utterly random picture thread.

[Taipan]

I’m suiciding them fish cnuts when I find them!! C

[G.P]

My lad is on deck somewhere in this pic.
HMS Dragon now away on deployment so won't I see him until late November.

I'll save a fortune on beer!

[Jody]

A few of us wandered down to the beach to watch the sunset

[Taipan]

Hammerhead Shark made of hammer heads!

https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=5F74DDB5

[Taff]

1995, HMS Invincible, 800 Naval Air Squadron, Sea Harrier FA2 in the Adriatic

I'm on the right with the Pegasus engine screaming away just above our heads, waiting for the signal to remove the final chain lashing and chocks

[G.P]

^^^^ too cool for skool

That's a pic t o be proud of.

[Druid]

Harriers are noisy enough at a distance, I can't imagine what it must be like that close to one.

[Taff]

Harriers are noisy enough at a distance, I can't imagine what it must be like that close to one.

At idle they weren't to bad tbh, however when they came back to the ship they landed vertically and we would be stood maybe 10 or 15 meters away ready to attach the tractor and put the ladder on the side for the pilot to climb out etc. Normally with another jet in front or behind.
That was fookin noisy!!!

The headsets that we wore weren't the best ear defenders but they had speakers in them for flyco to shout at us
I was one of the few that would wear foam plugs as well for Landings

That's me with the (badly) painted green lid





edit to say that these pictures have come around again because I saw something on FB saying that it is 25 years since we were in the Adriatic on a 10 day bombing campaign over Sarajevo, Bosnia.

I think we (or they, the pilots) actually threw more 1000Lb bombs into the sea than they did at targets, once they had taken off, they couldn't land vertically with a full payload and so chucked the bombs away if they hadn't be used in anger.

[Horse]

they couldn't land vertically with a full payload and so chucked the bombs away

Was there a reason for not doing a 'traditional' landing (arrestor hook, etc)?

[Taff]

Was there a reason for not doing a 'traditional' landing (arrestor hook, etc)?

The main issue was high air temps which saps gas turbine engine power, and when you're already pushing the limits...
Harriers used water injection to lower engine internal temps for hovering etc, at a rate of 50gal / 90 secs
Neither the invincible class carriers not the aircraft had the arrestor gear (nor does the QE class). And the ship is too short for a conventional landing at about 500feet iirc.

Sea harriers could do a short landing which would be easier on the engine than a normal hover landing (at the same weight) but it's got a few inherent problems. The aircraft will be much closer to it's limits, so if anything goes wrong it can't power itself out of the issue. If something goes wrong as it hits the deck, the jet is now spread across a large area potentially leaving nowhere else for the others that are airborne (and quickly running out of petrol) to land. Remembering that there would always be helicopters that need landing space as well.

Edit- I've just remembered that the reason that they chucked the unused bombs away was because they had to use water injection to get off the deck meaning that they didn't have enough for the hover landing, so they had to reduce weight right down.

[Mussels]

I've seen how navy pilots fly, I wouldn't want any of them landing with live bombs strapped to them.
The French did enough damage to one of our carriers with a practice bomb!

[Yambo]

Back in the day I worked with RAF, Army and Navy pilots (all rotary wing) and by far, the most competent and trustworthy were Navy pilots. The RAF were the least professional, the least trusting of us, the ground load handlers. There are lots of 'in' jokes about the RAF (even more about the RAF Regiment) and of course a lot of those jokes are based on experience/anecdote but I don't recall one joke or light hearted comment about Navy pilots.

I did an OU summer school with a Navy chopper pilot (his name was Beau (who the fuck calls their son Beau apart from Hollywood actors)) and his attitude was completely different to RAF pilots I'd met. Army pilots sort of filled the middle ground but I guess didn't have the budget to be what they could have been.

[Taff]

I've seen how navy pilots fly, I wouldn't want any of them landing with live bombs strapped to them.
The French did enough damage to one of our carriers with a practice bomb!

That was an RAF harrier bombing the Ark Royal in 1992.

I have quite a few mates who were on 801sqdn at the time, they were very very lucky that the bomb didn't go through the Liquid Oxygen plant, it was very close!!!

[KungFooBob]

[MingtheMerciless]

Apologies for the quality but its an iPhone 8 working hard but managed to snap this visitor to our pond yesterday.

[636mick]

Jesus Ming, what is it? How does it get off the ground? Ugly as the priests new wheels!!
Mick

[MingtheMerciless]

Common Darter Dragon fly (I think). It's the Apache helicopter of the insect world and flies fantastically.

[Nobby]

Being dropped off to do a job in eastern Iraq when it first kicked off...



(that's a loadie on the ramp, I'm taking the picture)

Did you take all your Tools ?
It’s a bugger if you leave something behind.

[Nobby]

Being dropped off to do a job in eastern Iraq when it first kicked off...



(that's a loadie on the ramp, I'm taking the picture)

Did you take all your Tools ?
It’s a bugger if you leave something behind.

Water, bullets, weapon systems, 24hr MRE's and whatever was in my belt kit.
They'd be back the next day to collect us.

Eh , I thought you were a Sparky. Should have taken small tools and a plug in Martindale at the very least.
With your stuff you could end up killing somebody.

[slowsider]

Being dropped off to do a job in eastern Iraq when it first kicked off...



(that's a loadie on the ramp, I'm taking the picture)

Did you take all your Tools ?
It’s a bugger if you leave something behind.

Never mind that. What watch were you wearing?