel-encrusted personal Spitfire aircraft and you can buy it, Life on Royal Navy aircraft carrier (1960), Flak: myth versus reality with Donald Nijboer. Instead I could see Steve chasing across the skyline towards the west. The more detailed answer is it depends. And for my pilots, this meant almost continuous heavy fatigue: not just flying airborne missions but also sitting in the cockpit at alert on deck regularly with outside air temperatures of 2°C and no heating in the aircraft (other than occasional mugs of hot chocolate provided by our wonderful ground crew). Jacek Siminski. No reply. Hit in the Ops Room! But I did hear the tell tale sound of a pilot’s SARBE rescue beacon. So on land and in the air we were heavily outnumbered. Commencing cruise descent.’, `Roger, Leader. My heart missed several beats. Indeed and as Rear-Admiral ‘Sandy’ Woodward, Commander Carrier Battle Group stated after our … The SHAR was a truly multi role aircraft that it could perform air-to-air combat and ground attack and reconnaissance. I learnt this directly from the Defence Attaché of the Argentinian Embassy in London just after the war. They were only about 50 yards apart and at about 100 feet above the deck. It seems like there have been a lot of videos shared lately of air forces around the world conducting training exercises from roadways. The Navy’s SHARs went on to score 20 kills (none of which was achieved using the famous trick of stopping the plane midair by pointing the jet nozzles slightly forward inducing a 2g deceleration) to no loss in air-to-air combat. Photo: Is Darth Vader flying in a U.S. HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter during a Special Ops training mission? This set alarm bells ringing around the fighter world. F-15Cs Intercept Stolen DASH-8 Airliner out of Seattle Tacoma Airport Before Crash. Like any jet the Harrier was effective in air-to-air combat only if flown by a skilled pilot — only it needed one more than most. Putting it all in context, it was the boots on the ground of our Amphibious Brigade led by Julian Thompson and Jeremy Moore that secured the hard-fought victory. It was an amazing spectacle. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. I was lower than the leader and higher than the Number Two as they flashed past each side of my cockpit. All mostly footage during OIF in 2003. `Wait!’ It was a sharper than usual reply. A second or two later, Brilliant was back on the air. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Russian Air Power* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) with Guy Plopsky: Part 1- How good is Russian air force training? We had only recently received our first aircraft and I had completed just a handful of flights in it. Among the most important was the British Harrier jump-jet and the American Sidewinder heatseeking missile with which it is armed. As I passed them I pulled hard to the right, slightly nose high, expecting them still to try to make it through to their target by going left and resuming their track. `They’re going for Ardent!’ I headed flat out to the south east, passing over the settlement of Port Howard at over 600 knots and 100 feet. All rights reserved. John was just brilliant! `Be advised I am very short of fuel. Adrenaline running high, I glanced round to check the sky about me. As the SHAR turned towards the threat, the three targets turned away and used their superior speed advantage to escape. One of the SHAR managed to fire some 30mm cannon rounds in the general direction of the turboprops but the first contact ended with a no-score draw . I had just flown through Steve in the middle of a turn at the southerly end of the race track when I spotted two triangular shapes approaching down the far side of the valley under the hills from the west. The Hawker Siddeley Harrier was the first generation Harrier jump jet to see service and saw combat action in the Falklands War of 1982. All were pulling strongly in the same direction. The SHAR immediately turned towards the targets, and decided to perform the hook manoeuvre: the lead aircraft flew head-on to the target and the wingman split to swing around to attack the targets from the rear. But there was no need. The radar was upgraded to a pulse Doppler radar which gave the SHAR the ability to fire the AIM-120 AMRAAM and give it BVR (Beyond Visual Range) capability for the first time, was described at the time as the most advanced system in the world and made its way, in an updated/modified version, into the Eurofighter Typhoon. Head on to me now, Steve. The original Sea Harrier FRS1 was superseded in 1993 by the mark II version, dubbed Sea Harrier FA2. They were moving fast and were definitely Mirages, probably Daggers. In a bizarre incident originating from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington state an Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air […], Click on the image to open a high-resolution version of this picture taken at Decimomannu by Giovanni Maduli during the 50th Anniversary of the AWTI that will provide a lot of details about the Italian […]. We were on a roll that continued with increasing momentum. The British Aerospace Harrier II is a second-generation vertical/short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) jet aircraft used previously by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and, between 2006 and 2010, the Royal Navy (RN). Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 3/21/2018 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com The British land … Despite having already flown 30 hours in the ground attack Harrier, I was more than impressed, I was awestruck. They are going to stay and fight! Copyright © 2021 | MH Magazine WordPress Theme by MH Themes Unanimously, the pundits declared that a small band of 20 Sea Harrier jump jets could not defend the task force from up to 200 Argentine fighter and ground attack aircraft. Red Section got the message and appeared as if by magic, hurtling down from high-level above the other bank of the Sound. Allow me to quote from my book, “Sea Harrier over the Falklands”, Chapter 23. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Your Number Two is about to land on. `Sorry, we’ve just been strafed by a Mirage! Ir was April 5, 1982 when two UK’s “through-deck cruisers” (aircraft carriers) leave Portsmouth for their involvement in the Falklands conflict. 1 mile.’ My voice was so excited and garbled that Steve couldn’t understand a word. Several AV-8B+s were utilized by the Belkan Air Force against the Allied Forces during the Belkan War. ( Log Out /  It was the closest shave that I was to experience. There was no financial support for the development from HM Treasury, but aid was found through the Mutual Weapon Development Project (MWDP) of NATO.The Hawker P.1127 was order… I looked around to see where my Number Two had got to. Copy you are short of fuel. Flying the new aircraft in the Flight Trials Unit, 700A Squadron, proved to be extremely rewarding. A more advanced model, designated as the Harrier GR7, was developed primarily to add a night-time operational capability and avionics improvements The GR7 dev… One of these CAP Missions is a definite candidate for “my most memorable mission”. Can you send a helicopter to have a look, please? A variant of the AV-8B, the British Aerosp… The pilot ejected safely and was rescued. We proved this in the early days with dominant performances against the USAF Aggressor Squadron F-5E’s and the Bitburg frontline Squadron F-15 Eagles. I was given immense latitude and governance over all project matters, whether associated weapons and missiles, costings or equipment selection. ( Log Out /  It included a raised cockpit, a superb albeit physically tiny mono-pulse radar, the Blue Fox, a very reliable inertial standard navigation system (NAVHARS) and a very user-friendly Head-Up Display weapons aiming system including a hotline gunsight. The British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval short take-off and vertical landing/vertical take-off and landing jet fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft; the second member of the Harrier Jump Jet family developed. It proved to be a long battle with the Procurement Executive but eventually, I prevailed. Two decades later, the Royal Air Force and the U.S. Marine Corps both operated Harrier II jump … But that is not the complete story. At missile burn out the Mirage started to pull up for some clouds. The number of kills achieved by both parties against the sustained attacks of Mirage V, Skyhawk and Étendard was about equal. Harrier: the story of the “Jump Jet” fighter jet that helped Margaret Thatcher win the Falklands War. (A far cry from collaborative Tornado and Typhoon programmes.). With an irreverent attitude and real insight into the dangerous romantic world of combat aircraft were euphorically as. 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