Posted on 02/02/2011 8:23:46 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
For sale on eBay, a real flight of fancy: Decommissioned Harrier with an asking price of just £69,999
By Ian Drury
Last updated at 1:42 AM on 3rd February 2011
It was the iconic fighter plane that helped Britain triumph in the Falklands War.
Now aircraft enthusiasts are being offered the chance to snap up a Harrier jump jet to keep in their back garden. The last of the first generation of the revolutionary aircraft is being sold on the auction website eBay.
Bargain: The world's last first generation two-seater Harrier jet is on sale on eBay at an asking price of £69,999 complete with both cannon and missile storage pods
For internet shoppers keen to buy this piece of military history, it’s as easy as ordering a book or CD – all they need do is click on ‘Add to cart’. However, first they will have to meet the asking price of £69,999.
The sale is particularly poignant as the Government announced to widespread outrage in October last year that it was scrapping the country’s fleet of Harrier jump jets to save money.
Considered one of the country’s greatest technological achievements, the British-built military jets were the first in the world to take off and land vertically. Introduced by the RAF in 1969, their ability to hover above the ground enabled the aircraft to fly in and out of battlefields that conventional jets could not reach.
The 700mph plane stamped itself on the national consciousness when it played a crucial role in the UK winning back the Falklands after they were invaded by Argentina in 1982.
It shot down 25 enemy aircraft without a single loss in air-to-air combat.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Not conquered, surrendered.
Most air museums are more likely to need donations than purchases.
Given that we would have flown it had it arrived, it was better to avoid temptation.
It was an interesting plane, however. It tended to develop a “porposing” movement on takeoff. The test crews thought that perhaps the pilots were so well trained that their reflex times were too fast. So, they tried low time pilots for taxi tests. Same results.
The “porposing” was both regularly encountered and did not interfere with a successful take off. But, it was a hint of the level of difficulty in making a mildly hypersonic fighter into a seaplane.
For those interested, the Russians developed quite an array of seaplanes. When one has few roads, lots of land area, and communism (and permafrost) has crippled your land transportation facility development, seaplanes become very useful.
How much is that in REAL money?
;^)
Not to mention the appearance in TRUE LIES when Ah'nold offed the bad guys and rescued his daughter with one...though that one was a single seat version.
Most due to operator error.
Well, if you were a pilot and you can afford the fuel and you never try VTOL it might be cool.
Well, yea!
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