Harrier pilots wave goodbye to the crowd of fans who have come to see the last all British front line fighter before it's taken out of action after it's 41 years of distinguished service. Taken on 28/10/2010 shortly after their early retirement was announced and shows various methods of take off and landing at RAF Cottesmore (also closed shortly afterwards). Featuring nos. 77A,14A,94,45A,19,69A,57A,08.
ps. All of these aircraft were retired on 15/12/2010 and have been broken up and sold to the USMC for spare parts except for ZD433 45A (note the Afghanistan mission markings on the left side) which has gone to the FAA museum at Yeovilton.
Other aircraft saved (not shown here) are,ZG477at Cosford, ZD319 at Wittering and ZD461/51A at the IWM.
Update, April 2012 - all of these aircraft (apart from preserved) are now at AMARG (the boneyard) in the Arizona desert. (Info. thanks to das at www.fightercontrol.co.uk/forum... ).
Visit this site to see the Harriers now. / 193404834041207 A 578th Storage and Disposal Squadron employee cleans the canopy of a retired British Aerospace Harrier GR9, preparing the platform for storage at 309 AMARG. Fifty-eight air frames, sans engines, will be utilized as a source of spare parts for the U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II fleet.
10 дек 2010
