Harrier

About

The Hawker Siddeley Harrier is the world's first operational vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) jet combat aircraft, descended from the Hawker P.1127 prototype that first flew in 1960. The production Harrier — the GR.1 ground-attack variant for the Royal Air Force — entered service in 1969, and the type went on to be flown by the United States Marine Corps as the AV-8A and AV-8B Harrier II in service through the 2010s and beyond.

The Harrier's secret was the Rolls-Royce Pegasus turbofan engine and its unique vectored-thrust nozzle arrangement: four rotating exhaust nozzles directed engine thrust either rearward for conventional flight, downward for hovering, or somewhere in between for short takeoffs and slow flight. The result was an aircraft that could take off vertically from a forest clearing, hover over a battlefield, and use rolling short takeoffs from improvised "ski jump" carrier ramps — capabilities no contemporary jet could match. The Royal Navy's Sea Harrier variant became famous in the 1982 Falklands War, where the type's dogfighting performance against Argentine Mirages and Skyhawks earned it a reputation as one of the most respected combat jets of the late twentieth century.

The McDonnell Douglas / British Aerospace AV-8B Harrier II, developed in the 1970s and 1980s, brought the design into the digital era with composite construction, a new wing, and updated avionics, and continued in U.S. Marine Corps and Royal Air Force service for decades. The unmistakable Harrier silhouette — with the four vectored-thrust nozzles visible on the lower fuselage — is one of the most iconic jet shapes ever produced, and a popular EDF scale subject in the RC market.

In the simulator

A serious jet with the unmistakable visual character of the real Harrier. While our sim won't simulate true vectored-thrust hovering, the Harrier flies with the kind of inertia and approach character of a real jump jet. Use it for jet pattern flying with the visual presence of one of the most distinctive military aircraft of the twentieth century. Pairs well with airport-class landscapes that have proper runways. A unique entry in any RC scale-jet collection.