March 2016 AH 23blage balances in relation to the airplane’s center of gravity
and the wing’s center of lift. The Harrier’s Pegasus, however,
is immovable. Its four nozzles determine the all-important CG,
and the airplane must remain perfectly balanced around that
point. To keep the moment arm of the weight forward of the
engine manageable, the cockpit must be snuggled as close to the
Pegasus as possible, and the pilot ends up sitting like a Formula 1
driver, with his shoulders not many inches forward of the big
three-disc fan.
Small as it is, the Harrier’s wing still must be high-mounted, to
allow a clear area below for the swiveling nozzles’ thrust. (That
wing is a single spar-through structure that has to be entirely
removed to access the engine for heavy maintenance or an
engine change.) And with the wing up so high, retractable main
TIVLQVOOMIZKW]TLJMIٻML\WQ\WVTa_Q\POZMI\LQٻK]T\a6WZ can the gear be designed to retract into the fuselage, since this would put the wheels directly into the jet blast of the nozzles. The rear nozzles are jet-hot, of course, and even the “cold air” coming out of the front nozzles is hot enough to boil water or blister tires. So the Harrier has centerline bicycle gear, with a single double-wheel main strut aft, a nosewheel forward and a pair of outriggers near the wingtips. The considerable anhedral of the Harrier’s wings and hori- bWV\IT[\IJQTQbMZ[MQ[[\WKW]V\MZ\PMIQZXTIVM¼[LM[QZM\WZWTT
]VKWV\ZWTTIJTaQNaIJMKWUM[M`KM[[Q^ML]ZQVO[TWÆQOP\1V
NIK\WVMWN\PM0IZZQMZ¼[UWZMQUXWZ\IV\¹ÆQOP\QV[\Z]UMV[º
is a small yaw indicator—a miniature weathervane, essentially
sailplane technology—just in front of the windscreen, to keep
the pilot from venturing into this danger zone
The Harrier’s elephant ear airscoops are so enormous be-
KI][ML]ZQVO\PMUW[\KZQ\QKITXPI[MWNÆQOP\ ̧PW^MZQVOIVL
TIVLQVO ̧\PMZMQ[VWZIUIQZMٺMK\NZWUNWZ_IZLUW\QWVI[
there would be on a conventional jet. The Harrier must gulp its
own intake air rather than having it shoved down its throat. To
aid in accomplishing this, each scoop also has a row of blow-in
doors just aft of the intake lip. They are spring-loaded and are
sucked in automatically to provide more intake area when
the airspeed diminishes.
(Un like a conventional air-
craft’s engine, the Pegasus
is running at full power and
bMZWIQZ[XMMLL]ZQVO\PMÅVIT
stages of an approach and a
verti cal landing.)W
hy the increased
interest in vertical
\ISMWٺIVLTIVL-
ing? What even-
tually became the Harrier had
originally been viewed as an
QV[\IV\\ISMWٺNI[\KTQUJQVO
short-range bomber intercep-
tor, since World War II had
made aerial blitz Britain’s
great fear. But at the height of
the Cold War, it also became
apparent that World War
III could well begin with the
Warsaw Pact’s air forces cra-
tering every runway in Eu rope
L]ZQVO\PMÅZ[\PITNPW]Z\P][
OZW]VLQVO6)<7¼[KWV^MV-
tional frontline fighters and
attack aircraft. Unless, that
Q[\PMa_MZMIJTM\W\ISMWٺ
NZWUZIVLWUNIZUÅMTL[IVL
quickly prepared short strips.
Though the Harrier was
JZQMÆaXMZKMQ^MLI[I><74
airplane, the source of the
jump-jet moniker, it quickly
became obvious that a
[\ZIQOP\]X\ISMWٺKW]TLWVTabe done with a near-empty
airplane—carrying just
enough fuel to do its act at an
airshow, say. In the real world,
0IZZQMZ[ JMKIUM ;<7>4
machines. Carrying bombs,
bullets and a mission-load of
OI[\PMa_W]TL\ISMWٺIN\MZ
a ground—or carrier-deck—
run and land vertically only
after returning with ordnance
IVLN]MTM`XMVLML
The British rightly claim
Harrier patrimony, but the
United States was involved
with the airplane from the out-
set. Wibault’s vectored thrust
was initially championed by
6)<7¼[=;N]VLML5]\]IT
Weapons Development
Agency, after U.S. Air Force
Colonel Willis Chapman of
\PM5?,)_I[KWTTIZMLJaI
persuasive Wibault at a Paris
Air Show. Before the British
government ever got behind
the Hawker Siddeley P.1127
XZWXW[IT6);)_I[\M[\QVO
wind-tunnel models of the air-
XTIVMI\Q\[4IVOTMa:M[MIZKP
Center and had built a
1/6th-scale, radio-controlled
P.1127 model that success-
fully made vertical takeoffs
IVLTIVLQVO[6);)XI[[ML
Q\[ÅVLQVO[JIKS\W0I_SMZ
which was hugely encouraged
by the data.
Three-quarters of the fund-
ing for the original Pegasus
engine prototype was pro-
vided by the U.S., the remain-
ing 25 percent covered by
Bristol as a private venture
because the government
couldn’t afford to back the
company’s achievement. And
of course the major purchase
of first-generation-Harrier
)> )[Ja\PM=;5IZQVM
Corps and the consequent for-
mation of a license-produc-
tion and development venture
_Q\P 5K,WVVMTT ,W]OTI[
(before it became part ofREADY FOR ANYTHING A Harrier lurks beneath camouflage
netting in Germany during a NATO exercise in June 1981.
THE BRITISH
RIGHTLY CLAIM
HARRIER
PATRIMONY, BUT
THE UNITED STATES
WAS INVOLVED
WITH THE
AIRPLANE FROM
THE OUTSET.