RAF West Raynham near Fakenham. I served there on 66 Sqn RAF Regt in the mid 80's. The first hangar that comes into sight on this film was our Sqn hangar. The whole airfield is now covered with solar panels.
The airfield at the very start of this movie is Bircham Newton. They did a lot of the rough field testing there. Only later do you see WR, from when the mascot is shown. You are right about the KES being in 1 Hangar.👍 You should look up the WR Association FB page.👍
They seem to have overlooked that after a VTO (vertical take off) they only had 10 minutes fuel left to fly with. Hence they brought in STOL (short take off and landing)
This technology was very profitable to the UK - I believe the VTOL tech was traded for Nuclear know-how for our first nuclear sub reactors. our version of the reactor was untested and big - the American's nuclear sub reactors were small tested and reliable. This is the spirit of cooperation we need to foster to learn from each other. Innovation is still very important and the UK needs to keep inventing and leveraging that knowledge and expertise.
Pity that the original Kestrels didn't have the power to do a vertical takeoff with any weapons on board. At least they continued to develop the Pegasus engine and the Harrier to make it one of the best close support aircraft ever built.
The first ones built were the Hawker P.1127, the development batch seen here were Kestrels, and the developed service versions were the Harrier Gr.1, Gr.5, Gr7, FRS.1 and FRS.2.
What an amazing aircraft. Strange to see US Army and US Air Force here when in the end neither branch used them. The US Marines were the branch that flew the AV8-B.
There's a nasty condition that affects so many first world peoples; it's called the 'not invented here syndrome'. It's extremely expensive to have, so far it's incurable, rarely goes into remission, and always recurs.
I guess the Luftwaffe didn't adapt the Harrier because they were hoping for superior german designs, which all got canned when flexible response replaced massive retaliation.
Bit of exaggeration from look at life...kestrel speed was 545ish harrier 540ish ....still cracking film...sound effects for engine noise in flight sound like thunderbirds
Why, oh why are the RAF groundcrew wearing berets whilst working on the Kestrel (Harrier) in the hanger, purely for the camera. Amazing how the Americans took part, and paid, and for some of evaluation Sqn, but didn’t buy any, at least not until the built the AV8b under license for the Marine Corps, call me a cynical old man but that is just my opinion.
RAF West Raynham near Fakenham. I served there on 66 Sqn RAF Regt in the mid 80's. The first hangar that comes into sight on this film was our Sqn hangar. The whole airfield is now covered with solar panels.
The airfield at the very start of this movie is Bircham Newton. They did a lot of the rough field testing there.
Only later do you see WR, from when the mascot is shown. You are right about the KES being in 1 Hangar.👍
You should look up the WR Association FB page.👍
The pilot at 1:24 Is Gerhard Barkhorn, 301 kill ace of the Luftwaffe.
It is sometimes reported that when he 'bent' a Kestrel in a heavy landing, he walked away and said 'Drei hunderdt und ZWEI!'
He survived WW2, only to die in a car crash with his wife in 1983
Имел кличку парашютист. 9 раз сбивали на Восточном фпрнте.
They seem to have overlooked that after a VTO (vertical take off) they only had 10 minutes fuel left to fly with. Hence they brought in STOL (short take off and landing)
This technology was very profitable to the UK - I believe the VTOL tech was traded for Nuclear know-how for our first nuclear sub reactors. our version of the reactor was untested and big - the American's nuclear sub reactors were small tested and reliable. This is the spirit of cooperation we need to foster to learn from each other. Innovation is still very important and the UK needs to keep inventing and leveraging that knowledge and expertise.
these days we just give the US all our secrets.
Pity that the original Kestrels didn't have the power to do a vertical takeoff with any weapons on board. At least they continued to develop the Pegasus engine and the Harrier to make it one of the best close support aircraft ever built.
I never knew the Harrier was originally called the Kestrel.
The first ones built were the Hawker P.1127, the development batch seen here were Kestrels, and the developed service versions were the Harrier Gr.1, Gr.5, Gr7, FRS.1 and FRS.2.
What an amazing aircraft. Strange to see US Army and US Air Force here when in the end neither branch used them. The US Marines were the branch that flew the AV8-B.
inter-service rivalry. just like how the RAF want to take away the FAA from the RN!
There's a nasty condition that affects so many first world peoples; it's called the 'not invented here syndrome'.
It's extremely expensive to have, so far it's incurable, rarely goes into remission, and always recurs.
The Kestrel became the Harrier, the Harrier is the AV8-B (built under licence).
Oh the joys of field deployments in Germany with 3 and 4 sqdn
Great to see this on here. It was deleted on Liveleak.
Have you got a digital copy to share?
soviet spies sitting on a couch in london, 1965: WRITE THIS DOWN WRITE THIS DOWN
and thus the yak-38 was born
I guess the Luftwaffe didn't adapt the Harrier because they were hoping for superior german designs, which all got canned when flexible response replaced massive retaliation.
Bit of exaggeration from look at life...kestrel speed was 545ish harrier 540ish ....still cracking film...sound effects for engine noise in flight sound like thunderbirds
All these old movies exaggerate aircraft speeds. It's like they were made for the USSR to watch.🙂
Why, oh why are the RAF groundcrew wearing berets whilst working on the Kestrel (Harrier) in the hanger, purely for the camera. Amazing how the Americans took part, and paid, and for some of evaluation Sqn, but didn’t buy any, at least not until the built the AV8b under license for the Marine Corps, call me a cynical old man but that is just my opinion.
The Americans took some of the Kestels back to the States.
One has just come back to the UK after being found in a bit of a state.