It was delightful to see one of the most outstanding post-war RAF aviators, AVM George Black, receiving some well-deserved wider attention on the occasion of his 91st birthday this July. One of the guests, our columnist Denis Calvert writes about it in his Flight Line piece this month, and in the news pages we feature the arrival of his rather special birthday present from son Ian. George came to mind a few days later, in fact, while watching the Spanish Navy's EAV-8Bs performing at the Royal International Air Tattoo - and doing so in some difficult conditions which underlined the Harrier's versatility. When he was posted to become station commander at RAF Wildenrath in West Germany in 1972, George took command of the Harrier field force, and was absolutely in the vanguard of establishing and refining the concept of operations that would, in the event of war, have seen the V/STOL jets flying from dispersed locations. That very same week, the RAF announced that it intends to start training for off-airfield operations with its Typhoons and F-35Bs, a capability not exercised since the Harrier days, but one retained and rehearsed by the front- line fighters of such partner nations as Finland and Sweden. What goes around comes around.
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