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The Pink Harrier, Or the vengeance of the stork


corsaircorp

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Hello dears,

As I know that here in BM, we are Lucky enough to have the best of knowledge about RAF

I dare to ask if one of you know about the Pink Harrier ???

Here's the story, shared by a reserve capitaine of the french Armée de l'air !

It was at the end of the '70 or beginning of the '80, I don't know the date...

The capitaine Terasson promised me some pics but we lost contact.

There has been a deployment of an Harrier Sqdn on a French base, with cross expériences and lot of DACT.

At the end of the deployment, the brits manged to Zap some of the French mirages !

Another proof of the british humor, the stork adorning the Mirage's tail received some painting Hum !

The painting represented a Harrier havin' a close and deep Relationship with the stork...

Can't be more explicit, don't want to be banned:P

The french laughed a lot when they sam this, but managed to clean up that affront !!

The last day of the deployment, each and every members of the british party were invited for a festive meal "à la française"

One of the Harrier has been towed in a hangar and receive a coat of kitchen made paint...

In fact, some of Minium, (the red paint intended to protect iron parts of a building against corrosion) blended with white water paint.

When they wake up, the day of the travel back to UK, the magnificent totally pink Harrier was on the flight line....

Amazingly enough, all the high pressure cleaners were out of order, at the same time....

So the Harrier has to get back in UK with her new low vis painting.

The Base was Orange or Cazaux, but my best bet go for Cazaux since there has been some life firing...

That will be fun to have a pink Harrier with historical accuracy in one's collection Is'nt it ???

If anyone of you know about this or better... have some pics...

Thank for taking the time to read this, I wait for your comments or reactions.

Sincerely.

Corsaircorp

Edited by corsaircorp
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1 hour ago, corsaircorp said:

Hello dears,

As I know that here in BM, we are Lucky enough to have the best of knowledge about RAF

I dare to ask if one of you know about the Pink Harrier ???

Here's the story, shared by a reserve capitaine of the french Armée de l'air !

It was at the end of the '70 or beginning of the '80, I don't know the date...

The capitaine Terasson promised me some pics but we lost contact.

There has been a deployment of an Harrier Sqdn on a French base, with cross expériences and lot of DACT.

At the end of the deployment, the brits manged to Zap some of the French mirages !

Another proof of the british humor, the stork adorning the Mirage's tail received some painting Hum !

The painting represented a Harrier havin' a close and deep Relationship with the stork...

Can't be more explicit, don't want to be banned:P

The french laughed a lot when they sam this, but managed to clean up that affront !!

The last day of the deployment, each and every members of the british party were invited for a festive meal "à la française"

One of the Harrier has been towed in a hangar and receive a coat of kitchen made paint...

In fact, some of Minium, (the red paint intended to protect iron parts of a building against corrosion) blended with white water paint.

When they wake up, the day of the travel back to UK, the magnificent totally pink Harrier was on the flight line....

Amazingly enough, all the high pressure cleaners were out of order, at the same time....

So the Harrier has to get back in UK with her new low vis painting.

The Base was Orange or Cazaux, but my best bet go for Cazaux since there has been some life firing...

That will be fun to have a pink Harrier with historical accuracy in one's collection Is'nt it ???

If anyone of you know about this or better... have some pics...

Thank for taking the time to read this, I wait for your comments or reactions.

Sincerely.

Corsaircorp

Read this, scroll down for images;

 

Pink Harrier

 

Friend of mine  was in the see in crew on 1 Sqn at Wittering when it came back. he told me that you never saw an aircraft after flighted and pushed back into the hangar so fast in all your life!

 

Selwyn

Edited by Selwyn
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I thank you all...

So this was true, Will see on the pics if I can recognize Cpt Terrasson.

Nice story indeed !

Must now have a trainer Harrier !

Thank you all !

This story can may be spark the interest of @Martian Hale since he now had a T Harrier !!

Nice shot, will save it

Thank you again !

Sincerely.

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  • 7 months later...

Hello Dears,

:evil_laugh::evil_laugh::evil_laugh: !!!!

I found it back !!

WP_20181116_22_51_21_Pro

The light in that hotel room was really poor

I will do a better shot tomorrow !!

Now, I must find a Kinetic Harrier trainer !!!

Is nt'it tempting my Dear @Martian Hale ???

Sincerely.

CC

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7 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

Is nt'it tempting my Dear @Martian Hale ???

Sincerely.

CC

Nah, it needs to be a lot more pink with yellow Mr Blobby spots all over it before I was interested in it. Mine will be overall black with the 899 Squadron flying fist in gold.

 

Tasteful of Mars 👽

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I was with No.1 (F) Sqn from 1972 until 1982 except for a couple of years on the turn of the 80's.  I can't remember now off the top of my head (1976) the exact date of this Sqn detachment. 

Anyway, we did a weeks detachment to Dijon Longvic, taking 4 Harrier GR's and one T bird to be hosted by the Guynemer wing who were equipped with Mirage III.E's. and whose engineering hangar we shared.  We had an enjoyable stay and visited the usual cultural spots such as the vineyards.

 

It was traditional for us to Zap the aircraft of our hosts and I had somehow become the unofficial Sqn artist. I had previously put the 1.(F) Sqn badge on such as Fiat G.91's and included large Clockwork Keys made from cardboard tubes sticking out of the G.91's cartridge starter hatches. I also painted the large 1 Sqn badge which might even still be found on the dispersal wall at our gunnery station, Decimomannu in Sardinia.

The emblem of the French wing was the Hispano Stork which had been adopted by the great WW.1 French Ace Georges Guynemer (over 50 kills) until his own death near Langemark in Belgium in 1917. This was still carried on the fins of the Escadron 1/2 III E's. The Stork has several versions  but E 1/2 version is depicted in flight with it's wings beating down. 


 

I had previously sketched a droopy winged, smiley mouthed, cartoon Harrier called' Happy Harrier' with which I had embellished the letters home, to my children. This seemed an ideal match to do a "Fly united" version onto the Stork. I hinted at this to the French mechanics who quickly supplied the paint.  The deed was quickly carried out, just in time for the official photograph to be taken of a Harrier flanked by two Mirages. It caused great amusement amongst the rank and file of the two air forces.

 

As we were leaving the next day, that night our hosts threw a very boozy party for us at the Mess, where we were billeted outside the main camp. The next morning, and somewhat worse for wear we boarded the military bus to take us to the flight line, in preparation to our leaving Dijon.  Instead of entering the camp and turning right down to the hangars, we proceeded straight into the admin area of the camp. as we came abreast of the Parade square, someone remarked "what is the Hawker Siddeley demonstrator doing here". What we were looking at was our T bird which had been painted in a coat of white emulsion and on the front fuselage and wings, red had been mixed into it to produce a pale Pink. The drop tanks were White with Red spirals and the nose tipped with Red and Red 'eyelashes' were put around the 1 Sqn 'Winged One' diamond badge on the nose. It was an utter mess.

 

Departure time loomed and our Hercules was inbound and we just had no time to clean it. Our young jockeys all vied for the job of flying it back.

 

It was a miserable grey morning and as the T bird taxied out onto the runway flanked by two pairs of GR's it stood out like a sore thumb. After take off they formed up in Vic and did a low flypast over the base with everybody out to watch. It actually looked amazing.

 

We duly boarded our Herk and arrived back at Wittering some hours later. Un be known to us when the Harriers arrived back at base, our colleagues had purchased French Bread batons, and putting their berets on backward, they formed a Guard of honour as the flight did a flypast.  That's when the merde really hit the fan.

The Station Commander arrived to welcome the aircrew home and on seeing the T bird he marched straight back to his car, leaving only the instruction "no one will leave this station until that aircraft is returned to Royal Air  Force service".

When we arrived back we found all the aircrew regardless of rank, armed with scrubbing brushes and buckets of Teepol (a detergent), trying to remove the paint. They actually got most of it off. Everyone took it in good spirits except for one S/Leader.  "Nothing to do wiv me guv.."

 

The T bird did have to go for a re-paint. I happened to meet the French officer who led the revenge party some years later at a model show at le Bourget and he too was in the model industry.. Small world.

 

So chapter and verse as promised.

 

John

 

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13 hours ago, Martian Hale said:

Nah, it needs to be a lot more pink with yellow Mr Blobby spots all over it before I was interested in it. Mine will be overall black with the 899 Squadron flying fist in gold.

 

Tasteful of Mars 👽

Oh  dear tentacled one !!

That will be a posh T Harrier !! And are the scheme included in the box ??

Then another question if I may, Can I make a T2 with that box, I read somewhere that all the T versions are included in one box, Izzat true ??

Now, I'm eager to see that black Harrier, it will look great !!

Sincerely.

CC

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2 minutes ago, corsaircorp said:

Oh  dear tentacled one !!

That will be a posh T Harrier !! And are the scheme included in the box ??

Then another question if I may, Can I make a T2 with that box, I read somewhere that all the T versions are included in one box, Izzat true ??

Now, I'm eager to see that black Harrier, it will look great !!

Sincerely.

CC

It seems that all trainer versions are in the box, although unsurprisingly, I haven't really looked much beyond the Royal Navy versions.

 

Martian 👽

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32 minutes ago, John Aero said:

I was with No.1 (F) Sqn from 1972 until 1982 except for a couple of years on the turn of the 80's.  I can't remember now off the top of my head the exact date of this Sqn detachment. 

Anyway, we did a weeks detachment to Dijon Longvic, taking 4 Harrier GR's and one T bird to be hosted by the Guynemer wing who were equipped with Mirage III.E's. and whose engineering hangar we shared.  We had an enjoyable stay and visited the usual cultural spots such as the vineyards.

 

It was traditional for us to Zap the aircraft of our hosts and I had somehow become the unofficial Sqn artist. I had previously put the 1.(F) Sqn badge on such as Fiat G.91's and included large Clockwork Keys made from cardboard tubes sticking out of the G.91's cartridge starter hatches. I also painted the large 1 Sqn badge which might even still be found on the dispersal wall at our gunnery station, Decimomannu in Sardinia.

The emblem of the French wing was the Hispano Stork which had been adopted by the great WW.1 French Ace Georges Guynemer (over 50 kills) until his own death near Langemark in Belgium in 1917. This was still carried on the fins of the Escadron 1/2 III E's. The Stork has several versions  but E 1/2 version is depicted in flight with it's wing beating down. 


 

I had previously sketched a droopy winged, smiley mouthed cartoon Harrier called Happy Harrier with which I had embellished the letters home, to my children. This seemed an ideal match to do a "Fly united" version onto the Stork. I hinted at this to the French mechanics who quickly supplied the paint.  The deed was quickly carried out, just in time for the official photograph to be taken of a Harrier flanked by two Mirages. It caused great amusement amongst the rank and file of the two air forces.

 

As we were leaving the next day, that night our hosts threw a very boozy party for us at the Mess, where we were billeted outside the main camp. The next morning, and somewhat worse for wear we boarded the military bus to take us to the flight line, in preparation to our leaving Dijon.  Instead of entering the camp and turning right down to the hangars, we proceeded straight into the admin area of the camp. as we came abreast of the Parade square, someone remarked "what is the Hawker Siddeley demonstrator doing here". What we were looking at was our T bird which had been painted in a coat of white emulsion and on the front fuselage and wings, red had been mixed into it to produce a pale Pink. The drop tanks were White with Red spirals and the nose tipped with Red and Red 'eyelashes' were put around the 1 Sqn diamond badge on the nose. It was an utter mess.

 

Departure time loomed and our Hercules was inbound and we just had no time to clean it. Our young jockeys all vied for the job of flying it back.

 

It was a miserable grey morning and as the T bird taxied out onto the runway flanked by two, pairs of GR's it stood out like a sore thumb. after take off they formed up in Vic and did a low flypast over the base with every body out to watch. It actually looked amazing.

 

We duly boarded our Herk and arrived back at Wittering some hours later. Un be known to us when the Harriers arrived back at base, our colleagues had purchased French Bread batons, and putting their berets on backward formed a Guard of honour as the flight did a flypast.  That's when the merde really hit the fan.

The Station Commander arrived to welcome the aircrew home and on seeing the T bird he marched straight back to his car, leaving only the instruction "no one will leave this station until that aircraft is returned to Royal Air  Force service".

When we arrived back we found all the aircrew regardless of rank, armed with scrubbing brushes and  buckets of Teepol ( a detergent), trying to remove the paint. They actually got most of it off. Everyone took it in good spirits except for one S/Leader. Nothing to do wiv me guv..

 

The T bird did have to go for a re-paint. I happened to meet the French officer who led the revenge party some years later at a model show at le Bourget and he too was in the model industry.. Small world.

 

So chapter and verse as promised.

 

John

 

Chapter and verses have been greatly appreciated , reverend !!:cheers:

Many thanks to you for all that details !

Hope that you Don't mind if I try to make my best in reproducing that poor T Bird...

When I first hear about this story, it was from Cpt Guy Terrasson, and I must confess that I had some doubts...

As I write it above, that was latex paint for interior Walls mixed with some minium, that red product used to protect iron parts from corrosion !!

Thank again !

Sincerely !

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6 minutes ago, Dave Swindell said:

075-19.jpg

 

The story according to the french is halfway down this page, with more photo's

And Now, I'll find a IIIE and trying to enlarge the zap !

That way, I'll have the 2 ladies side by side...

Thank you a lot ! Once again BM is the spearhead of history preservation...:whistle:

Sincerely.

:cheers:

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5 hours ago, John R said:

Some years ago at Telford there was a diorama showing the attempt to clean it.

Anybody got a picture?

John

Ho yes please ! That must be interesting !

On ‎11‎/‎19‎/‎2018 at 10:18 PM, John Aero said:

Thanks Dave and Selwyn,

 

The French officer I met later at le Bourget, was in fact Michel Gerard, the author of that article. I also have photos of the Etendard. The Mirage was 425 and the Harrier XV271.

 

Cheers

 

John

Hello John,

By the way, do you have a good pic of your artwork on the Mirage ??

I must be fair and if I reproduce the Pinkie, I'll be glad to have a IIIE zapped just beside her !

If not, I'll make my best to enlarge the pic here above...

If the artwork is… Mmmmh a bit too explicit, you can send it by PM.

I thank you beforehand !

Sincerely.

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  • 3 weeks later...
9 hours ago, John Aero said:

PM'd, The art work was pretty mild really compared with the Gulf war Jag stuff.

 

Jon

Oh ! on that part, you can have some faith in me....

I have Jaguar, Buccaneer and Tornado artwork... good decal sheet indeed !

Errrr, I also have the decals for a certain F-105... To show them on BM will be.... Huh how can I say !

Thank for the pics, they are properly saved on the hard drive !

I will have a Mirage decal sheet and will work on that as a start

Sincerely.

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Hello

 

I always thought that the pink Harrier was a revenge for the pink Mirage IIIC.

 

After reading the full story here I had to check - and it turn out the Pink Mirage is a completly different story... 

 

181223115041947651.jpg

 

https://www.casimages.com/i/181223115041947651.jpg.html

 

Cheers 

 

Eric B.

Edited by Eric B.
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Oh no. This one was nothing to do with me Guv. I will admit to the No 1 (F) Sdn nose markings on an Italian base Commanders Expediter and the Fiat G.91's and putting large cardboard clockwork keys in their starter hatches. Or forging a Luftwaffe base pass after one of my colleagues lost his.

 

John.

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