From bookcases on the
back of motorbikes to pickups stacked twice their height with aluminum
cans, we here in Thailand are used to seeing odd things on the roads,
but an AV-8S Harrier jump jet rolling down Sukhumvit Road had everyone
talking.
Patcharapol Panrak
From bookcases on the back of motorbikes to pickups stacked
twice their height with aluminum cans, we here in Thailand are used to
seeing odd things on the roads, but a AV-8S Harrier jump jet rolling
down Sukhumvit Road had everyone talking.
Formerly part of the air wing for the HTMS Chakri Naruebet, the
British-built jet was moved July 22 to the Royal Thai Marine Corps
Museum. The jet had been mothballed in a hanger at the corps’ Jetsada
camp for some time.
The journey was slow and difficult. An electric cart, normally used to
jockey airplanes or luggage trains around an airport, towed the plane 10
kilometers over two hours with residents lining the street, snapping
away with cameras and phones.
The jet had been one of nine on Thailand’s only aircraft carrier, which
now has just a handful of working planes due to lack of maintenance, age
and a scarcity of spare parts.
Thailand bought seven first-generation AV-8S and two tandem-seat TAV-8S
Matador versions of the Harrier from the Spanish navy in 1986, but never
allocated enough money for spare parts, repair and overhaul and only
seven pilots were trained to fly them in the first two years.
Three months later, two of the planes were grounded because of power and
electrical problems. Few, if any, of the planes are believed to be
operational today.
Maintenance workers tow an AV-8S Harrier
jump jet down Sukhumvit Road, causing heads to turn and many photos to
be taken.
What’s that ahead, holding up traffic? It
looks like a fighter jet, but it can’t be…
