Redirected from AV-8 Harrier
The Harrier family was started by the Hawker P.1127. Design began in 1957 with Sir Sidney Camm[?] and Ralph Hooper of Hawker Aviation[?] with Stanley Hooker of the Bristol Engine Company. Rather than using rotors or a direct jet thrust the P.1127 had a innovative vectored thrust turbofan engine and the first vertical take-off was on October 21, 1960. Design continued after Hawker Siddeley Aviation was created with the Kestrel, which first flew on March 7, 1964. The Kestrel was a evaluation aircraft offered to military test pilots from Britain, the US and West Germany (the Tri-partite evaluation unit). Successful tests led to an order for sixty aircraft from the RAF in 1967. The Harrier GR Mk.1 was the first production model, it first flew on December 28, 1967, and entered service with the RAF on April 1, 1969. Construction took place at factories in Kingston-upon-Thames in southwest London and at Dunsfold, Surrey. The latter adjoined an airfield used for flight testing; both factories have since closed. The ski-jump technique for STOL use by Harriers launched from contemporary Royal Navy aircraft carriers was tested at the Royal Navy's Somerset airfield called Yeovilton. Their flight decks were designed with an upward curve to the bow, following the successful conclusion of those tests. The air combat technique of VIFFing was evolved in the Harrier - vectoring in forward flight - to out manouevre a hostile aircraft or other inbound weapon.
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The RAF ordered 118 of the GR Mk.1 to 3 series Harrier. The AV-8A for the USMC and the Spanish airforce was very similar and 113 craft were ordered.
The later model Harriers are easily distinguished by their extended wingspan, the wings extending beyond the outrigger wheels that are at the wingtips of the earlier versions (including Kestrel prototypes and the Sea Harrier).
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