Harriers Final goodbye happenings (updated)

[neilscott]

Just got back from Waddo and the only word Ican think of is BUGG R, along with 300 other folk, tv and radio crews in good spirits, flyingslug texting the gen all ships are up we waited and waited where are they??????still waited then the car park started to empty, called off.
dont know all the in's and out's yet, will read up later when i've picked the kids up later on.
Not but very
Neil

[romeo bravo]

Yes, they all got airborne but it was agreed, as part of the briefing, that if the cloudbase was too low it would be binned, as they descended through the cloud in formation it must have been deemed to be too dodgy to proceed, so it was called off. Life's a beech at this time of year isn't it.

[jonf45]

such a sad afternoon. The weather was appauling all day but great spirit all around though, good to meet so many people, great fun in the mud!!

thanks for the memories:


cheers

jon

[Blue Diamond]

such a sad afternoon. The weather was appauling all day but great spirit all around though, good to meet so many people, great fun in the mud!!

thanks for the memories:


cheers

jon

Nice shot. The pilot's expression sums it up nicely.

[T_J]

I take it Neil hasn't chained himself to the runway then

While his Wife does a display over the airfield in her Typhoon!

TJ

[cottesmore09]

Well atleast the a few of the Reds made the effort to flyover!

Very sad and the noise and Veiws of them over my Garden will be Missed!!

Scrapping the Harriers this early maybe the worst thing the Goverment could of done for me!

RIP!

[blakey]

I take it Neil hasn't chained himself to the runway then

While his Wife does a display over the airfield in her Typhoon!

TJ

Now Now

I take it in the briefing, they didnt come up with plan C, which would of been to fly over the Lincolnshire bases with one or maybe two harriers just to give the 1000's of enthusiasts and general public the last chance to see one fly over the county

Typical RAF if the original plan doesnt work, scrap the whole thing

[romeo bravo]

I take it in the briefing, they didnt come up with plan C, which would of been to fly over the Lincolnshire bases with one or maybe two harriers just to give the 1000's of enthusiasts and general public the last chance to see one fly over the county

Typical RAF if the original plan doesnt work, scrap the whole thing

My god, the attitude of some people on this forum Yes, fine, there were people waiting at various bases, there were also people along the whole route, not just at bases as well.

The plan, and that's what is was, a plan, didn't come off due to the weather so why blame the RAF (and in particular the guys at Cootesmore) for 'scrapping the whole thing'. What would be saying on here if 2 Harriers had collided somewhere over Lincs because of the lack of visibility, just trying to fulfil a plan.

[blakey]

What would be saying on here if 2 Harriers had collided somewhere over Lincs because of the lack of visibility.

That bit was tongue in cheek right, i assume your new to aviation spotting or your was miles away from the Lincolnshire area when the fly past was to take place

I'll make my point alot clearer, what was wrong with having just 2 (for the Health and safety types out there) Harriers fly over or even come in on ILS (because visibility was less than 20 miles) do a touch and go or do a simple fly through

BTW ive seen them fly in worse

[Thunderbolt II]

Dear organisers of today's event,

Thank you for taxi-ing all the harriers from the flypast right past all of us poor cold wet people at the 22 end, many of whom had travellled and waited for hours, EXCEPT for the 4 specially painted ones we really wanted to see- nice one!

[romeo bravo]

What would be saying on here if 2 Harriers had collided somewhere over Lincs because of the lack of visibility.

That bit was tongue in cheek right, i assume your new to aviation spotting or your was miles away from the Lincolnshire area when the fly past was to take place

I'll make my point alot clearer, what was wrong with having just 2 (for the Health and safety types out there) Harriers fly over or even come in on ILS (because visibility was less than 20 miles) do a touch and go or do a simple fly through

BTW ive seen them fly in worse

I remember the Harrier GR1s arriving at Wittering in 1969, and actually work there. If you had been at Cottesmore, you would have seen the weather was crap to say the least.

[T_J]

I found this video on You Tube.

'Last Flight Harrier Jump Jet - 16 Harriers Diamond Formation Flyby 2010 Raf Wyton'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoFCp17yoyo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

TJ

[Richard B]

Dear organisers of today's event,

Thank you for taxi-ing all the harriers from the flypast right past all of us poor cold wet people at the 22 end, many of whom had travellled and waited for hours, EXCEPT for the 4 specially painted ones we really wanted to see- nice one!

Why they could not taxi the 4 around the 22 end with all the rest is a shame,
all the jets came in the same way and all taxied around the end except for the paint jobs that all went in,

Felt sorry for all the people at the 22 end that had travelled miles to get them,

[POL]

Jesus, you'd have thought this event was done for the spotters at the fence! GET REAL PEOPLE!

[T_J]

Further videos from yesterday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcWMqQicxT4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0-Y2VKmraA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

TJ

[Thunderbolt II]

Chris globe, you get real- this wasn't an operation, it was a show and a farewell- for the sake of a couple of minutes taxi time they denied a major part of the event to people who'd shown determination to show their support and say goodbye to something important to them. Guess you're one of the priviledged few and think us plebs outside don't matter. You're on the wrong site, mate.

[Tooks]

Dear organisers of today's event,

Thank you for taxi-ing all the harriers from the flypast right past all of us poor cold wet people at the 22 end, many of whom had travellled and waited for hours, EXCEPT for the 4 specially painted ones we really wanted to see- nice one!

Why they could not taxi the 4 around the 22 end with all the rest is a shame,
all the jets came in the same way and all taxied around the end except for the paint jobs that all went in,

Felt sorry for all the people at the 22 end that had travelled miles to get them,

The 4 formed a sort of 'guard of honour' for the air and line crews to walk through, and they had to be positioned correctly. They were on a bit of a time limit too I guess, what with live TV being there.

It was a very fitting end for the crews though.

I feel sorry for the folks at Waddington/Wyton/Coningsby etc who basically saw nothing, at least the folks at Cottesmore saw something.

[SteveS]

Stop arguing please, I know it's an emotive subject but try and be sensible

[Dan D'Air]

A sad day at Cottesmore, unbelievable finale with all the jets switching off their engines at the same time and all the pilots and groundcrew being clapped away from the jets.

Well done Gary Waterfall and the rest for putting to bed one of this country's greatest inventions.

RIP JFH; have a beer on me.

(Nice to meet you Dave, did I hear right about the Chinese and the Harrier )

And the BBC cut their coverage about 4 minutes before the final Pegasus wind down.
Still, at least they covered the event and 9/10 for the effort.

[Blue Diamond]

Chris globe, you get real- this wasn't an operation, it was a show and a farewell- for the sake of a couple of minutes taxi time they denied a major part of the event to people who'd shown determination to show their support and say goodbye to something important to them. Guess you're one of the priviledged few and think us plebs outside don't matter. You're on the wrong site, mate.

As one of the plebs outside, I realise that today was a day for the crews, families and those associated with the Harrier over the years. ANYTHING else was just a bonus for us mere mortals and if that meant missing something then so be it. If the weather had played ball then those at the 22 end would have had a grandstand view of them all coming in but it wasn't to be. Just accept it and be grateful you saw anything at all.