Most appropriately it was a cold, grey and damp day. The kind of day you could imagine standing in some exposed windswept cemetery whilst the last rights were read before the coffin was lowered into the grave. And effectively that’s what it was… the last flight of the iconic Harrier jump jet before it’s decommissioning.
So Tuesday found me desperately trying to keep warm as I awaited their last flight over RAF Wyton. Allotment mate and airfield employee Colin had given me a nudge the previous weekend that their flight would go over at 13:22. Sixteen of them in diamond formation, not something to be missed!
Well, 13:22 arrived and went. Someone in the small crowd at the top of Old Ramsey Road was in touch with a friend at RAF Cottesmore, where they were to take off from… revised ETA of 13:45, so back in the car I went to try and warm up.
Ready again at 13:40, meanwhile wife Linda is trying to call me to give me an update… couldn’t hear the mobile since it was on pager mode. Finally took her call… they’ve taken off at 13:45.
By 14:15 I gave up and went back to work. Presume they’d given RAF Wyton a miss because of low cloud coverage or a bitter cross wind. What a pity. To compensate, here’s some video footage taken elsewhere, along with a frightening near miss just for fun.
Shed verandah plan still in formulation stage (in my head)… watch this space. Oh, and the blog site will be getting a make over on Monday, so if you’re reading that afternoon apologies if things look a bit wonky for a short while.
This clip says it was over RAF Wyton… presume it was the previous day when I understand they may have done a practice run.
Here’s the BBC’s coverage
How about this for a scary close call
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