My old class mate from hms Cambridge part 2 training, Simon Cox was warrant officer warfare on board the ark. He went to hms fife and I went to hms intrepid. Great days. I think I know your face knocker, from nelson, circa 87/88?
Hi Ron ('Mac" or even 'Ruby', maybe?)..... Si Cox may ring a bell, but I'm an ex-WAFU, so I'm not sure if it's me you remember or another 'Knocker', maybe. I joined up as a Tiff, back in May '88 (Fisgard Sqn, Warsop division). I left in 2015, after 27 years (+ '2OE 5'). I was part of the final crew on the Ark - very sad to see her and the Sea Harriers go (scrapped, of course). Chaos of modern politics - leaving us high and dry, with absolutely no strike capability for ten years.
Was a crazy idea of some pen pusher leaving the Navy for nearly 10 years without any carriers or VTOL aircraft when they decided they were obsolete remember we could not of won the Falklands back 40 years ago without them Spain and the us marines still use them
Absolutely. The new carriers seem to be a lot better designed e.g. aircraft lifts at the side, rather than in the middle of the runway (when they broke, they knocked out fixed wing/strike capability)........ They look a lot more 'roomy' inside, too, judging by the latest documentary series on them. 👍
My late father worked on these amazing aircraft as a Radar design and development engineer, a true VSTOL aircraft for all Arenas of war land or sea. My pride in that will never go away what a waste we got rid of them and now are buying the overpriced F35s no comparison Harrier every time.
Is this the last launch? I thought the Phalanx CIWS had been removed from the bow years before. Also, the HS.3 Sea King, has not converted to low visability paint scheme.
Yes, this was (sadly) the last ever launch (four Harrier GR 7s) before we made way to Hamburg, for the last ever ship's 'run ashore'. The Ark definitely had CIWS (Phalanx) fitted, I remember them from my time onboard. Not sure about the SK paint scheme, as I was only on Harriers (800 Sqn), but sadly, the Sea Kings were soon to be scrapped also, and replaced by the Merlins.
@@professorclown: Maybe I was thinking of Sea Dart...Merlin is a good piece of gear though. What I remember most about British Harriers, is when I was sitting on the Nimitz in 1982 and watching them wipe the floor with Argentinas Air Force.
@@alansparks2317 Possibly Sea Dart/Sea Wolf(?), although I'm not a ships' weapons expert. I think they had to 'fight well' down in the Falklands, as they were only few in number, and that 'Task Group' was a long way from home. It was also a justifiable war for Britain, as we were fighting for a piece of our sovereign territory - though the 'Argies' would dispute that, even now. The US, and other navies, still operate the AV8B version, which is still a highly capable and versatile aircraft.
@@professorclown its the tried and tested method of 5 deck dashing..... the ultimate was a 2 deck,5 deck dash in one go , ive seen it done , kinda wish i hadnt
David Cameron should have been sacked for what he and his government did to the military especially destroying the Harrier force and the aircraft carriers.
Totally agree. I'm a conservative at heart, as I believe they have better values than the bleeding heart, looney, liberal left (who have systematically destroyed this once great nation). However, Cameron completely lied to us all - he came out to Nova Scotia, to stand on a flight deck tractor, to state to the whole ship's company, what a fantastic job we were doing, and that the Royal Navy were safe, Armed Forces Covenant secure, etc., etc., blah, blah, blah......... Politicians - oh, how I love to loathe them........
took so long i stopped caring. just like anything else this pathetic island tries to do. only took a decade plus to replace them. i guess their government spent too much money on that cultural enrichment and abduls thirteen children. but what can you say about a nation that was defeated from within without a shot being fired by third world savages?
Absolutely! For ten years we had a 'Strike Capability' gap - if we'd have had 'Falklands 2', we'd have been well and truly stuffed, all thanks to Cameron's ridiculous rationale. We'd have had no carriers, no STOVL/VSTOL aircraft to strike with, and hardly any task group worth sending, with the appropriate capability. The sad thing is, the then government got away with it, by sheer luck, more than lamentably poor judgement.
and here we are, eleven years later and the first active carrier strike group departs for the first time in over a decade. About bloody time if you ask me!
It's easy to get sentimental over the Harrier but the F35 is way better. Let me put it this way, how old is your phone or laptop...yeah it's the same for the military
A great aircraft, i love it!!!!.I always believed that in Argentina we had useless politicians ... but I see that we suffer the same problem.Very sad end for this plane. I also thought that withdrawing the harrier was a way to speed up the entry of the F35
Tonto es simplemente un nombre en inglés, y lleva el nombre del compañero de Red Indian del Lone Ranger, Tonto. Sé que significa 'loco, tonto y estúpido' en español, pero para los ingleses y estadounidenses es un nombre genial. ¡Gracias por tu comentario!
Absolutely! Genuinely such a real tragedy that they decommissioned the Harrier and the Ark Royal - WAY too early, on both counts. The Harrier is still in service with some nations, so it is still a very worthy aircraft.
That’s brilliant! I genuinely never noticed that, before. He does seem to ‘smile’ very briefly, but also very discreetly...... well spotted, and I hope you enjoyed his ‘gallantry’......👍🏻😉😁
YOU DUMB FOREIGNER. IT'S STOOPID TO AGITATE A DOG TO WATCH AND PROTECT AND THEN NOT GIVE HIM A BITE. HE WILL GET BORED AND FORGET WHAT HE'S SUPPOSED TO DO.
