Harrier T4 Flight | Narrated by Mark Zanker

Former Harrier pilot, Mark Zanker narrates a flight he filmed in a Harrier T4 from briefing to landing, and it also includes a simulated bomb drop and plenty of exterior footage.
Enjoy!
/ aircrewinterv. .
or donate
www.aircrewint...

[@ianh.6825]

I was posted to 3(F) in May 89 as one of the newly trained up GR5 techs. One week after arriving, I was in the field on a GR3/T4 deployment. First overseas posting and first time on fast jets so it was a bit of a shock to the system compared to what I'd been doing previously. There is at least one face (and body) I easily recognize - Armourer Sgt Mick Holmes (Biggus Mickus) assisting the T4 pilot down the wobbly steps. I think the REs didn't much enjoy setting up and dismantling Harrier deployment sites. Laying all that 'tin' was a lot of work and it needed constant maintenance. It was also tough on the aircraft tyres. The posting was 3 years of hard work but much Warsteiner was consumed and I left with many fond memories.

[@MattThornton87]

Fantastic... Wonderful!! RAF Harrier in it's natural habitat. Thanks so much for sharing Mark

[@allgood6760]

Awesome.. we have a GR3 down under.. thanks👍🇳🇿

[@patchmack4469]

given that Mark shot this on 8mm, its actually way better quality than many films of the time, well done and huge thanks for sharing

[@Wonkabar007]

Great footage, this brings back happy memories of a flight in a 4 Sqn T4 in 1986, the pilot Sqn Ldr Carl tipped the harrier on its side, so I could get a nice view of the Warsteiner brewery, then we flew very low up a valley, and dropped four simulated cluster bombs on a cement works, best morning I ever had.

[@cyclingnerddelux698]

Wonderful! You might not know what this means to people who never got to live this dream.

[@Keyswiz71]

Excellent footage and great to see the Harrier in its intended combat environment! (Just a quick historical correction though, the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989, not 1991 ;-) )

[@johns.7609]

I enjoy these a lot. Reminds me of the epic F-111 mission video you posted some time back.

[@Aircrewinterview]

Cheers John.

[@josephmarkey9096]

Lovely sound the pegasus had. Love that rise and fall in pitch as the power is applied... Marvellous!!

[@tonyhaynes9080]

It took me two and a half years to get on the board for a flight in a leaping heap whilst on 4 Squadron, and thirty minutes to come off it. Boss came in and said, 'I need the T-bird for a pre IRT flight.' Smokey Green an American exchange pilot looked at me and said, 'Sorry, but I tried'

[@Aircrewinterview]

Ah gutting!

[@OldSchoolNI]

Wow, from 19:20 on is insane. That noise! You think this is it, then another burst, then another and boom. Class.

[@manfredschyma9706]

What a great gift to me. Big memories when the 3rd and 4th sqns did their field exercises nearby our hometown. 40 years ago now, but each vid of those days brings back the pics and sounds... Thank you so much for this!

[@Aircrewinterview]

Great to hear you enjoyed it.

[@tonyhaynes9080]

I used to love deploying into the field with the leaping heaps. Watching them land with everyone watching always made me so proud of the pilots. I'm glad that you enjoyed watching us.

[@SimDeck]

Fantastic video. I left Germany 2 years before this was filmed. Thanks for taking the time to provide a narrative and share the video. Superb!

[@julianneale6128]

Thank you so much. What an absolutely fantastic piece of aviation history, portrayed just as was...

[@wiswam6773]

Thanks for sharing this priceless footage. Brilliant.👍👏👏👏

[@geoffthorburn]

Hey Mark Stumbled across this......great stuff. Had 1 ride with you guys at Gutersloh....preferred the solid old F4 but great fun.🤙🏻to the Bona Mates..THROB

[@alanrae1]

Excellent video, as groundcrew for many, many years on a whole range of aircraft I love to see what the chaps we lend our aircraft do with them.

[@nickbreen287]

We lived with the ever present threat of nuclear annihilation, every second of every day. Our only reassurance was that these men would be the deterrence, expend themselves if need be. But show no weakness and stand firm, eye to eye for the decades they did and make the other side know it would cost them everything to try. Thank-you Cold Warriors.

[@GP-ni1kp]

Fantastic footage, thanks to Mark for sharing.

[@stewdickson]

Amazing piece of footage. Fascinating.

[@gr0wler147]

That was really great. Thanks you!

[@jasonrwilkinson9216]

Awesome thanks Mark (and Mike) - did you have to ask permission to film it or was it truly a 'home movie' as you mention in your commentary. What a fantastic aircraft just shows how amazing the UK Aerospace industry was in it's heyday!

[@markzanker4832]

I bought the camera in the NAAFI and took it in the back of the T bird. It's best not to ask if you don't want the wrong answer.

[@jasonrwilkinson9216]

@@markzanker4832 Thanks Mark, looks like you had a lot of fun while doing a very serious role.

[@Mors_Inimicis]

Excellent footage 👍🏻 Thanks to Mark and Mike for sharing

[@Dasspapirfly]

Such a great little jet the harrier, very interesting video. Loved the interview with Mark so it's good to see him back on the channel.

[@andypaton2138]

superb, fond memories of flying in "T" bird from RAF Wittering to Wash on training exercise dropping small bombs.

[@bengello]

Great video, I really enjoyed watching this. Thanks for posting.

[@simonrichardson5077]

excellent,thank you

[@matthayward7889]

Superb!

[@oscarharriet7030]

Excellent!

[@nevilleneville6518]

Great footage, but one thing that struck me was the landing - in a real war environment, it looks like that the Harrier would be incredibly vulnerable with that long, slow landing.

[@HighFlight]

Pure Gold - Fantastic. Thanks for sharing your Harrier mission and for the 'talk through'. Very very interesting and well done and filmed. A question - Did the pilot have the ability to blow away the whole canopy of the aircraft in order to assist egress, without using the ejection seat on the ground in event of an emergency landing, in the same way that earlier jet aircraft such as the Sea Vixen could? I'm guessing that the answer is 'no' and that the ejector seat would always be the method of escape, assuming a zero zero seat capability?

[@markzanker4832]

The canopy MDC could be blown separately without ejecting. This could also be done from the outside, for example by the emergency services.

[@carlo8944]

@@markzanker4832 I am so glad you mentioned it. I was always wandering what it was used for when looking at the T1 Hawk

[@HighFlight]

Mark Zanker Thanks Mark.

[@Aeronaut1975]

Fantastic stuff!. I never tire of watching Harriers operate. It's nice to see them in their natural habitat.

[@malcolm9994]

SUPERB !

[@ChrisParker340]

Great stuff Mark! Shame you were with the other mob! ;-)

[@carlo8944]

Quick question: what happened if there was a lot of rain? How would the aircraft get to the runway across the grass? Would it not sink?

[@markzanker4832]

The ground was quite firm but if it got too soft we would call on the Royal Engineers and their wonderful PSA1 matting.

[@carlo8944]

Thank you👍 what a great video!

[@andyelliott292]

Sennelager probably the worst larger in the world as said back in the day of BAOR .

[@alisonhilll4317]

The British made the best aircraft , apart from the SR 71 .

[@simageorge63]

Noise jet