Harrier At RIAT 2019

[The Brummie]

First confirmation for this years Air Tattoo.

A Spanish Air Force Harrier doing a full display.

Can’t wait. Should be the highlight of this years RIAT.

[theplayingmantis]

The Brummie said:

First confirmation for this years Air Tattoo.

A Spanish Air Force Harrier doing a full display.

Can’t wait. Should be the highlight of this years RIAT.

i got that email today too! still debating whether to go fri and sat or just one day.

[normalbloke]

theplayingmantis said:

The Brummie said:

First confirmation for this years Air Tattoo.

A Spanish Air Force Harrier doing a full display.

Can’t wait. Should be the highlight of this years RIAT.

i got that email today too! still debating whether to go fri and sat or just one day.

I was going to give it a miss this year, now I’m in a quandary!
It HAS to display with an F35B...

[mat13]

normalbloke said:

theplayingmantis said:

The Brummie said:

First confirmation for this years Air Tattoo.

A Spanish Air Force Harrier doing a full display.

Can’t wait. Should be the highlight of this years RIAT.

i got that email today too! still debating whether to go fri and sat or just one day.

I was going to give it a miss this year, now I’m in a quandary!
It HAS to display with an F35B...

Would they risk the harrier showing up the f35 though?

[aeropilot]

mat13 said:

normalbloke said:

theplayingmantis said:

The Brummie said:

First confirmation for this years Air Tattoo.

A Spanish Air Force Harrier doing a full display.

Can’t wait. Should be the highlight of this years RIAT.

i got that email today too! still debating whether to go fri and sat or just one day.

I was going to give it a miss this year, now I’m in a quandary!
It HAS to display with an F35B...

Would they risk the harrier showing up the f35 though?

Seriously....?!!

As much as I think the F-35 project has been a monumentally mismanaged clusterfk, some people need to get a grip and understand that these things are not designed to entertain people at airshows, they are designed to fight wars.......

[Tony1963]

^ Yep, too many people look back with rose-tinted glasses.
I ‘think’ Marham’s 9 F-35s went operational yesterday, I just caught a small piece of a local news item. Can anyone confirm?

[Trevatanus]

It's not a Harrier, it's an AV8B.
pistonheads=pedantrymatters

[anonymous-user]

Trevatanus said:

It's not a Harrier, it's an AV8B.
pistonheads=pedantrymatters

[Equus]

aeropilot said:

...these things are not designed to entertain people at airshows, they are designed to fight wars.......

Yeah, all nine of them. I bet the Russians are quaking in their fur-lined boots.

[Dr Jekyll]

It's a Harrier, but Spanish Navy not Air Force. Only 1 air force ever operated the Harrier.

[IanH755]

Ah the old "Harrier vs Harrier II" debate - pedantry matters

[danllama]

I suppose it's the same Harrier pair that were at Farnborough '18. The highlight of the show, but the show was a let down IMO.

[ecsrobin]

danllama said:

I suppose it's the same Harrier pair that were at Farnborough '18. The highlight of the show, but the show was a let down IMO.

Farnborough always is. It’s main purpose is a trade show and they use the weekend to top up the tills.

[Tony1963]

Equus said:

Yeah, all nine of them. I bet the Russians are quaking in their fur-lined boots.

We aren’t fighting the Russians, and are extremely unlikely to fight them alone if we do.

[Equus]

Tony1963 said:

We aren’t fighting the Russians, and are extremely unlikely to fight them alone if we do.

Very true... we struggle enough with Kalashnikov-carrying third-world insurgents, these days; but there, too, we'd be better of with larger numbers of less sophisticated aircraft (or drones).

[Tony1963]

Equus said:

Very true... we struggle enough with Kalashnikov-carrying third-world insurgents, these days; but there, too, we'd be better of with larger numbers of less sophisticated aircraft (or drones).

No, we’d be better off not there at all.
Larger numbers of aircraft, even dumb ones, cost huge amounts of money, whether manned or not, whether being used or not. We are told we can’t afford that.

[Equus]

Tony1963 said:

No, we’d be better off not there at all.

Yes, I'd agree with you there... but the RAF do like having their toys!

[Tony1963]

Equus said:

Yes, I'd agree with you there... but the RAF do like having their toys!

The trouble with simpler aircraft, say a Hunter or Jag, when attacking people who you think are armed with AK47s is that you either accept that one day you'll start losing aircraft to the occasional sophisticated SAM, or you add very expensive sensor suites etc.

I love the Hunters at Lortie Aviation, but they're used for very specific tasks. Would be great to work on them.

[Equus]

Tony1963 said:

The trouble with simpler aircraft, say a Hunter or Jag, when attacking people who you think are armed with AK47s is that you either accept that one day you'll start losing aircraft to the occasional sophisticated SAM, or you add very expensive sensor suites etc.

But when you look at how many (for example) Folland Gnats you could buy for the price of an F35B, you could afford quite a lot of occasional losses without worrying overly much.

...whereas the F35B is so sophisticated that you have to accept that you'll lose them occasionally simply because their computers trip them out of the sky.

[ecsrobin]

Equus said:

But when you look at how many (for example) Folland Gnats you could buy for the price of an F35B, you could afford quite a lot of occasional losses without worrying overly much.

...whereas the F35B is so sophisticated that you have to accept that you'll lose them occasionally simply because their computers trip them out of the sky.

Not really fair using a gnat as an example as they’re not in production. Hawk T2 at £18mil a piece is more comparable.