The Sea Harrier and
Jaguar trip
Instead of going to Bulgaria we did a
short trip to the uk
Due to a last minute cancellation of a
planned trip to Bulgaria we had some spare time to kill. With the
ongoing defence cuts around the world, an the proposed planes for the
UK. We decided to make a visit to Yeovilton and Coltishall before it was
to late.
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- On the 28th February 2002, the Armed
Forces Minster Adam Ingram announced that the Joint Harrier Force
will become an all ground attack harrier force upgrading the Royal
Air Force GR7s to GR9s and retiring the Royal Navy FA2s. This is to
‘ensure a credible expeditionary offensive capability is
maintained until the aircraft leaves service. The current retirement
date for the sea harrier is in 2005.
The Jaguar out-of-service date will be
bought forward to 31 October 2007. The first squadron (54 Squadron) will
draw down by 1 April 2005 together with the Operational Evaluation Unit
and Operational Conversion Unit (OCU). The second squadron (41(F)
Squadron) will close by 1 April 2006 whereupon the third squadron (6
Squadron) will re-deploy to Coningsby. The closure of Coltishall
airfield will take effect by December 2006.
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