A Jump(jet) across the Atlantic
May 5, 2019 6:54 PM   Subscribe

50 years ago, the Daily Mail commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the first trans-Atlantic crossing by John Alcock and Arthur Brown with an air race between New York and London. Each runner would start at the top of either Post Office Tower or the top floor of the Empire State Building. Cross the Atlantic and reach the top of the other building.

Lieutenant Commander Peter Goddard recorded the shortest time between New York and London of 5 hours 11 minutes. Flying as a passenger in XT859, a Royal Navy Phantom.

Squadron Leader Tom Lecky-Thompson took 6 hrs 11 min in the opposite direction. Taking a Westland Wessex helicopter from the Post Office Tower to RAF St Pancras, then piloting XV741, a Harrier GR1 over the Atlantic. Landing at Bristol Basin in New York. Before heading to the Empire State building by motorbike.

The Restoration of XV741
After finishing her service life as a training airframe for the Royal Navy. XV741 was put up for disposal. Jet Art Aviation took up the challenge of restoring her to the specification as she was when taking part in the air race. This work involved replacing both the nose and tail cones, Fin, Air brake and wing tips. Before repainting XV741 from bare metal.

Once all this was completed XV741 moved to her new home at Brooklands Museum.

Experiments in VTOL
Helicopters appeared towards the end of the second world war but engineers began to wonder about other methods of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL). Rolls Royce built two Thrust-Measuring Rigs, better known as the Flying Bedstead, taking to the air for the first time on 3rd August 1954. Becoming the first aircraft to supported solely by jet thrust. Two Rolls Royce Nene turbojet in this case.

Short Brothers built of the experience gained operating the two flying bedsteads and produced the five engined SC-1. Four of the engines were used to lift the aircraft. With the final engine used in forward flight. Taking to the air 2nd April 1957 in conventional flight and in VTOL mode 26th May 1958. The SC-1 continued to provide valuable research data until retirement in 1971.

P.1127
Bristol Engine Company began the development of the Pegasus vectored thrust engine. Hawker Aircraft were made aware of the new engine and started to develop designs based around the Pegasus in 1957. Using thrust vectoring removed to the requirement for separate life engines. Greatly reducing the weight of the designs. Official support did not come until summer 1959 when the first two prototype, after much of the design work had been completed. The resulting P.1127 first flew 19th November 1960.

Kestrel
The now Hawker Siddeley continued to develop and refine the design. Official interesting was growing leading to the Tri-partite Evaluation Squadron (TES). Made up of United States Air Force, Royal Air Force and Luftwaffe. The Design gained a name. The Kestrel FGA.1. First flying on 7th March 1964. Evaluation was completed in November 1965 but testing continued in the USAF and NASA out of Edward Air Force Base.

P.1154
In 1961 Hawker Siddeley used the knowledge gained with the P.1127 to design a Mach 2 capable design powered by the Bristol Siddeley BS.100 engine to meet the joint RAF and Royal Navy requirement. By September 1964, a full-scale mock-up had been produced and a month later the first run of the BS100 engine. Sadly, with three prototypes at various stage of construction on 2nd February 1965 the project was cancelled.

Harrier
The Royal Navy went with the Phantom as a replacement for the P.1154. The RAF on the other hand looked at an upgraded version of the P.1127, which would have the name originally intended for the P.1154, Harrier. The Harrier GR.1 made its first flight on 28 December 1967 and entered service in 1969.

United States Marine Corps also showed interest. Taking delivery of the AV-8A as they called the type in 1971. The Spanish Navy also took delivery of the type as the AV-8S matador.

Development continued with the all the RAF aircraft being upgraded to GR.3 standard, with more powerful engines, Radar warning receiver and laser tracker in a lengthened nose. Becoming operational at the start of July 1976.

The Fleet Air Arm acquired the type for their "through-deck cruisers". The Sea Harrier being introduced at the start of August 1978, now produced by British Aerospace after a series of mergers. These differed from the other variants with the fitting of a radar and a raised cockpit for an air to air role. Along with improved anti corrosion measures to deal with the salt water environment. The type became operational in January 1981, making use of the Ski-Jump fitted to ther Royal Navy ships. The Indian Naval Air Arm also took delivery of a Sea Harrier variant. The FRS.51 fitted to use R.550 Magic missiles.

Falklands War
Events in the South Atlantic would see the first operational use of the both the Sea Harrier and GR.3. The types flew from HMS Invincible and HMS Hermes as part of the UK task force to retake the islands. The RAF GR.3’s provided the majority of the ground attack force with the Sea Harriers acting fleet defence fighters on combat air patrol missions. No Sea harriers were lost in air to air action. Two were lost to ground fire and four in accidents. Three GR.3s were lost to ground fire and one to an accident on landing.

Brian Hanrahan famously reporting after one mission ‘I'm not allowed to say how many planes joined the raid, but I counted them all out, and I counted them all back’.

Harrier II
Range and payload had always been a limitation of the first-generation Harriers. Early effort in 1973 focused on uprating the Pegasus engine. These did not lead to product aircraft. Work continued in the background until 1976 with McDonnell Douglas modifying two AV-8A’s with new wings, exhaust nozzles and other aerodynamic changes. The YAV-8B flew in early November 1978. The new wing and fuselage incorporated a large amount of composite construction, an extra hardpoint per wing and most noticeably moved the undercarriage outriggers from near the tips of the wing to the middle. The AV-8B became operational in January 1985. The RAF version, the GR.7 first flew at the end of April 1985 and became operational in July 1987. Versions were also sold to Spain to replace their first-generation Harriers as the Matador II.

Both USMC and RAF variants were upgraded in service with new electronics, improved engines and support for new weapons.

Retirement (Previously)
The Harrier remains in service in a number of countries to this day. The Indian Navy, Thailand (ex-Spanish Matador’s), The Spanish Navy, The Italian Navy and the USMC. The UK retired the type in stages with the Sea Harrier being the first to go in 2006. With the RAF Harriers leaving service in 2010.

Replacement
Over the year a number of developments have been studied. One of the most advanced was the P.1216 in the 1980’s. None of these came to production. In RAF, Royal Navy and USMC service the type will in the end be replaced by the F-35B version of the Lighting II in development since 1992. (Previously 1, 2, and 3)
posted by Z303 (8 comments total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
I wonder if fifty years ago people were as startled as now to learn that Charles Lindbergh was like the 37th person to fly across the Atlantic.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:11 PM on May 5, 2019 [1 favorite]


I remember that race!
posted by Segundus at 11:32 PM on May 5, 2019


Harriers are cool machines. I remember being fascinated by them as a kid. I was surprised that they had the range needed to cross the Atlantic, though, but then I read the article: "He refuelled a further 10 times during the flight using 13 tanker planes". OK, then.
posted by Harald74 at 11:49 PM on May 5, 2019 [3 favorites]


During the Falklands War, Harriers would basically troll Argentine ground forces by hovering over them above the range of their surface to air armoury. Not doing anything, just sitting there (and obviously observing troop movements). Every so often a frustrated soldier would pop a rocket off at them, and the pilot would sit there, watch the rocket come up and explode harmlessly under them. (This is all in Max Hastings' and Simon Jenkins' The Battle For The Falklands)
The dogfights are more impressive, but I suspect there is a lot to be said for the effects on morale of the untouchable enemy.
posted by Vortisaur at 1:53 AM on May 6, 2019 [1 favorite]


It's at times like this I reflect on just how exceptional the Harrier truly was - of all the various attempts at STOVL aircraft over the years, so many of them have been a failure. There's an old diagram - the VTOL Wheel of Misfortune - which is a little outdated at this point but still relevant. Of the 50+ projects shown, only the 3 (at the time) bolded ones made it successfully to production: Harrier, Forger, and V-22. Two other aircraft shown in development - X-32 and X-35, in blue, ended up in a project that moved on to another successful production aircraft, MeFi's favourite F-35.

STOVL is a very, very difficult balance to achieve, as so many required features are in conflict with the requirements for efficient conventional flight. A successful STOVL aircraft is one that manages it's compromises, reducing their impacts on the aircraft's primary mission - note that you build and aircraft to do a task - having greater flexibility in takeoff and landings is a feature, not a task.
posted by Nice Guy Mike at 5:58 AM on May 6, 2019 [2 favorites]


Epic post! Art Nalls here in the US has a privately-owned Harrier. Some more details here on Wikipedia.
posted by exogenous at 6:17 AM on May 6, 2019


The Flying Bedstead looks a little like the lunar landing trainer that NASA used for training astronauts. About halfway down this article, there is a picture of Neil Armstrong ejecting from one.
posted by The Incredible Gnome at 9:05 AM on May 6, 2019 [1 favorite]


... an air race between New York and London.

I was talking with my son last night about the time, while I helped out on a school trip to Washington, D.C., we met with Noel Widdifield in front of the Air & Space Museum’s SR-71 Blackbird. (Not only the type of aircraft he flew in; the actual plane.) Major Widdifield, once upon a time, flew from London to New York in just under two hours (1,807 mph).
posted by LeLiLo at 2:17 PM on May 6, 2019


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