June 2018 FLYPAST 97Following consultation with the
owner it was agreed not to bring it to
ground running condition as we had
done with GR.3 XZ130, a previous
Harrier project. We deemed XV741
too historically important to put to
unnecessary risk, and besides the
serviceability of its Pegasus was
unknown.
From the outset it was clear
that this project was going to be a
real labour of love and incredibly
challenging. We studied photos from
the air race and spoke to ground
crew present at the time to work out
what special-to-type equipment had
been fitted for the event.
This included a set of 100-gallon
(454-litre) drop tanks with early-
style tailfins as fitted to a HawkerHunter, a pair of wingtip extensions,
an air-to-air refuelling probe, an
early specification GR.1 nosecone
with pitot probe, an early tail cone
fairing, plus a set of belly-mounted
aerodynamic strakes.
It was clear that some modification
would be required to remove
the RWR housing on the fin and
return it to the 1969 specification.
To do the job correctly, sourcing
the necessary parts and various
smaller components counted for a
large proportion of the first phase
of the project. These pieces were
mission critical – without them the
restoration could not happen.
The time we spent learning about
all the differences between the GR.1
and the GR.3 was documented in a
series of short video blogs published
on the Jet Art Aviation YouTube and
Facebook pages.
Sourcing the GR.1 nose cone, which
had become obsolete in the early
1970s, was the real turning point and
we were lucky enough to find a ‘new
old stock’ example. This would have
been extremely difficult to create
from scratch.Some components, such as the
tail cone, proved near impossible to
find and in the end, we resorted to
reverse engineering this fairing with
the help of a local craftsman. The
Harrier Heritage Centre at Wittering
very kindly loaned us the tail cone
from its pre-production aircraft,
XV279, enabling us to create an
exact copy.Blank canvas
There was an unusually large
build-up of paint on the airframe, in
some places as many as 17 layers!
It had never been back to bare
metal. To achieve the standard we
were aiming for, a full strip-down
and repaint would be the only way
forward.
Numerous methods of paint
removal were trialled, however the
thickness and military specification
of the 1960s paint proved very
stubborn. In the end we opted for
soda blasting the whole aircraft.
Approximately three tons of soda
was used by specialist contractor
Enviroblast UK to return XV741
to bare metal.The cockpit interior stripped for
restoration.Part of the exacting parts sourcing
operation, the new ‘old stock’ canopyThe reverse-engineered tail cone.Fitting the ferry wing extensions.Removing the wing
from XV741 at Gosport,
September 2012.
“Following consultation with the owner it was agreed not to bring it to ground
running condition as we had done with GR.3 XZ130, a previous Harrier project.
We deemed XV741 too historically important to put to unnecessary risk, and
besides the serviceability of its Pegasus was unknown”