Harrier 40th Anniversary 23-24 July 09
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Harrier 40th Anniversary 23-24 July 09
2009 is the Harrier’s 40th Operational year. Flown by numerous Air Forces and Naval Services around the world, this unique Aircraft has flown in many operational theatres and its continued success has secured its place in Aviation History.
The 40th Anniversary celebrations will take place over two days and anyone who has served on a Harrier Sqn or helped in the Aircraft's continued development is invited:
Thursday 23 July 2009
A Gala Dinner, without families, at the ‘Home of the Harrier’ - RAF Wittering.
Friday 24 July 2009
A Families day and Hangar Party at the current home of the Operational Squadrons of Joint Force Harrier – RAF Cottesmore.
This event will be an excellent opportunity to catch up with long lost colleagues and meet current squadron members.
The 40th Anniversary celebrations will take place over two days and anyone who has served on a Harrier Sqn or helped in the Aircraft's continued development is invited:
Thursday 23 July 2009
A Gala Dinner, without families, at the ‘Home of the Harrier’ - RAF Wittering.
Friday 24 July 2009
A Families day and Hangar Party at the current home of the Operational Squadrons of Joint Force Harrier – RAF Cottesmore.
This event will be an excellent opportunity to catch up with long lost colleagues and meet current squadron members.
Last edited by Harrier40; 10th Mar 2009 at 16:59.
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Harrier 40th Update
The website for registering your interest in attending the Harrier 40th celebrations is now operational: www.homeoftheharrier.com These events are open to everyone who served on a Harrier Squadron, in any service and in any capacity, along with all those who helped in the aircraft's development and continued success today.
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Harrier Anniversaries
You are making me feel old !
Seems yesterday ( ok I'll try to avoid cliches from now on ) that I photographed the 25th Anniversary of the Harrier, or to be more exact, the first tethered lift off by Bill Bedford in XP831.
25 years later to the day, I was on a worryling wobbly alloy staging, taking shots while Heinz Frick hovered G-VTOL in front of me low over the same spot.
V-TOL had 2,500 'First Day Covers' in the port aft equipment bay, which were printed with the first hover shot on one side, the other side blank.
When I'd got my ( also black & white ) shot, I hot-footed it to Dunsfold photographic & printed the results.
They were then taken laboriously by some rustic means, to the printing house which placed my 'modern day' shot on the blank half of the covers.
This being BAe, I never even saw one of these, let alone get one !
So, I took a 10 x 8" print to Heinz who signed it for me - in my view a lot better than a first day cover anyway...
I was one of 2 photographers at Dunsfold, mainly covering trials & development work, only occasionally the 'pretty PR shots' which the Kingston mafia loved.
Although PR shots can be fun, they are often just a pain, especially if dealing with PR people !
I was much happier dealing with designers, pilots & engineers, which was a positively alien concept to the PR bunch.
If you should care to privately give me an e-mail address, I'll happily send copies of that pic' and others from Harrier trials etc, some of which you may not have seen before.
DZ
Seems yesterday ( ok I'll try to avoid cliches from now on ) that I photographed the 25th Anniversary of the Harrier, or to be more exact, the first tethered lift off by Bill Bedford in XP831.
25 years later to the day, I was on a worryling wobbly alloy staging, taking shots while Heinz Frick hovered G-VTOL in front of me low over the same spot.
V-TOL had 2,500 'First Day Covers' in the port aft equipment bay, which were printed with the first hover shot on one side, the other side blank.
When I'd got my ( also black & white ) shot, I hot-footed it to Dunsfold photographic & printed the results.
They were then taken laboriously by some rustic means, to the printing house which placed my 'modern day' shot on the blank half of the covers.
This being BAe, I never even saw one of these, let alone get one !
So, I took a 10 x 8" print to Heinz who signed it for me - in my view a lot better than a first day cover anyway...
I was one of 2 photographers at Dunsfold, mainly covering trials & development work, only occasionally the 'pretty PR shots' which the Kingston mafia loved.
Although PR shots can be fun, they are often just a pain, especially if dealing with PR people !
I was much happier dealing with designers, pilots & engineers, which was a positively alien concept to the PR bunch.
If you should care to privately give me an e-mail address, I'll happily send copies of that pic' and others from Harrier trials etc, some of which you may not have seen before.
DZ
Last edited by Double Zero; 21st Mar 2009 at 15:37.
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The form comes up with a lot of blank spaces most of which don't have an explanation as to what to put in them. But perhaps it's my computer. Have filled it in so hope that the team can make sense of it.
SSETOWTF,
No, it's not just you. It seems that the project officer has a bit of an inquiry to sort out somewhere hot and sandy, so there has to be a re-allocation of duties! But it's not yet the last minute, so let's wait until we can all rush, as usual. It saves having to re-plan in view of inevitable changes. We have confidence that it will all work in the end, don't we?
At one such reunion long ago, the Boss told the holding officer that it was his job to watch out during the full weekend event in case any of the guests looked unhappy, and to do what he could to rectify the situation. He dutifully kept them happy. The Boss regretted this at the end of the month, when the squadron fund got the bill for the numerous barrels of beer which were HO's solution to any unhappiness he saw!
I remember seeing your name/signature paraphrased in a (pre-Tailhook) USAF briefing slide in a Flag briefing as "You ain't single-engine, single-seat, you ain't s..." Were you there too?
No, it's not just you. It seems that the project officer has a bit of an inquiry to sort out somewhere hot and sandy, so there has to be a re-allocation of duties! But it's not yet the last minute, so let's wait until we can all rush, as usual. It saves having to re-plan in view of inevitable changes. We have confidence that it will all work in the end, don't we?
At one such reunion long ago, the Boss told the holding officer that it was his job to watch out during the full weekend event in case any of the guests looked unhappy, and to do what he could to rectify the situation. He dutifully kept them happy. The Boss regretted this at the end of the month, when the squadron fund got the bill for the numerous barrels of beer which were HO's solution to any unhappiness he saw!
I remember seeing your name/signature paraphrased in a (pre-Tailhook) USAF briefing slide in a Flag briefing as "You ain't single-engine, single-seat, you ain't s..." Were you there too?
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Harrier 40th Anniversary
Being on the fringes and playing a small part in organising this event, it promises to be a very good occasion and well worth the ticket price.
A chance to meet up with old friends Pilots and Engineers, and with guest speakers and various other nuances to keep people occupied it is shaping up to be a very good event.
check out the link and please attend
www.homeoftheharrier.com
A chance to meet up with old friends Pilots and Engineers, and with guest speakers and various other nuances to keep people occupied it is shaping up to be a very good event.
check out the link and please attend
www.homeoftheharrier.com
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Harrier 40th Do
Guys,
Can this be made a sticky at the top, this is promising to be a great event, Ronald Wong has/or is painting a "Harriers thru the ages" painting from this prints will be made, and will be exclusive!
A glossy programme, featuring various stories, dits etc and a DVD will also be made using various pics thru the ages and will be on sale on the night.
There is a possibility that some 40th Anniversary mugs will also be available, each mug will have a side number of every Harrier made - therefore this will be very exclusive and well worth getting hold of.
For £40 or thereabouts (price to be decided nearer the time) the only prerequisite is that you either flew the noisy bugger or worked as an engineer on it.
www.homeoftheharrier.com
Also forgot to mention that this may be the last opportunity to celebrate this great aircraft as it may get phased out in the next couple of years.
Can this be made a sticky at the top, this is promising to be a great event, Ronald Wong has/or is painting a "Harriers thru the ages" painting from this prints will be made, and will be exclusive!
A glossy programme, featuring various stories, dits etc and a DVD will also be made using various pics thru the ages and will be on sale on the night.
There is a possibility that some 40th Anniversary mugs will also be available, each mug will have a side number of every Harrier made - therefore this will be very exclusive and well worth getting hold of.
For £40 or thereabouts (price to be decided nearer the time) the only prerequisite is that you either flew the noisy bugger or worked as an engineer on it.
www.homeoftheharrier.com
Also forgot to mention that this may be the last opportunity to celebrate this great aircraft as it may get phased out in the next couple of years.
Last edited by norfolkandchance; 28th May 2009 at 08:30.
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Harrier 40th Do
Yes open to all those who have served on Harriers, Navy, RAF etc
I personally would like to see more Navy guys at the do rather than listen to the Tally-Ho brigade talking handle bar moustaches and talking about their medals etc
I personally would like to see more Navy guys at the do rather than listen to the Tally-Ho brigade talking handle bar moustaches and talking about their medals etc
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Update on website
There is now an update on the Home of the harrier website (www.homeoftheharrier.com) this is the direct link to it
Update
Also can this be made a sticky again please? it was at the top but has since been removed, is there any reason for this?
Update
Also can this be made a sticky again please? it was at the top but has since been removed, is there any reason for this?
Last edited by norfolkandchance; 15th Jun 2009 at 09:16. Reason: mong spelling