Original vintage Cold War 1960s British defense company Hawker Siddeley advertisement for its Harrier jump jet-powered vertical and/or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) attack aircraft, "Every Single Military and Civil Airfield in the World is Known, and Targeted." What's a V/STOL? Think the iconic Bell V-22 Osprey, but half a century older.
Dimensions: Approx. 16.5 inches wide by 11 inches high - this is a two-page vintage advert.
The advert touts the ability of the Harrier - as a V/STOL - to take off from pretty much anywhere, and thus doesn't need a vulnerable runway. The Harrier can hover, take off, or land vertically or use very short runways. Generally, a V/STOL aircraft needs to be able to hover.
V/STOL was developed to allow fast jets to be operated from clearings in forests, from very short runways, and from small aircraft carriers that would previously only have been able to carry helicopters.
The main advantage of V/STOL aircraft is its military performance, such as closer basing to the enemy, which reduces response time and tanker support requirements. In the case of the Falklands War, it also permitted high-performance fighter air cover and ground attack without a large aircraft carrier equipped with aircraft catapult.
The Hawker Siddeley Harrier in the advert here 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 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. The Harrier made its first flight on 28 December 1967, and entered Royal Air Force (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).
Introduced to service amid the Cold War, the RAF positioned the bulk of their Harriers across West Germany to defend against a potential invasion of Western Europe by the Warsaw Pact forces; the unique abilities of the Harrier allowed the RAF to disperse their forces away from vulnerable airbases. The USMC used their Harriers primarily for close air support, operating from amphibious assault ships, and, if needed, forward operating bases. Harrier squadrons saw several deployments overseas, and its ability to operate with minimal ground facilities and very short runways allowed it to be used at locations unavailable to other fixed-wing aircraft.
In the 1970s, the British Aerospace Sea Harrier was developed from the Harrier for use by the Royal Navy (RN) on Invincible-class aircraft carriers. Both the Sea Harrier and the Harrier fought in the 1982 Falklands War, in which the aircraft proved to be crucial and versatile. The RN Sea Harriers provided fixed-wing air defense while the RAF Harriers focused on ground-attack missions in support of the advancing British land force.
Operational History with the United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps began showing a significant interest in the aircraft around the time the first RAF Harrier squadron was established in 1969, and this motivated Hawker Siddeley to further develop the aircraft to encourage a purchase. Although there were concerns in Congress about multiple coinciding projects in the close air support role, the Marine Corps were enthusiastic about the Harrier and managed to overcome efforts to obstruct its procurement.
The Marine Corps accepted its first AV-8A on 6 January 1971, at Dunsfold Aerodrome, England and began testing it at Naval Air Station Patuxent River on 26 January. The AV-8A entered service with the Marine Corps in 1971, replacing other aircraft in the Marines' attack squadrons. Subsequently, the USMC became interested in performing ship-borne operations with the Harrier.
Admiral Elmo Zumwalt promoted the concept of a Sea Control Ship, a 15,000-ton light carrier equipped with Harriers and helicopters, to supplement the larger aircraft carriers of the U.S. Navy. An amphibious assault ship, USS Guam, was converted into the Interim Sea Control Ship and operated as such between 1971 and 1973 with the purpose of studying the limits and possible obstacles for operating such a vessel.
The USMC concept for deploying the Harriers in a land-based expeditionary role focused on aggressive speed. Harrier forward bases and light maintenance facilities were to be set up in under 24 hours on any prospective battle area, and the forward bases contained one to four aircraft to be located 20 miles (32 km) from the forward edge of battle (FEBA), while a more established permanent airbase would be located around 50 miles (80 km) from the FEBA. The close proximity of forward bases allowed for a far greater sortie rate and reduced fuel consumption.
Starting in 1979, the USMC began upgrading their AV-8As to the AV-8C configuration—the work focused mainly on extending useful service lives and improving VTOL performance. The AV-8C and the remaining AV-8A Harriers were retired by 1987, and were replaced by the Harrier II, designated as the AV-8B, which was introduced into service in 1985. Since the late 1990s, the AV-8B has been slated to be replaced by the F-35B variant of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, a more modern V/STOL jet aircraft.
Operational History with the British Royal Air Force
The first RAF squadron to be equipped with the Harrier GR.1, No. 1 Squadron, started to convert to the aircraft at RAF Wittering in April 1969. In RAF service, the Harrier was used in close air support (CAS), reconnaissance, and other ground-attack roles. The flexibility of the Harrier led to a long-term heavy deployment in West Germany as a conventional deterrent and potential strike weapon against Soviet aggression; from camouflaged rough bases the Harrier was expected to launch attacks on advancing armor columns from East Germany.
Falklands War
In the Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas) in 1982, 10 Harrier GR.3s of No. 1 Squadron operated from the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes. As the RAF Harrier GR.3 had not been designed for naval service, the 10 aircraft had to be rapidly modified prior to the departure of the task force. Special sealants against corrosion were applied and a new deck-based inertial guidance aid was devised to allow the RAF Harrier to land on a carrier as easily as the Sea Harrier.
Due to limited space aboard the aircraft carriers, two requisitioned merchant container ships, Atlantic Conveyor and Atlantic Causeway, were modified with temporary flight decks to transport Harrier aircraft and helicopters to the South Atlantic. Harrier GR.3s were primarily employed in providing close air support for ground forces on the Falklands, with a particular emphasis on suppressing Argentine artillery.
Sea Harriers were primarily tasked with conducting combat air patrols in response to the threat posed by Argentine aircraft. Both Sea Harriers and Harrier GR.3s were employed in ground-attack operations against the airfield and runway at Stanley.
