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The Hawker Siddeley/BAE Sea Harrier was the last all-British, front-line fighter.

The ‘SHAR’ entered front-line service with the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm in March 1980, when 800 Naval Air Squadron commissioned as the first operational squadron. Joined in March, 1981 by 801 Naval Air Squadron, it formed the sharp end of the navy's aircraft carrier fleet.

899 NAS was, from March 1980, the headquarters & training unit for all Sea Harrier air & ground crew, home based at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, in Somerset, England.

The Sea Harrier shot to fame during the 1982 Falklands War. Outnumbered, and fighting 8,000 miles from home, the small Sea Harrier fleet excelled and shot down almost 30 Argentine aircraft without a single loss in air combat.

The Sea Harrier had first flown in August 1978, from Dunsfold in the hands of the late John Farley. The aircraft was a ‘minimum-change’ from its RAF counterpart, the ground attack Harrier GR.3. Its intended application as a fleet defence fighter, with secondary roles of reconnaissance & strike, saw the aircraft have several significant changes, including the addition of the Ferranti Blue Fox radar.

Post Falklands War it was evident that although the aircraft performed very well, an upgrade was needed. This eventually led to the FA 2 entering service with the Royal Navy in the early 1990’s.

The FA 2 was a full upgrade in terms of avionic & weapons improvement. Central was the change of radar to the advanced Ferranti Blue Vixen, ‘look-down, shoot-down’, Pulse-Doppler I-Band radar. From the start this radar was designed to work with the American AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), and the FA 2 became the first non American aircraft to operate this highly advanced weapon. This alone gave a significant advantage over the previous Sea Harrier FRS.1 in the air defence role.

This new FA 2 variant ‘cut its teeth’ in combat through the 1990’s over the skies of Bosnia, Iraq & Sierra Leone, where the swing-role capability of the Sea Harrier was a vital asset to NATO operations.

In 2002, the British Ministry of defence controversially announced that the Sea Harrier fleet would be withdrawn from service by 2006!

800NAS was the first squadron to be decommissioned in March, 2004. This was followed by 899NAS in March, 2005, followed with the last squadron, 801 NAS decommissioning in March 2006.

A sad end for the most successful British fighter since World War II.

This documentary was produced by ITN (remastered & re-edited by us), and filmed at Yeovilton, and aboard HMS Invincible in 1989 & 1990. It talks to pilots and ground crew about flying and maintaining this remarkable aircraft.

There is also an interview with David Morgan about his exploits during the Falklands War, where his became the highest scoring Sea Harrier pilot.

This is a brilliant documentary, and is used here under agreement. It is not to be missed.

Thank You All For Watching.


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