The Vulcan is probably my fave plane. I have quite a few vids of them collected over the years.... somewhere I have the report off the BBC when they did their last official flight.
Viewers of the Vulcan vid above got a glimpse of this one as the awesome Lightning gets airborne. Sadly by then there were no more going vertical off the deck launches, still dramatic thogh with those burners blazing away.
Sad but special clip of the SHAR. If someone had told me back then that it would be phased out around a quarter century later I would not have believed them. Especially when they had just proved themselves in combat.
This clip has one of the SHAR Falklands 'aces' talking about the machine. http://www.airtalk.org/re-harrier-thrust-vectoring-in-air-to-air-combat-vt24963.html http://www.raf.mod.uk/falklands/an1.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Harrier
"Although the youngest Sea Harrier only joined the Navy in 1999, the FA2 is almost all metal, unlike the largely composite RAF Harriers. This increased weight and relative lack of thrust from the engine restrict operational use of the Sea Harrier, for example FA2s often have to drop unexpended weapons in the sea before landing, particularly in hot climates. The natural option to install higher rated Pegasus engines would not be as straightforward as the Harrier GR7 upgrade and would likely be an expensive and slow process. Furthermore, the Sea Harriers were subject to a generally more hostile environment than land-based Harriers, with corrosive salt spray a particular problem. As of March 2006, all Sea Harriers have been retired from service."
"Tuesday 1st June - Sea Harrier of No.801 NAS, HMS Invincible shot down south of Stanley by Roland SAM (2.40 pm). Flt Lt Mortimer RAF ejects and is later rescued from the sea."