Sea Harrier/"Alraigo"/1983

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Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 49

Can anyone supply me with a LINK to the much publicised photo of Sea Harrier ZA176 after it's emergency landing on the Spanish freighter Alraigo in 1983?

I'm sure I've seen it here recently, but not having much luck on 'Search' or via the other obvious avenues; perhaps it's me (!)

Thanks, in anticipation.

Original post

Member for

20 years 9 months

Posts: 7,755

You are right - there is nothing out there!
In fact I am having difficulty actually finding pix of the incident amongst my library: what I attach below are Royal Navy pix but come from Sea Harrier and AV-8B by Robert Jackson (which I picked up for £1 - still has the sticker on - several years ago!).
I think the problem might be that the picture that I remember, taken from the air, of ZA176 on board the Alraigo would have been taken by a news agency photographer and he would have wired the pic as soon as he landed and dev'd it: the result would be a very flat image with a relatively low number of dots per inch (to make it quicker to wire, and newspapers generally don't look for archival quality images anyway) which would be front page material for a few days then fish'n'chip wrapping ever after. Sorry.
Anyway, Sub-Lt Ian Watson with ZA176 after the Alraigo docked in Santa Cruz, Tenerife, on 9/6/83 (or thereabouts), and Sub-Lt Ian Watson reunited with ZA176 at RNAS Yeovilton, after it had been repaired and allocated to 899NAS (date unstated).
The Alraigos crew were awarded £500,000 salvage...

Flood.™

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Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 49

Flood.....

Thanks.

Yes: it's the famous one from the air I was thinking of, with the Sea Harrier on the 'deck'; which in fact turned out to be a telescope base plate being transported by the Alraigo at the time, I believe.

I'm so sure I've seen it recently, somewhere on the web :confused: .

:( Frustrating.

Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 49

http://www.spanishshipping.com/apm/Alraigoqt.jpg

Member for

19 years 7 months

Posts: 48

All thats needed now is a little Photoshop trickery...

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24 years 2 months

Posts: 562

What actually happened? can someone tell me the story ?

Member for

19 years 9 months

Posts: 60

Here's a shot of the same Sea Harrier currently at a Museum.

Member for

18 years 6 months

Posts: 1,022

:eek: That's amazing to see..... thanks for uploading it! :)

Found this whilst having a search online:

http://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/Oldies__Oddities_.html giving a clearer view from the rear of the aircraft....

And scroll down this page for another look... http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?161300-Military-Accidents-and-Mishaps/page3

Member for

18 years 1 month

Posts: 7,742

I’ve made NAM’s curator aware of the You Tube link; a few more details about ZA176’s operational history including its Falklands Ops can be found here!

This interesting update about the incident appeared in the Daily Telegraph in 2007!

Member for

18 years 4 months

Posts: 8

Harrier Cargo ship Landing

I have uploaded to YouTube the news footage regarding this incident.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhsifSKa8jQ

Original YT account closed due a copyright police incident, however a cloned version is on YT.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 3,652

:eek: That's amazing to see..... thanks for uploading it! :)

Found this whilst having a search online:

http://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/Oldies__Oddities_.html giving a clearer view from the rear of the aircraft....

And scroll down this page for another look... http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?161300-Military-Accidents-and-Mishaps/page3

Interesting - in the first link to the B&W photo, the outriggers are retracted and there is no damage on the spine near the wing root.

In the second link to the colour photo, the outriggers are down and there appears to be damage - or a panel removed - on the spine at the wing root.

Flap configuration is different as well.....

No conspiracy theories - just observing.

Ken

Member for

18 years 1 month

Posts: 7,742

I understand that Ian Watson's brother visited ZA176 last August and was shown round the aircraft by some of NAM's volunteers! :)

Member for

19 years 9 months

Posts: 1,777

Interesting - in the first link to the B&W photo, the outriggers are retracted and there is no damage on the spine near the wing root.

In the second link to the colour photo, the outriggers are down and there appears to be damage - or a panel removed - on the spine at the wing root.

Flap configuration is different as well.....

No conspiracy theories - just observing.

Ken

Watson attempted to retract the u/c when the SHar started to roll backwards, hence the outriggers being retracted.

The colour photo shows the preparation for removing the aircraft from the freighter - the 'missing' section is I'm sure where the wing attachment points and/or lifting ponts are. Presumably also disconnected the hydralics and locked the control surfaces.

Member for

16 years 7 months

Posts: 10,647

Interesting - in the first link to the B&W photo, the outriggers are retracted and there is no damage on the spine near the wing root.

In the second link to the colour photo, the outriggers are down and there appears to be damage - or a panel removed - on the spine at the wing root.

Flap configuration is different as well.....

No conspiracy theories - just observing.

It looks to me like the outriggers have been lowered and locked down (note red RBF flags) and the flaps raised into neutral position so as to make the airframe fit for removal and lowering to the ground. Maybe the spine panel was removed to allow the latter to be undertaken?

Edit, sorry Dave, coincidental posting!

Beware opening the first link in post #9, it caused my computor to topple!

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17 years 7 months

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11 years 10 months

Posts: 1

The spine panel was taken off to access the lifting points. How do I know? I'm the one in the blue "T" shirt with his back to the camera. I was responsible for preparing the harrier for the lift and supervising its trip back on the British Tay. I have quite a few photos of the operation.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 9,780

Good thinking with the lifting sling being full forward to stop the nose pitching down when it was lifted!

Member for

9 years 6 months

Posts: 1

I have uploaded to YouTube the news footage regarding this incident.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhsifSKa8jQ

You are right - there is nothing out there!
In fact I am having difficulty actually finding pix of the incident amongst my library: what I attach below are Royal Navy pix but come from Sea Harrier and AV-8B by Robert Jackson (which I picked up for £1 - still has the sticker on - several years ago!).
I think the problem might be that the picture that I remember, taken from the air, of ZA176 on board the Alraigo would have been taken to these pro extender user reviews by a news agency photographer and he would have wired the pic as soon as he landed and dev'd it: the result would be a very flat image with a relatively low number of dots per inch (to make it quicker to wire, and newspapers generally don't look for archival quality images anyway) which would be front page material for a few days then fish'n'chip wrapping ever after. Sorry.
Anyway, Sub-Lt Ian Watson with ZA176 after the Alraigo docked in Santa Cruz, Tenerife, on 9/6/83 (or thereabouts), and Sub-Lt Ian Watson reunited with ZA176 at RNAS Yeovilton, after it had been repaired and allocated to 899NAS (date unstated).
The Alraigos crew were awarded £500,000 salvage...

Flood.™

That video has been taken down for some reason. Can you re upload it?