The Single Aircraft That Almost Wiped Out Everything You Know About Aviation

[@liamtimms777]

Sadly this episode is a month late, I regularly watched ur vids with my 94 yr old grandad, he had more hours on the harrier than any pilot and was oldest fighter pilot ever in raf , he flew the hunter too and meteor , he sadly passed last month , gutted we didn’t get to see this episode, thankfully one of his harriers is in a museum so can be reminded of him

[@scottpaulhubbard8771]

Sorry for your loss we will never know a more noble time that your grandad was born in the UK people just got on with it and they must have been ashamed of how we have messed up the opportunity they gave us all may he rest in peace 🕊️

[@satanihelvetet]

May your old man rest in peace and fly heaven as a Harrier for eternity.

[@ivgotballsofsteel4048]

That sucks, sorry for your loss.

[@michaell397]

@@scottpaulhubbard8771 Same here, Sadly, In the States. KnifeMaker

[@podulox]

Good show chap! This video will eternally suffer the indignity of being not quite quick enough!

[@Jon-es-i6o]

During the Falklands War the Sea Harrier gave an exceptional account of itself.🇬🇧

[@robertheywood2553]

It certainly did, marvellous aircraft. But what we also needed was an interceptor, F4 Phantom to intercept the inbound Argentinian aircraft much further out before reaching the fleet. We had no fix wing carriers then, and we haven’t got them now. That’s politicians for you, they expect fully comprehensive insurance cover for third party premiums - t’was ever thus

[@xx6489]

And it's essential little friend the sidewinder.....,growl

[@ryanl2654]

Hard to beleive there was less than 60 years between the Wright bros and this. Amazing.

[@podulox]

^That is amazing indeed..!

[@BionicRusty]

At one point, during the nineties, I’d worked on every AV8B in service, including the Night Attack variants. I worked on the HUD and, for many years, was the only technician manufacturing new and reworking a part of the HUD. I was not physically able to join the armed forces so did the next best thing. From the age of 17, I worked until retirement in a company, manufacturing and supplying modules to other defence contractors and the military direct. I am very proud of that. 🇬🇧

[@johnconnolly5117]

I saw a Harrier at an Airshow when I was a kid in the late 70s- hovered right over the runway near the crowd- LOUD and very cool! Always felt it didn’t get the attention it deserved!

[@JarrodFLif3r]

I saw 2 Harriers 'in the wild' land vertically at PAFB(Now Space Force Base) while out surfing and I can affirm they were extremely loud. This was in the late 1990s.

[@unclefart5527]

Yes. Louder than an Air Canada DC-9.

[@glennvogt1194]

If I had to pick my top 20 planes of all time the Harrier would definitely be on that list.

[@JTA1961]

Damn straight

[@mauricio-wq5lu]

This was truly a visionary design. The need for VTOL aircraft is still very underestimated.

[@isthereanybodyoutthere9397]

I agree. I live near RAF Manston, Kent UK which is sadly now closed to the most part, but I remember being at an Airshow one year when a Harrier hovered along the runway and back again. The truly startling thing was that it did the latter going backwards. A truly magnicent machine as it was to prove perfectly in the Falklands War. I also saw a documentary where a RAF Test Pilot wondered what would happen if you rotated the engines in level forward flight and he found it would lift upwards and could be lowered again just as simply. This technique was apparently honed by pilots, who could evade an enemy fighter by doing this when talied, lifting out of its way, letting it pass below, and drop behind it to attack it. It is a wonderful machine.

[@mauricio-wq5lu]

@@isthereanybodyoutthere9397 I still see the Harrier and AV8B as a more reliable aircraft than the F-35.

[@royerrington4871]

WTF has happened to us as a Nation of engineers 😢

[@mauricio-wq5lu]

@@royerrington4871 The same thing that happened to the USA and other nations. Corporate CEOs and stakeholders with help from politicians sent real jobs overseas in their aspirations to go from a manufacturing economy to a service one.

[@tryaluck]

​​​@@royerrington4871 If it's not a bank the political elite could not give a damn. The UK is one of the most corrupt developed countries in the world, politicians just hide it well. In fact they don't even hide it that well, the TSR-2 is a perfect example. You would have to be lobotomized to not realise that the government was paid off to scrap that project. Nearly 2 billion in today's money wasted. At a time when America was coincidentally trying to sell a competitor to the TSR-2, the f-111 aardvark. If the UK wasn't corrupt Harold Wilson would have been hung for treason.

[@Mr.Boom_513]

I was an AV-8B Harrier ejection seat mechanic in the USMC. It was a very impressive bird, but an absolute maintenance hog. When I was in, they required about 19 man hours of maintenance per 1 engine hour.

[@supertuscans9512]

Well an F16 requires 17 hours of maintenance per figh hour and that needs a perfect runway to operate.

[@SekritKomrade]

That's a Buccaneer on the Thumbnail man. Completely different roles, size/style.

[@billwill7383]

Yeah I clicked wanting a vid on the buccaneer.

[@stephenhall3515]

@@billwill7383 So did I.

[@robwernet9609]

Not surprised, he plagiarizes his commentary from Wikipedia pages. I was watching this video and looking at the p.1127/kestrel wiki page, as I'm reading and listening to the vid I started to notice that what I was reading was being said on the video. He changes a few words and phrases but in some parts it's word for word what's written on the wiki page. Smh

[@robertwoodroffe123]

@@robwernet9609interesting

[@btoogood]

He does this on purpose to promote comments- so I guess we’ve been sucked in

[@anthonywilson4873]

I watched five Harriers take of conventionally, then four hovered in front of the crowd and proceeded to rotate dip noses basically carrying out a dance routine, this fascinated the crowd. The fifth Harrier which seemed to have departed came back suddenly, fast and low passing down the display line making everyone jump. Great show many many years ago. I was a few years ago at RIAT air show and watched an F35 do a similar hovering trick on its own. It reminded me of the five Harrier display.

[@eddieconroy212]

The Harrier was way ahead of it’s time. Only now are other planes superseding it at much greater cost.

[@JTA1961]

Like 750x more

[@bannjaxx]

There aren't any VTOL planes are there? Lockheeds F-35 Lightning can land vertically and has a short take-off, but not vertical and the Boeing Osprey is really a helicopter isn't it? I think only the Harrier was true VTOL in a plane.

[@blazepine]

@@bannjaxx i think a russian YAK model had VTOL capability too but i dont remember which specific model

[@podulox]

@@blazepine How many times?

[@blazepine]

@@podulox quick bit of not especially detailed research brings it to two separate YAKs had vtol. Yak 38s and Yak 141s. i'm not especially familiar with either model though beyond that.

[@lrg3834]

The British contributed so much to modern aviation, but got so little back from it. I blame the political class. Case in point: Concorde. The British government wanted to back out after after a certain point. However, Charles de Gaulle would have none of it, and it is because of French insistance that Concorde ultimately became a reality. This is not a putdown to British engineers and technicians who were more than prepared to do their part regardless. While the British get the lion's share of credit for Concorde's success, at the end of the day, it's what the French were responsible for that made Concorde able to sustain mach II without use of reheaters, namely low drag wing design and construction. The Russian Tupolev 144 had more powerful engines, but was unable to match this feat, making it unusable in commercial application. Just goes to show British and French can do great things when they cooperate and work together on a common goal.

[@seanjoseph8637]

I worked on them for 15 years of my RAF service and 3 as a civvy contractor, they are dirty oily beasts but have a special place in my heart.

[@StoffelDilligas]

"Makes you proud to be British"

[@Jon-es-i6o]

Tricky to fly, so only the RAFs crème de la crème got to fly it.

[@b.nichols3255]

And makes you ashamed to be British when we gave them away on the promise of buying the flop from America. Our 'leaders' once again proved their incompetence or corruption.

[@Rid3thetig3r]

​@@Jon-es-i6o This might be urban legend, but I seem to remember reading that, at one point, more men had walked on the Moon than had been authorised to hover/"dance" The Harrier. Kinda cool if true.

[@AbelMcTalisker]

@@Rid3thetig3r It`s a little suspect but there probably was a point in the late 1960s when there were more astronauts in the Apollo program than pilots trained to fly the Kestrel/Harrier.

[@plunder1956]

What a wonderful aircraft it has been. From a time when British aviation really was world beating and innovative.

[@markfrancis5164]

I used to visit Dunsfold Aerodrome every year for the British Aerospace staff Saturday display during one weekend each summer. An uncle of mine used to work at the Kingston Factory building the Harrier where the fuselage & wings were made. My uncle was a construction engineer on the wings. Each aircraft was then transported to Dunsfold to have final assemble to a fully completed aircraft and the first test flight of each aircraft was made at Dunsfold. Those were wonderful memories that lasted my entire childhood throughout the 1970’s and beyond. The factory was on the bank of the Thames, north of Kingston and once the Harrier production came to the end, the factory site was sold and is now an housing estate, built in the early 1990’s. Dunsfold still exists and is better known as the location for the classic years of Top Gear. Harrier: The only fighter Jet American forces bought that wasn’t developed in the states - Now that’s a unique achievement. Historic note: My uncle told me of what happened after The Falklands War. It was kept secret for a couple of decades until the production ended. On return of the aircraft carriers to the UK, all aircraft flew to Dunsfold and were disassembled for a full service and inspection at the factory. The marine version, Sea Harrier, fared very well considering and were renovated and updated for further service with only one or two relegated for spares only. The standard Harriers however, that were transported to the South Atlantic, were only supposed to be used on the Islands themselves once we had landed and made a base. Due to the pressure of sorties they were flown off the carriers and did hundreds of sorties at Sea. Upon return for inspection, all the normal Harrier airframes were condemned and scrapped as the salt water environment had corroded structures and components to the point of destruction. The exposure to the marine environment was mainly post victory, until the ships finally got back to the UK. They were wrapped and sealed for the journey by sea to the Falklands and were never intended for Carrier duty but land base and attack. The Sea Harrier used a lot of stainless steel were required but the normal harrier did not.

[@Mark13091961]

Fascinating detail 👍🏻

[@lightwoven5326]

I worked on the fuel additive that provided salt water protection for the sea harriers. I have an interesting story about a batch failure which held the carriers in dock due to the failure of the product.

[@LemurKrazy]

Fantastic footage of it on the carrier deck.

[@robertsmith9810]

I remember seeing one of these at an open day at an American air base and made me truly proud to be British as it raised from behind trees , and of course they proved their worth in the Falklands conflict

[@spdyrzr01]

Many thanks from the United States Marine Corps. Semper Fi !!!

[@scbond]

“Their”. Your lack of knowing the difference between “their”, “there” and “they’re” makes me be truly ashamed to be British.

[@spdyrzr01]

@@scbond ?

[@robertsmith9810]

@@scbond you sir are a cretin first class i think there is more behind this comment than the correct use of their and there but i will bow to your greater knowledge of English grammar cheers and good day

[@markleuck]

Initial image shows a Blackburn Buccaneer, wrong plane

[@jimbateman9]

I was lucky enough as a young boy to have seen the P1127 at Farnborough in the early sixties.

[@drmarkintexas-400]

🏆⭐🤗🎖️ Thank you for sharing this

[@brianconnelly2906]

I was in the military when the American version was being tested...that was in the '83-'84 time frame.

[@chrissearle6176]

There is no American version. There is harrier 1 which was 100% British. Then there was the sea harrier also 100% British. Finally there is the harrier 2 which was a large more powerful sea harrier, partially financed & part built by America under licence. In the American built harrier, Only the cockpit instrument were American, everything else was British design.

[@michaeltelson9798]

The Kestrel is such an apt name for this aircraft as the small falcon can hover as it hunts for its food.

[@Stillb]

I had the honour to be an engineer on the Sea Harrier frs1 with 899 and 801 Naval Air Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm 😊 great times. Should never have gotten rid!!?

[@dgk42]

I remember seeing a Harrier at an airshow in NZ many years ago. It was amazing to see it hover in front of us in a way a plane is not meant to do. Great memories. Also, I wasn't aware of what led to the Harrier, so I loved this video.

[@paulwood5803]

As a young boy of 7 or 8 years old, I went to an RAF open day at RAF Upavon where my uncle was serving. This would have been around 1963/64. There I saw the first ever public demonstration of the P1127 doing a vertical take off and landing. As a plane mad boy this the most exciting thing I had ever seen and remains up there in the top 10.

[@robertharriman7267]

As someone without a patriotic bone in my body and a hatred of war Im still saddened by the demise of this genius aircraft.

[@ENGBriseB]

Still stunning.

[@satanihelvetet]

Thank you for a great video! Very innovative and impressing engineering by the Brits!

[@ferstuck37]

It’s sad that it was discarded due to lack of imagination and potential. But at least it lives on in the marine corps.

[@moshunit96]

It wasn't really discarded. They just took what was learned and made a better version and called it the harrier.

[@Snake-ms7sj]

The AV-8

[@chrissmith2114]

@@moshunit96 The Harrier has not been used by UK forces since about 2010...

[@ianjardine7324]

It was retired for good reasons. While the Pegasus cold thrust engine allowed for vertical flight it severely limited the aircraft in both speed and payload. These limitations could not be overcome without a completely new approach such as the mechanical forward lift fan in the F35 which allows the rear nozzle to operate at far higher temperatures. We will no doubt see the Harrier continue with nation's which need SVTOL capabilities but cannot afford to buy or maintain F35s. I'm honestly surprised the Chinese haven't attempted to acquire or clone the design as it would allow them a proven fleet air capability while they get to grips with all the problems their current approach is causing. Their large carriers have both structural and system issues and their carrier aircraft are proving underpowered and unreliable.

[@chrissmith2114]

@@ianjardine7324 Tell the US marine corp that Harrier is no good. The reason Britain stopped using them is 1. our politicians are stupid 2. they rather waste money on stuff we do not need like a high speed railway to link two cities 120miles apart, to save a few minutes ( HS2 ) which is costing £1billion per mile to build.

[@katmandoism]

I was a radio operator in cherry point in 1970. I talked to the pilot of the first one to land there. I was in a tactical air command center.

[@robertalan4717]

Thank you. It was a fascinating era for aviation. Did you guys ever do a video or heard of the silent aircraft that flew over Vietnam? They were based on gliders with huge wooden props.

[@armandoanderson3536]

No mention of the Falkland Islands? Supposedly where the Harrier showed off it's VTOL advantages in real war/conflict scenarios.

[@fredburley9512]

No experience I found like seeing one in real life just hovering there on its ingenious RR Pegasus engine thrusters. Sheesh! Such inventive brilliance. 👍

[@chrismair8161]

Changed Warfare in the Falklands. US Marines saw this and..Slow but stupidly maneuverable to the Mirage French Mirage II's. The pilots of the Harrier would simply do a Dead stick stop and drop 100 feet then require and shoot an AIM-9 then regain speed. The Low and Slow worked for them for the terrain as they could hide in a range of mountains and wait for the opponent to fly over then rise and target with a missile that tracks heat for 15 miles. America's best at the time. At least it had a gun!

[@tomcobbly8672]

I believe the Americans discovered 'Viffing' or vectoring in forward flight which made the aircraft jump upwards and slow down dramatically allowing faster jets to pass by and be attacked from behind.

[@Mark13091961]

My late uncle worked on the production line of these in the 60s at Hawker Siddely (what is now the Airbus wings production site) at Broughton near Chester

[@gavindawson3108]

The house I grew up in' back window (my bedroom) used to over look RAF Waddington, every morning I was greeted by at least a handful of Mushroom Planes (E3 Sentry) parked up. I'll never forget the sound and sight of a Harrier performing a VTOL, that shit blew my tiny little 6 year old brain! Sadly, now all I get to see is the Red Arrows training 3 times a day and the occasional Typhoon from Coningsby. Damm! 😏

[@fg-pv5ht]

British innovation and engineering at its best it's shame we fail at capitalising on these ideas at a financial level unlike the USA

[@paulf9487]

I saw the thumbnail and thought "what's so special about the Buccaneer........".

[@davidberesford7009]

I enjoyed this Vid. The harrier is a very scary piece of equipment.

[@OniMetsuki]

Lobe the Harrier, but it had One significant problem that claimed some planes... During a VTOL with no wind, the engine can end up ingesting it's own exhaust gasses stalling the engine causing the plane to drop to the ground. The more modern F35B solves this due to it's shaft driven large vertical turbofan which keeps fresh air circulating for the engine to breath.

[@PaulRandle-sc8qk]

British engineering at its best.

[@briangriffiths1285]

Yet another British development that the US benefitted from.

[@Paul-mh9pr]

But also the Harrier project was helped along by the USMC interest & McDonnell's agreement to get involved as it improved the viability of the project with a substantial increase in the number of aircraft & RR manufactured engines required.

[@darkgalaxy5548]

Oh please Dark Skies, you don't have to resort to click bait in your thumbnails. A Harrier looks cool enough on its own.

[@carguygibby]

Maybe if he shows a thumbnail of a Harrier we'll get a video of the Buccaneer?🤔

[@bassetdad437]

I'm holding out for a VTOL Bucc.

[@paulsara9694]

Bristol did a hell of a lot of good things, the Olympus engine for one.

[@DrJRaven]

The Harrier is an absolutely fantastic plane.

[@TheCho-k4m]

And it still serves today 55 years on.

[@tamahagane1700]

Hey why Bucc on thumbnail

[@sergeantd9966]

This is pretty cool and interesting

[@mitchellculberson9336]

Tje Harrier or jump jet know by that from the USMC.This same jet.defeated Argentina in the Falkland War & Argentina had supersonic jets.while the Harrier is subsonic. The Marines.used them to good effect in tje Persian Gulf Wars 1 & 2 .My favorite British jet,my favorite American jet I'd the A-10 Warthog,favorite helicopter is the Apache & then the Cobra & Super Cobra.Ant nation with these weapons platforms will be hard to defeat unless overwhelmed or caught.on the ground!

[@chrismaguire3667]

We beat the Argies' Mirages by using a technique called 'viffing' which utilised the variable thrust nozzles by causing the Harrier to suddenly change it's horizontal axis to a vertical one, breaking both missile lock and allowing the Mirage to pass under giving the Harrier pilot it's own missile lock and shooting the supersonic plane down or damaging it beyond the ability to fight. Viffing was developed by the Harrier pilots, and it was the only plane in the World to be able to do it. Amazingly, though there were, and are, many VTOL types nothing, not even the F-38 Lightning, that has ever matched the Harrier, which is why the USMC prefer it. Stupid UK govts have always liked it's new bells and whistles. Imagine the Harrier with new fly-by-wire, if it doesn't already have it, avionics! The original airframe might not have the ability to deal new engines, but with new alloys and materials, why not? The new Lightnings have never really impressed, except for stealth capability, although the Israelis have, as usual, used them to it's best capability lately against Iran, and I will bet humbugs to matchsticks that they have, as usual,*improved* on what the Americans though their best efforts.

[@JTA1961]

Well said...USAF same attitude regarding A10 & B52

[@glennsammon4465]

Vectoring In Forward Flight. something the F35 cannot do.

[@sonnyandreotte5721]

always wondered what the pilot of the harrier thought of the ufo calvine picture

[@christophermarshall5765]

Awesome aircraft. When I was a child, I wondered if a plane such as this would be made.

[@clansome]

P1127 was one of the first Airfix kits I made (1/72nd scale plastic assembly kits), I must have been around 6or 7 (so 1964 or 1965). It was before the Kestrel let alone Harrier name was known outside of RAF etc; think it was one of the bagged kits, rather than boxed too. Classic aircraft.

[@AlanStock-wt5tm]

really cool to see one of the Kestrels at the Pima Air Museum.

[@MikeG43]

I watched the first Sea Landing on HMS Ark Royal from the Goofing deck 1963. Still have the black &white photographs.

[@davidh2608]

I remember seeing the Harrier at various air shows here in the UK and the sight and sound of it hovering, flying backwards and taking a bow have always stayed with me. Remarkable aircraft that was short sightedly decommissioned by the government to save money. I always hoped they'd develop and improve them to be capable of supersonic flight, but alas....it was not to be. I am glad to see them still in use by the USA, our strongest and respected ally. I hope that when we took them out of service they were all shipped across the pond to begin a new life or keep others going.

[@karoltakisobie6638]

That quote by Sydney Cam about sophistication of projects should be memorized by current vehicle makers and treated as gospel. Over engendering of EVs will be cause of their slow death ( again). There is a list of reasons why do many regard 90s as time of peak car development.

[@paulqueripel3493]

To be pedantic, it used a Bristol Siddeley Pegasus engine, not a Rolls. They bought BS a few years later.

[@SPak-rt2gb]

This guy reads straight from the Wiki page

[@W.J.Blythe]

I used to work on these diffuser’s in England for GE, welding the material which if I remember rightly was PE11, we used to work the night shift for about 3 years we had problems concerning cracks in the welds, it all turned out there were faulty welding rods which the day shift were aware of but never bothered to share with the night shift, must have cost the company millions

[@murder.simulator]

And then came along the Yak-38, and we laughed at it's name and the struggles it had to even ger airborne

[@sjaguartype]

Given the Location of the test flight was it the Stig at the controls ??

[@oneofdavidsmightymen]

The original idea and the predecessor from which the harrier was developed was built by ShortBros and Harland the SC1

[@petertyson4022]

The AV-8A, had a high mishap rate of 31.77 accidents per 100,000 flight time. 3 times more the the F/A-18 and 5 times more then the A-10. Pilots described it as "unforgiving to fly", also one squadron called it the widow maker. .thought I put that in. Didn't know that USA and NATO were interested in the beginning. Brilliant aircraft. Up their with my top 10 extraordinary aircraft. 👽👍

[@jes2731]

In our approach to Sydney AU back in May of 87' aboard USS Midway (CV-41). USMC Harrier jets from the USS Peleliu (? maybe) did recovery and launch exercises on our angel deck for a few hours. !!!-VERY COOL-!!!

[@Michael-dk5kh]

Could you do a segment if you haven't already on Lockheed Martin's new hypersonic missile called Mako?

[@davidmartin2957]

This had been tested and tested prior to this public display.

[@MMMMM-v5m]

I was watching this 1960s series called "the Saint" staring Roger Moore. And. what pops up on it.?? Video of a Harrier Jump Jet. I had no idea it had been around that long.. Wow..

[@Tom-Lahaye]

At the RAF museum in Cosfort there is a Kestrel. And Dunsfold, where later the famous Top Gear fastest car circuit was.

[@mattclark6246]

The AV-8B changed aviation history from the British to American Although it didn't go super sonic it served its purpose especially during the first first Gulf war The AV8B harrier Was getting old and outdated until the US decided to start up a new VSTOL programs with Boeing x32 and Lockheed Martin f35 Battle of the x-planes from PBS So in reality we have a new version of the harrier flying Called the f35 🕊️ Of ✌️

[@billgiles3261]

I served as an engineer on the Kestrel tripartite squadron.

[@dellawrence4323]

Made in England.

[@elitedavidhorne8494]

Its not often that UK makes a plane that is purchased by the USA.

[@markdraycott3974]

Crazy to think this was only 16 years after WW2 when our plane of choice was the Spitfire

[@Leonwhu73]

America handed them a cheque and said keep going.. They knew!

[@michaellinner7772]

Man I was -3 months old when this happened. I remember it like the time I ran into a couple of dinosaurs

[@davegoldsmith4020]

In the 70's princess Margret carried out a royal visit to RAF Coltishall, she sat on a Red covered Dias to watch the flying display, As it started an RAF phantom did a high speed flypast, it ended with a harrier landing on the grass, the pilot got out and walked up to the princess, saluted and handed her a framed photo of herself sitting on the Dias. At the time the harrier was just coming into service.

[@FreedomMoped]

I used to love seeing the Harrier Jump Jets

[@christianhorner001]

Just imagine if British engineering brilliance continued at this pace for the past 50 years. Sadly Britain is in steep decline.

[@j.t.frompa5508]

2nd time I know of from Dark Skies with the thumbnail image not matching the actual aircraft discussed in the video. This time showing a Buccaneer not a Harrier and 5 months ago a video titled "The Metal US Bomber That Drove Everyone Crazy" showing a different plane in the thumbnail from the Martin B10 discussed in that vid.

[@mathewjones5520]

Why is the thumbnail a buccaneer and the video is about the harrier?????

[@MrM1729]

I see you’re new to the channel.

[@Starfishcentral]

I remember seeing Harrier GR3 at RAF Gutersloh in Germany as a kid.

[@paulgreen2416]

I use to live up in the Lake District where a lot of Harrier flight yraining takes place. If you gave them a wave and they saw youu it wasn't uncommon to get buzzed by them whilst out on the lakes. Had one pilot pass over my tiny little boat at what looked barely above my mast.

[@doogle2822]

A part of the video that should have been included I think was the aircraft bowing to a delegation of Japanese dignatories on London bridge. I stand to be corrected if I have got any of this wrong.

[@trevortrevortsr2]

The place to go to see all the development aircraft and ski ramp test rigs is the Fleet Air Arm museum Yeovil

[@chrissmith2114]

The final version of the Pegasus Engine produced 24,000 lbs of thrust

[@dx1450]

1:27 My first thought was "That's Abe Vigoda."

[@mrbigw100]

Can you do a video of BC Thomas who landed in Norway with a SR 71 or when the sr71 had engine trouble and was forced to fly at 5k ft and the viggens came out escort it came to escort stopped Russian migs from shooting it down

[@blingbling574]

Useful payload was a major issue. That's why it went from VTOL to VSTOL.

[@jamesvermillion5151]

The Kestrel was a wonderful idea, made better in order to become the AV8B.

[@paulkendall6069]

The aircraft was initially called Kestral before entering service as Harrier after modifications, I read they added small air jets in wing tips and front and rear of plane to aid stability in hover. I also read they were working on a bigger engine that would have given mach1 speed and bigger plane with larger pay loads but funding was not maintained and Bristol was merged into Rolls Royce and engine died as no funds just another what if of if uk had not been broke but Harrier lead a spirted life in uk till Mr Cameron killed it before its time again down to money saving rather than common sense.

[@stephenjudd8287]

Britain knows how to make a plane, camel, spitfire, hurricane, mosquito, Lancaster, vulcan, harrier, comet, tornado and the concorde. The quality over quantity rule.

[@samuelforsyth6374]

thats the old topgear test track right?

[@lightwoven5326]

Yes, still under threat for building of a large housing estate. Roads cannot take the load as it is...

[@nicholas5281]

Dunsfold. The old Top Gear track😊

[@unclefart5527]

Huh? It's the P1127. The design concept outlasted them all for decades. But it was the Americans that put the plastic wing on it and gave it decades more service.

[@CobraArtsOfficial]

Wasn’t the Short SC.1 the First VTOL not the Harrier? SC.1 first flight in 1958 and the P.1127/Harrier in 1960

[@bassetdad437]

True, but the SC1 was a one trick pony, a proof of concept aircraft. The Kestrel was designed as a capable combat aircraft .

[@denisthaddeus9847]

1127 was a technology demonstrator. I saw the first teathered flight at Dunsfold.

[@southerneruk]

The film of the JJ was not the first time it had done this, it was the first time it was shown what it can do, it was one of the poorest kept secret many ordinary people of the street knew about this plane in 1961, beautiful plane, the only bad thing about it was the fuel and how much it used doing vertical take off and landing, it is a problem even today with the new types, even the Osprey uses a lot of fuel on a standing takeoff The Harrier JJ do have the best safely record going and the Osprey the worse as to date

[@brianniegemann4788]

These VTOL planes are useful to the army and marines for the same reasons as helicopters; they provide tactical ground support with little or no runway space. The air force has little use for them, not fast & powerful enough for air combat or strategic attack roles. With the possible exception of the F-35 Lightning.

[@KyleThill]

I suppose not using the real image in your thumbnail was for what purpose? It wasn't an error.