A leap into the future and a transition into the past

This is SEP (Specific Excess Power) in a big way but naturally present in vectored-thrust V/STOL aircraft years before the aviation world invented the term. That tremendous power and acceleration so vital operationally will propel a Harrier at record-breaking conditions from take-off to 10,000ft (3000m) in some 30 seconds using only one-third to one-tenth of the fuel used by a supersonic fighter.

Digital airspeed in the Head-Up Display increases urgently like a taxi cab meter gone haywire. So here I am back in a Harrier cockpit for the first time in 11 years feeling in a natural element and absolutely at home with periodic pertinent confidence-inspiring comments from John – that professional of professionals. It’s good to escape from the pressures on the ground and feel free again like a bird on the wing.

Thoughts flow through my mind and I just sit back and enjoy it with no responsibility but nevertheless aware that in the unlikely event of an emergency, I can rapidly rise to the occasion via a black and yellow striped handle between my legs. . a device with which I am not entirely unfamiliar!

What progress and what a remarkable contrast with that first tentative hover of the strange-looking prototype P1127. A peculiar smell of oil on hot metal, a feature now so familiar to Harrier pilots takes me back to the cockpit of XP831. With my right leg in a plaster cast, I hopped purposefully up the steps to the cockpit of this aircraft on October 21, 1960, with a medical category of “fit civil test pilot tethered hovering only”. This was the result of a passenger accident in a motor car in which my ankle was broken. It was hard to envisage that years later this intriguing machine would develop and emerge as the only successful operational V/STOL aircraft in the world. My spirits rise as I feel some pride in having been part of that success, albeit a small cog in a big complicated wheel.

A high “g” turn from Farley prompts me to think that as with most worthwhile things in life the V/STOL principle has been a long, hard uphill technical, operational and political struggle, opposed at times by a stubborn red flag mentality seldom seen since the embryonic days of the motor car Interestingly enough the Harrier still seems to be fully appreciated and understood only by those who have operated it, those who have been brought up with it or by a small nucleus with an unbiased imaginative approach.

G-VTOL’s demonstration sequence flows with classic crisp precision and as we step down for a vertical landing think of some progress since 1960. Engine thrust increased from 10,500Ib (4800kg) to 21,500Ib (9300kg); warlord up from zero 8000Ib (3600kg); 228 Harriers flown, in service with the RAF USMC, Spanish Navy, some 60 more aircraft including the Se Harrier in the pipeline and the USMC’s advanced Harrie AV8B on its way. What other aircraft can dive at Mach 1 ferry 1750nm (3250km), do a short take-off from 1000ft (300 grass strip with effective warlord/radius of action, flash backwards, land vertically, cope with a bombed airfield operate from ships, excel at air combat manoeuvring using VIFF (thrust vectoring in forward flight), meet such a wide variety of operational concepts and even sell to the USA?

Then why on earth hasn’t the Harrier sold internationally? Like hot cakes? Why do we humans fail to learn lessons from the past that peace is prolonged and wars are won by cou tries whose services have the best in mobility, flexibility surprise with quick reaction and that these are in fact the basic characteristics that a V /STOL aircraft enjoys? What belt solution therefore than the integration of this type of aircraft with conventional aircraft to give balanced flexible air pow for the future. A solution pioneered with foresight and brilliant expertise by the Royal Air Force and United States Marine Corps. Why don’t other countries grasp the nettle a realise that with the introduction of modern accurate weapons, airfields will be more vulnerable than ever before and in realistic wartime conditions conventional aircraft may well be rapidly reduced in effectiveness? Basing them away from the FEBA (Forward Edge of the Battle Area) may ease this problem but it is unlikely to provide the full solution especially in the European environment battlefield air support can then only be provided at the expense of reaction time.

The Ski Jump launch triggers my thoughts of the first-ever rather primitive V/STOL operations I made in the P11 prototype from HMS Ark Royal in 1963 and how long it wast be before the concept was to be appreciated and accepted, in certain naval circles. Almost as long as it has taken the A Royal to retire from active service. The first Sea Harrier flew some 15 years after these original P1127 trials. Was the deal caused in part by the old brigade fighting a losing battle for the large aircraft carrier? An expensive, vulnerable, complex described by some as the dinosaur of air power at sea for all except the wealthy! The then Flag Officer Aircraft Carriers said of the P1127 operations in Ark “The thing that impressed me most was the complete absence of fright on the part of the spectators. Normally new aircraft come aboard bigger, heavier and faster. Here was a complete reversal of the trend. ”

After numerous protracted political hiccups, the Royal Navy was progressively given the intermittent then the final green light to relaunch fixed wing air power at sea with the Invincible family of ships and with an order for 34 radar equipped Sea Harriers. In this context, few countries can now afford large aircraft carriers for conventional aircraft. The Harrier/V/STOL system, however, points the way ahead effectively to a new idea for organic airpower at sea that is attracting international interest. It involves smaller, less complex, less expensive and less vulnerable ships. The simple and ingenious ski-jump, invented by Lt/Cdr Doug Taylor RN, has revitalised this concept by still further reducing the Harrier’s take-off distance, increasing its war load, improving safety, rough sea and night operations.

As we touch down, shut the throttle and put G/VTOL’s exhaust nozzles it occurs to me that it is 10 years since the USMC pilots Colonel (now General) Tom Miller and Major “Bud” Baker came to Farnborough and said, “we’re not leaving UK until we’ve flown the Harrier”! And what a remarkable job they did in evaluating it, selling it to the US government and industry, and in getting it fully operational and acceptable as the new concept of USMC aviation.

The USMC is now as much at home in the Harrier AV8A on land as it is at sea and fully supports the new AV8B Harrier generation.

The Soviet Union has not been slow in jumping on the VTOL bandwagon with the Yak 36 Forger and the Kiev flat-topped ship and her sister ships.

My reminiscences are temporarily interrupted as John Farley lines G-VTOL up again, does his cockpit checks, slams open the throttle and executes another fascinating launch from the ski jump. His usual high calibre demonstration is completed, we taxi back and extricate ourselves from the cockpit, have a cool drink, and a brief chat and he is on his way for another demonstration.

As I shed my flying clothes I think what a complex jigsaw puzzle the Harrier success has been and how invidious to try and spell out the stars from the first sparkle in the designer’s eye in 1957 to this year, the 21st anniversary of its conception. Characters like Camm, Hooker, Hooper, Fozard Dale and Merewether, transition through my mind as just a handful of the men who left their indelible professional mark on this unique piece of aviation history. How can one adequately pay tribute to them? We owe so much to so many Typical of them and highly respected by us all are the most experienced teams in the Experimental Hangar at Dunsfol Aerodrome who saw the aircraft from the P1127 onwards and whose quality of work always inspired us pilots with a feelin’ of great confidence.

Prior to last year’s Farnborough Air Show, they worked flat out with a Battle of Britain-type urgency and dedication to get the Sea Harrier ready in what seemed like an impossible start time. This was no flash in the pan but the way they had worked over the years right back to the early ‘S0s embraced aircraft like the Sea Fury, Sea Hawk, Hunter, P1127, Kester Harrier and now the new Hawk.

One dedicated test pilot, who will always go down in Harrier history is John Farley who has carried out such a major and vital part of the Harrier development program since 1967 This included superb demonstrations, much pioneer work or ship operations and some very high-risk trials indeed, notable experimenting with a phenomenon known as intake momen tum drag yaw – a potential tiger by the tail if mishandled Such test flying contributed substantially to the Harrier operational effectiveness and flight safety.

Make no mistake V/STOL is here to stay. It will grow in it multi-service potency still more as engine performance increases, stronger, lighter materials evolve and equipment becomes smaller and lighter.

It has been announced in the press that the People’s Republic of China wants to buy a substantial number of Harriers and that HMG has approved the sale in principle The Harrier, V/STOL and the Ski Jump, like any revolutionary leaps ahead is controversial. If like the early antagonists of the motor car any reader has doubts about the importance of these inventions don’t hesitate to contact British Aerospace or if in the USA just “TELL IT TO THE MARINES”.