Flight Line

摘要

Depending on your definition of exactly when it all started, the Hawker/Hawker Siddeley/BAe/McDonnell Douglas Harrier is at least 57 years old. It was on 21 October 1960 that P1127 XP831 made its first tethered flight at Dunsfold, piloted by Bill Bedford with his right leg in plaster following a car accident. Thus was born the Harrier 'jump jet'. To cut a very long story short, the P1127 morphed into the Kestrel that was developed into the Harrier, which was then completely rethought as the Harrier Ⅱ.