USMC AV-8B Harrier II Final Public Demonstration

__________________
Thread Killer.

I remember seeing a similar demonstration in the mid 80’s at Mather AFB. Fascinating aircraft!

The Jump Jet put on a pretty good demo in the Falkland Islands.

The sundown for the Harrier may have been the reason for the huge turnout for the annual air show. The traffic on the highway leading from New Bern to MCAS Cherry Point was at least 5 miles long at 1300h.

The air show certainly drew a lot of people from quite a distance. My wife and I were following a white Bentley from Montana part of the way.

We still like the Blue Angels best.

Strange to think that I got to see it's predecessor, the P11/27 Kestrel, fly at RAF West Raynham in the 1960's.

__________________
Only a cold warrior

The only problem with them is their safety record. They crash a lot.

In fact, my Grandfather lived on the Carolina coast and one of those dang things crashed in his neighbor's yard. It caught the neighbor's RV on fire and then set his house on fire. My Grandfather was running over pieces of it with his lawn mower for months. That was in spite of the Marine Corps searching the neighborhood for parts. It was quite the spectacle.

When my sister's Marine officer husband was deployed back in 2007 I took a couple weeks and drove from Texas to Cherry Point MCAS to spend time with my nieces. As I drove to their assigned housing on base I was stopped for a Harrier landing. Had a big grin on my face. Just wish I could have taken pics.

Yes, they did well in the Falklands. Seems like yesterday. A fantastic aircraft!

__________________
No baby we aint

They were a staple at many UK airshows back in the day. I would guess I saw my first Harrier display at the 1970 Farnborough Airshow. I would guess it was a GR1, although I'm having trouble finding when the GR.3 was introduced.

As much as the Harrier impressed me as a schoolboy, it was the Saab Viggen at that display that took my breath away. It did these weird, flat turns at low altitude and seemingly VERY low airspeed. It still baffles me that it didn't fall out of the sky. I guess that double delta layout had some tricks up its sleeve.

__________________
Release the Kraken

Not nearly as bad as some others--F-100s, F-104s, for example.