Your best warbird seen flying?

[cjs racing.]

One April a few years back, my wife called me to come out to the back garden for some reason.

As I got out the door I felt a noise, and I really meen felt it, as I turned to see where the noise was coming from, I saw the most magnificent sight.

The Vulcan was low and loud, and ended up going straight overhead.

My god, what a sight and sound, it is the one and only time I saw it in flight, I really thought nothing would beat the sound of a Merlin screaming, but I will never forget the noise that sounded almost like a wild animal, in origin from the Vulcan.

[Ayahuasca]

Ginetta G15 Girl said:

Probably one of the Pave-Hawks from Mildenhall.

[5ohmustang]

A few years back on deployment in Kandahar, myself and some friends had been doing night pt. I was f**king knackered. Then we got ground attacked and the perimeter had been breached. We ran to our positions not knowing how many got in. Not long before this I had watched the COP Keating attack (Battle of Kamdesh.)

Needless to say I was stting myself. Once the QRF (quick reaction force) showed up in the MATV's we could fall back. What was minutes felt like hours. All of a sudden an A10 flew like 10 meters above the ground and about 2 or 3 bus lengths away, dead silent.

Before I had a chance to say WTF the sonic boom was heard. It was a glorious sight.

[Dr Jekyll]

5ohmustang said:

A few years back on deployment in Kandahar, myself and some friends had been doing night pt. I was f**king knackered. Then we got ground attacked and the perimeter had been breached. We ran to our positions not knowing how many got in. Not long before this I had watched the COP Keating attack (Battle of Kamdesh.)

Needless to say I was stting myself. Once the QRF (quick reaction force) showed up in the MATV's we could fall back. What was minutes felt like hours. All of a sudden an A10 flew like 10 meters above the ground and about 2 or 3 bus lengths away, dead silent.

Before I had a chance to say WTF the sonic boom was heard. It was a glorious sight.

Sonic boom from an A10?

[Markbarry1977]

Dr Jekyll said:

Sonic boom from an A10?

I'd take a guess but the sonic boom of the rounds leaving the cannon. As you say a warthog is never going supersonic.

[Eric Mc]

With the A-10, you sometimes get a "thud" type sound as it performs sharp banks at low level. It's something to do with pressure changes around the wing. If the air is humid you will also get condensation clouds form in association with the thuds.

[Lefty]

Harrier GR1 going down a valley - below us. In the cheviot hills, about 20 years ago. Very cool

[Eric Mc]

If it really was a GR1, it was more likely 40 plus years ago.

[Lefty]

Bugger I think I mean a GR3. I was in the ATC at the time but it feels like a distant memory. Mid 90's anyway and it was definitely the ground-attack one with the long radome

[Eric Mc]

Even the GR3s were gone by 1996. The first GR5s were entering service in 1986/87.

[aeropilot]

Eric Mc said:

Even the GR3s were gone by 1996. The first GR5s were entering service in 1986/87.

GR.3's were gone from squadron service by 1990...!!

The OCU continued to operate a handful though into '93/94.

[Eric Mc]

It could have been an OCU perhaps.

[5ohmustang]

Markbarry1977 said:

I'd take a guess but the sonic boom of the rounds leaving the cannon. As you say a warthog is never going supersonic.

It was not shooting at the time it was passing as it was too close.

[yellowjack]

Lefty said:

Bugger I think I mean a GR3. I was in the ATC at the time but it feels like a distant memory. Mid 90's anyway and it was definitely the ground-attack one with the long radome

No radar in the nose of the RAF's Harrier fleet at that time. The long nose thing was a Ferranti LRMTS (Laser Rangefinder and Marked Target Spotter <or Seeker?> ). Developed to allow laser rangefinding and target acquisition. A similar system went into the Jaguar fleet, it could use it's own laser, or search for reflected laser signals from a target "painted" by ground units or other aircraft in a 'cone' ahead of the aircraft. The Sea Harrier version had nose radar, as it was never conceived for use as a ground attack aircraft, requiring radar to target enemy aircraft in it's primary fleet defence fighter role. Secondary roles were reconnaissance and anti-shipping strike. Early FRS.1 Sea Harriers (1978 onwards) had Blue Fox radar, and in the early to mid 1990s the FRS1 fleet was upgraded with improved (and larger) Blue Vixen radar along with avionics and weapons system upgrades. These were FA.2 with almost equal billing given to ground attack and fighter roles. RAF Harrier aircraft were always first an foremost 'GR' role aircraft (ground attack and reconnaissance). I'm pretty sure that the Sea Harrier was almost identical to the RAF GR.3 from the cockpit back, though. The Sea Harrier was a long time in development, and I read somewhere that it surprised even the company building it when the then Labour government went ahead and ordered it into production...

GR.5, GR.5A, and GR.7 were in production and Sqn service by the early 1990s, but didn't feature in the Gulf War because I seem to recall they weren't ready for full deployed operations at that point? It was certainly GR.3s that I recall being in service in my early days in Germany, around 1989/1990. Lots of close cooperation between the RAF Harrier Force and 39 Engineer Regiment (Air Support), who "kicked tin" for the remote deployment of Harrier for many years.

[Ginetta G15 Girl]

yellowjack said:

No radar in the nose of the RAF's Harrier fleet at that time. The long nose thing was a Ferranti LRMTS (Laser Rangefinder and Marked Target Spotter <or Seeker?> )

Seeker

yellowjack said:

I'm pretty sure that the Sea Harrier was almost identical to the RAF GR.3 from the cockpit back, though.

Correct. FRS1 and F/A2 were 'small wing' Harriers.

[yellowjack]

This Harrier thing sparked a bit of interest on my part.

Best I can find on GR.3 'Out Of Service Date' is December 1990 for the last RAF Germany GR.3 mission, flown by No IV Sqn at Gutersloh.

The GR.3 continued in use with No.1417 Flight in Belize until that unit disbanded in 1993. Not sure how accurate my source material is, though.

My best/worst memory of seeing a Harrier in flight was at a demonstration of Royal Engineers' capability at Hawley in 1988 or 1989. Everything we did then was on display. Armoured Engineering, bridge building, minefield laying/clearance, water supply, and Harrier Support. As part of the display, a Harrier was to be flown, and as we constructed part of the arena one day, the Harrier was rehearsing it's part in the display. As it's "grand finale" it hovered, then flew forward out over the arena, then "took a bow" so to speak, by dipping the nose before then making the transition back into forward flight, opening the throttle, and buggering off directly over the audience seating area. Well, that aeroplane very nearly became a giant 'lawn dart' on one run-through, his planned "bow" not coinciding with being stationary in the hover. There was a great deal of panic from those of us "in the line of fire" as the pilot rescued the aircraft somehow from ending up as a smoking hole in the ground. With hindsight he did a superb job of saving the aeroplane, and us 'Oggies' on the ground. At the time we were in such a state that we we swearing at him for being a knob and putting our lives in danger...

[5ohmustang]

Dr Jekyll said:

Sonic boom from an A10?

I was just reading the specs. You're right there's no way it can get fast enough.

Basically at 12 o'clock it was silent, by the time it was at 3 o'clock the sound was caught up.

[Eric Mc]

If it was manoeuvering dramatically (sharp left and right banks) you might have been hearing those airflow "thuds" that I referred to earlier.

The first time I ever saw an A-10 display was at the 1977 Air Tattoo, Greenham Common. It was an early company flown aircraft and because the weather was so awful, all the display was low and fast (well, as fast as an A-10 can be) Every time the pilot reeffed the aeroplane around in a turn, there was a mighty "thud" and a brief cloud of condensation would form over the wing. It was very spectacular.
I found some home movie footage here from that show but unfortunately, it's silent. And it looks like it was filmed on the Friday or Saturday. I was there on the Sunday - which was the damp day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IXkryGrAMg

You might spot that the A-10 carries the number "44" in large numerals on its engines. This is the number allocated to it for the Paris Air Show. Two A-10s displayed at Paris a week earlier - and one crashed, killing the pilot. This was the survivor of the pair.

[5ohmustang]

Eric Mc said:

If it was manoeuvering dramatically (sharp left and right banks) you might have been hearing those airflow "thuds" that I referred to earlier.

The first time I ever saw an A-10 display was at the 1977 Air Tattoo, Greenham Common. It was an early company flown aircraft and because the weather was so awful, all the display was low and fast (well, as fast as an A-10 can be) Every time the pilot reeffed the aeroplane around in a turn, there was a mighty "thud" and a brief cloud of condensation would form over the wing. It was very spectacular.
I found some home movie footage here from that show but unfortunately, it's silent. And it looks like it was filmed on the Friday or Saturday. I was there on the Sunday - which was the damp day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IXkryGrAMg

You might spot that the A-10 carries the number "44" in large numerals on its engines. This is the number allocated to it for the Paris Air Show. Two A-10s displayed at Paris a week earlier - and one crashed, killing the pilot. This was the survivor of the pair.

I guess it is what you described. I cannot find anything online, all the clips I've seen show the sound in time with the aircraft and not delayed.

https://youtu.be/WBEU_Op60fU

[Eric Mc]

You can't always be sure when watching film footage that the sound you are hearing has anything to do with the pictures you are seeing.