Warbirds

Harrier for Australia

A Hawker Siddeley T. 4A Harrier is to grace Australian shores and maybe skies. The Harrier, a two-seat machine, has been bought in the UK by Australian company Advanced VTOL Technologies (AVT) which intends to restore the jump jet to its former glory. With a tad of luck AVT will display the aircraft at the 2017 Avalon Airshow.

One of few two-seat Harriers, known as T-Birds, XW271 made its first flight on May 26 1971 as a T. 2. With c/n 212010 the jet was delivered to RAF Wittering in July 1971. The machine was later converted to T. 2A standard and again later to T. 4A standard in December 1973. It moved to various RAF squadrons and even saw time hiding in the forests of Germany when the Cold War was at its peak.