Harrier 1st Generation
Sign in to saveAlso known as AV-8A Harrier, Harrier GR3, Hawker Siddeley Harrier
ground attack aircraft series by Hawker Siddeley, later British Aerospace
Key facts
- Type
- V/STOL ground-attack aircraft
- National origin
- United Kingdom
- Manufacturer
- Hawker Siddeley
- Status
- Retired
- Primary users
- Royal Air Force (historical) United States Marine Corps (historical) , Spanish Navy (historical) , Royal Thai Navy (historical)
- Manufactured
- 1967–1970s
- Introduction date
- 1 April 1969
- First flight
- 28 December 1967
- Developed from
- Hawker Siddeley P.1127 /Kestrel
- Developed into
- British Aerospace Sea Harrier , McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II , British Aerospace Harrier II
via Wikipedia infobox
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Hawker Siddeley Harrier is a British jet-powered attack aircraft designed and produced by the British aerospace company Hawker Siddeley. It was the first operational ground attack and reconnaissance aircraft with vertical/short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) capabilities and the only truly successful V/STOL design of its era.
It was the first of the Harrier series of aircraft, being developed directly from the Hawker Siddeley Kestrel prototype aircraft following the cancellation of a more advanced supersonic aircraft, the Hawker Siddeley P.1154. In the mid 1960s, the Harrier GR.1 and GR.3 variants were ordered by the British government for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The Harrier GR.1 made its first flight on 28 December 1967, and entered RAF service in April 1969. During the 1970s, the United States opted to procure the aircraft as the AV-8A; it was operated by the US Marine Corps (USMC).
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Harrier 1st Generation” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.