Makes You Think

Last night I while hoping through the channels I caught a glimpse of one of some of the Harries of former RAF Cottesmore. Intrigued today I watched the programme on BBC iPlayer. I guess it just conformed what I already thought about the Governments stupid move to scrap this most capable of aircraft as well as the carriers that carried her.

The programme told the story of the Hawker (later BEA systems) Harrier and it]s use in the Falklands War which was 30 years ago. It told of how 20 Sea Harriers faced a Argentinean  Air Force comprising over 200 aircraft some of which could fly twice as fast as the Harrier. In rolling seas the Harriers flew over 600 combat missions with hardly a single mission being lost due to aircraft failures. More than that they shot down 23 aircraft without a single Harrier being lost in combat.

With the world the way it is today what is need is aircraft that can operate from almost anywhere that a conflict that we are involved is taking place. Versatile aircraft that can be based on ships or on make shift landing area's that are easy to defend on the ground. The one aircraft we had that can do that was the Harrier and it was the one aircraft that we decided to get rid of in the strategic defence review which has done so much to leave us defenceless. 

What I still find unbelievable is that one of the finest aircraft that Britain has ever produced was scrapped when it was in service with so many other nations in front line service including the USA. In fact it is to the USA that the British Harriers were sold for next to nothing. These aircraft weren't out of date and a lot of money was spent upgrading them and the systems on them making them effectively new aircraft. Even their base had lots of money spent on it and the facilities there over recent years.

My personal thought why they were scraped is for the same reason that the people in power were reluctant to buy them when they were first built, there simply didn't understand what they could do and what a fine aircraft they actually were. It took the Falklands war to prove that and some 30 years later that lesson has been forgotten and so they were scraped. The thing now they have gone the chances of another Falklands war is back but this time there will be no Harriers to win the island back. If the RAF really think that a couple of Typhoon Fighters can defend the islands then they are as crazy as the politicians who threw away one of the best aircraft in service.