The Rise & Fall of the Harrier Jump Jet

Comments · 773

• JM

  @JMMC1005 · 2 years ago

  "Rise and fall" - I see what you did there.

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• BE

  @beefgoat80 · 2 years ago

  As an American, the retiring of the Harrier is probably the British version of when the F-14 was retired. No one wanted to see it go, but it had been long since time. 😢

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• CH

  @charlesyarwood6146 · 2 years ago

  I'm an old man now and remember an air show at Farnborough where 4 Harriers on the ground faced the crowd. They rose vertically, bowed, turned and transitioned in different directions. I will never forget the overwhelming power and noise. It was there, previously that I also witnessed the Lightning's astonishing vertical climb. Heady days of national pride. Long gone, sadly. As an Air Cadet I also illegally went up in a Vulcan for a single circuit after maintenance.

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• PH

  @PhilipMReeder · 2 years ago (edited)

  In 1969, while in the family car in north St. Louis County near Lambert Airport with my father and sister, we noticed something above the highway that seemed to be hovering. At first we thought it was a helicopter, but then as we got closer, realized it wasn&apos;t. It was a Saturday afternoon, sunny and clear. The &quot;craft&quot; was orange and white and extremely loud. We were on N. Lindbergh Ave, which was a major overpass with a lot of traffic. The plane was maybe a hundred feet above one of the cloverleaf sections and the pilot was clearly visible. Every car in all directions slowed or stopped to watch this unbelievable sight. Seeing a helicopter hovering was nothing, but this plane just sat there above us nearly motionless. We and all around had never seen anything like it. Eventually it increased power and flew away. When we returned home and told the rest of our family what we had seen, including my mother, they laughed at us and thought we made it up.<br>It wasn&apos;t until many years later while looking at a Signal - &quot;Harrier in Action&quot; publication that I saw artwork showing the Harrier in its McDonnell Douglas test paint scheme, from that period, that I realized what the aircraft was.

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• UN

  @UncleJake714 · 2 years ago

  Watch enough videos of Harriers landing vertically and the landings will seem quite abrupt, maybe even painful for the pilot.<br><br>This is by design: the Harrier often flipped upside-down right before touching down during vertical landings. &nbsp;Sadly, many pilots lost their lives to this unknown danger because they&apos;d be crushed in the cockpit.<br><br>After the deaths, vertical landing protocol was changed. &nbsp;Harrier pilots were instructed to massively reduce thrust and drop down to deck before the dangerous flip-over, ground effect phenomenon could happen.

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• MO

  @MostlyPennyCat · 2 years ago

  With a father serving on HMS Invincible during the 90s, Pegasus was the soundtrack of my childhood.

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• RO

  @RobertHawthorne · 2 years ago

  I worked with a US Marine helicopter squadron in the middle 70&apos;s. I remembered the Harrier when the Marines started using them being called internally the &quot;Widow Maker&quot;. The only issue with the Harrier in those days was the piolet had a lot to do, correctly, getting off the ground and back down. One little mistake or slow reaction was deadly.

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• MA

  @Madeyes6 · 2 years ago

  Worked on them for 15 years &amp; had 10 flights. The ex RAF &amp; navy harrier engineers still meet up every year near their bases at wittering &amp; Cottesmore. Loved working on them &amp; definitely missed at air shows round the uk.

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• OI

  @OiDivision · 2 years ago (edited)

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7LP1JAVtM4&amp;t=982">16:22</a> Spanish Armada EAV-8B Harrier IIs have appeared at Farnborough in 2014, RIAT in 2019 and 2023, and are also set to appear this year (2024) as well. If you want to see a flying Harrier at a UK airshow, head to RAF Fairford.

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• CH

  @chrisb3380 · 2 years ago (edited)

  &quot;..it&apos;s unlikely that we&apos;ll ever see them again at any airshows in the UK&quot;. Checks airshow listings, Spanish navy harrier flying at Fairford airshow in 4 weeks time!! 😁

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• MI

  @miket2120 · 1 year ago

  It was said that the Harrier didn&apos;t so much has hover, but that the Earth was pulling away fast enough to make it look like hovering in an attempt to get away from the Harrier&apos;s tremendously loud engine.

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• KN

  @Knightboat99 · 2 years ago

  Excellent video, I worked on the UK Harriers (mainly GR7/9 T10/12) for 15 years right up to the bitter end &nbsp;in December 2010 and was there at RAF Cottesmore for the final flight, a sadly missed amazing machine..

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