Incredibly sad for the pilot and his family 😢 and the RAF as a whole particularly BBMF. The plane will almost certainly be rebuilt

Good point

Harrier has a 21-0 Aerial kill record. F-35 has 0. F-22 has only shot down a balloon.

'Union of South Africa' is the name of the locomotive. The shot was actually taken somewhere in GB.

@@deeprules01 oh OK

not heard of black death before, the P61 was called the black widow and the Bristol beaufighter was nick named wispering death. These are the closest i know of

For whatever reason, the Russian IL-2 was called the black death by German soldiers.

It is time. The maintenance on the Harrier has gotten very expensive for what it is. At $39,029 cost per flight hour, and $7.28 million operation per aircraft per year, age has caught up with the venerable war horse. I am a major fan of the Harrier. While I was a pilot in the Marines, I did not fly the Harrier, though I was the Avionics Master Chief for VMA 513 as my last squadron assignment, and I loved the Harrier (AV-8A). That was a very long time ago, and if you ever want a smack in the face about your age, walk through the Pina Aircraft Museum in Arizona and see one of the planes from your old squadron slowly fading away in the desert. It was the first time in my life that I felt like I was getting old.

Yes. Meanwhile the F-22 has only shot down a balloon. Wow. The Harrier and the AV-8B have distinguished service records and even General Schwarzkopf credited it with being a very important contributor to the gulf war. The AV-8B flew thousands of sorties and had a 90% availability record. By comparison, the F-35 only has about a 55% availability record, and that is in peace time. I was in the Marines (long before the wars in the middle east) and the grunts I knew would always tell me that they felt it was a major advantage to have the Harriers so close to the FEBA if they should need That is the main reason we even had jets.

It is funny that everyone seems to adore the F-22 and the F-35, but the mighty F-22 has only shot down a balloon. The Harriers have been out there fighting for decades and during the Gulf war, Harrier pilots told stories of the Air Force pilots being envious of the Harriers because the Harriers were running 90% availablity and were out there pounding out sortie after sortie, while the fighter pilots were cruising around in empty airspace because the Iraq air force was destroyed before the war even started. The Harriers are still at it. The F-35s are so expensive to fly that the Navy sent out a Harrier to shoot down Houthi drones (6 kills). The Origional Harrier has 21 - 0 record. F-22 mainly just flys air shows.

While it is not what many to be a "classically" beautiful airplane, I too find the Harrier to be a very good looking plane. Now I have experience with both the Harrier and the F-4 and many say the F-4 is a much more attractive airplane, but as much as I like the Phantom, to me, it was not an attractive plane, but loaded out with ordinance, it is one of the most sinister looking airplanes to ever fly. It reeks of being a war machine and no other aircraft I have been associated had the menacing presence of a loaded out F-4. The Harrier though, was evocative of its namesake, having an almost hawk like appearance when approaching low and fast. This was due to the high wing and anhedral and small "tail feathers." If there was ever a plane that looked like what it was named after, I think the Harrier comes closest.

Everyone brags about the F-22, which has not ever actually shot down anything but a balloon, and the Harrier has 21 air combat victories and no aerial combat loses. Only combat loss was from ground fire. Now I may be biased because I was with Marine Squadron VMA 513 but I was also with VMFA -451, and the plane I identify with more is the Harrier. The Harrier and especially the AV-8B, has proven itself to be a fine combat aircraft.

@@shenmisheshou7002 Clearly you’ve never seen a Sopwith Camel!

Being ex military U R right she screams come & get me, so I can kick UR arse & she did. Argies heard that scream and ran. I servered on the Falklands & she saved my ass.

That was a Hollywood movie. I've been on the flight deck of an LPH when AV8As were recovered. Business as usual. Everyone knows his job. Oh, and Marine plane captains give a crisp salute to departing pilots, who return it. [''You could be the last friend he sees.'' was how it was put to me by a senior] Thumbs up looks a bit informal.

USN has to deal with catapults and arrested landings; it’s one of the most dangerous workplaces ever. I’d be flashy, too.

There is a big difference between a carrier flight deck and an LHA flight deck. I have been on both and I can say that there is no comparison. The Harrier and AV-8B do not use a catapult launch and a cat launch is exceptionally dangerous and complicated, and it takes several people to do it. The aircraft handlers need to get the plane into place on a deck crowded with planes. The aircraft needs to have its bar put down and has to be taxied up to the shuttle. The blast shield (not present on LHAs or Jump Jet carriers) has to be raised and the wings need to be lowered. Every step needs to be monitored and checked The various deck personnel then have to signal the shooter that all is in order and the shooter cat officer needs to read off the weight from the jet (at least when I was in the Marines, we wrote it on the side of the nose of the jet) so that the correct catapult pressure could be dialed in. Once the shooter has the confirmation that all is set to go, he checks to make sure all personnel are clear and signals the shot. An AV-8 launch by comparison is comically easy. No wings to fold, no launch bar, no deflection shield, no shuttle, no cat, and a minimum number of people on the deck. I only did one carrier cruise when I was in the Marines with VMFA-451, and I came away in awe of the job that everyone in the navy on a carrier does. It is one of the most remarkable experiences I have ever had and gained far more respect for the navy over the Air Force. The LHD was tame by comparison but it is little more than a floating barracks and warehouse for a battalion of Marines. I will say that when I saw the 750 pallets of ammunition on board, I was pretty impressed by that too.