Sea Harrier delivered to Tangmere

摘要

The Tangmere Military Aviation Museum took delivery of BAe Sea Harrier FA2 XZ459 on 24 August from a private owner in the south-east of England, who had kept the Falklands conflict veteran in his back garden. Acquired by Chris Wilson, managing director of Jet Art Aviation in Selby, Yorkshire during 2007, Chris and his team restored the V/STOL jet into a light grey scheme as worn by the FA2 variant, but after its sale the new owner decided to paint it in the extra dark sea grey worn on the original FRS1s when they entered service in the early 1980s. The machine made its first flight, as an FRS1, on 1 March 1980. It went on to fly 49 combat air patrol (CAP) sorties and four bombing missions during the Falklands conflict, making the first operational sortie of the war on 1 May 1982 from HMS Hermes with Lt Cdr 'Gordy' Bart DSC at the controls. On 16 May it took part in a bombing attack on the Argentinian supply vessel Rio Carcarana off Port King in Falkland Sound, which resulted in the crew abandoning ship.