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Report - October 2001

25 Sqn navigator. F3 Tornado RAF Leeming The Red Arrows. Sqn Ldr Andy Offer. Red 1 Harry-Air started what is, with a bit of luck, last leg of his travels at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire. Whilst there he flew with 2 of the 3 fighter squadrons on Exercise Clean Hunter and took advantage of the hospitality of a Royal Norwegian Air Force detachment by flying a sortie in an F16 Falcon, (he will return to fly with 11 Sqn at a later date). After a week at Leeming he was posted to the RAF Display Team - The Red Arrows at RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire. As the pinnacle of any pilots' flying ambitions, Harry-Air was, naturally very honoured and excited to be part of the team. After a shakedown sortie to check his G tolerance with Red 1, Wing Commander Andy Offer, he flew at the RAF Waddington Airshow, in front of 200,000 spectators, on 30 June 2001 in Red 3 with Flt Lt Christian Gleave. Next season Harry- Air will replace Red 3 and become the 'syncro-bear'. After a couple of days of "Diamond 9... Go!" and "Smoke On, Smoke On!" Harry Air was on the move again. This time 8 miles south to RAF Waddington.

AEW Sentry flight deck. Nimrod crew 51 Sqn. RAF Waddington Harry-Air flew with their fleet of aircraft, including the E3D 'eye in the sky'. Harry-Air has been offered the chance to return to Waddington as a regular co-pilot and also has been strongly recommended for an exchange posting with the Royal Australian Air Force. He was extremely fortunate in that at his time at Waddington the unit were hosting several unusual aircraft types from around NATO. Harry-Air took advantage of this and flew with Spanish F18s and Belgian F16s. After a hectic week of fast jet flying 'Harry-Air' declined some well-earned rest and joined the Mobile Air Ambulance fleet for the weekend and helped out at several accidents where he gained his paramedic's award.

Belgian Air Force F16 Falcon Spanish Air Force F18 Hornet The next unit on his tour of 'RAF' Lincolnshire was RAF Cranwell and Harry-Air received the ultimate accolade; a flight from Cranwell to Highgrove House in the company of HRH Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales. At Cranwell Harry-Air was also presented with his Navigator, Air Engineer, AEOp brevets and Army Air Corps wings completing his collection and making him the world's first fully 'breveted' bear. Harry-Air also got measured up and fitrted for his own personal flying suit 'grow bag'. He managed to fit in a trip with the Army Display Team, the Blue Eagles, flown by Sgt Julie Wiles, the first female team display pilot in the UK.

The Queen's Helicopter Flight Sgt Julie Wiles. Display pilot of The Blue Eagles The tight schedule of Harry-Air was put back slightly at his next unit, RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, as due to a misunderstanding he was left in the post room for 10 days awaiting collection. However once recovered he was soon airbourne in a Tristar of 216 Sqn on an air-to-air refuelling task. A trip on the RAF's newest aircraft and with the newest Squadron, C17's of 99 Sqn, was next on the agenda. Harry-Air took part in Operation Essential Harvest dropping the Parachute Regiment in Skopje, Macedonia and finally air to air refualling sorties with the VC10 squadrons 10 and 101 over the North Sea.

Air To Air refuelling a 3(F) Sqn Harrier by VC10 Harry-Air in his fully brevetted flying suit Next stop was a return to RAF Leeming to link up with 11 Sqn Tornado F3's and a live firing strafe at Donna Nook weapons range then on to RAF Coltishall in Norfolk to fly with the Jaguar fleet. Taking part in a sortie with 41 Sqn his flying was assessed as 'an average sortie with good 1v1 technique, right up to the point when he got 'shot' by the Station Commander. After being shot on two further engagements he'd had enough'. Was this a career move? He will return to Coltishall very soon as 54 Sqn got left out of the Harry-Air loop by the 'friendly Air Traffikers'.

At the time of writing Harry-Air has only to visit RAF Cottesmore, Leicestershire and RAF Marham in Norfolk, before completing his tour of the Royal Air Force. He returned to Wittering on 4th October and is currently awaiting developments in the aftermath of September 11th.