Harriers Prepare For The End

With the announcement that the Harrier fleet would be removed from service in early 2011 and RAF Cottesmore would be closed I made the trip to RAF Cottesmore to get some more shots of them and enjoy the unique location that is runway 22 at Cottesmore. Being November the weather was of course rubbish! Shooting gray Harriers against a gray sky wasn’t my first choice but there isn’t long left to catch the Harrier so I’ll take what I can get. It was a busy day at Cottesmore with fifteen different airframes flying and at one point nine were up at the same time. A mix of air combat manoeuvres (ACM), low level in Wales and air to ground sorties at the nearby RAF Holbeach range using practice bombs and the SNIPER pod were flown. Visitors were few as is the norm at Cottesmore. A Typhoon made a practice approach and a King Air made a series of touch and goes.