British Aerospace AV-8C Harrier

British Aerospace AV-8C Harrier. . , Vertical/short take-off and landing aircraft, called VSTOL, are considered a crucial asset on the modern battlefield. Flying from improvised runways or small ships offers a tactical advantage. Likewise, an aircraft that can convert vertical lifting power to high-speed horizontal flight, while carrying a useful payload, is extremely desirable. Very few aircraft have these capabilities. The Harrier is one of them., The Hawker Siddeley Aviation (now British Aerospace) Harrier was the result of 10 years of research, testing and refinement. The Harrier used vectored thrust from a single engine to take off, hover, maneuver and fly forward at high speeds. the Rolls-Royce Pegasus turbo-fan engine, buried within the wide fuselage, has its thrust diverted to four ducts, two on each side, forward and aft below the wing. These ducts rotate in unison from an angle of 0° for forward-level flight and to 90° for vertical hovering flight. The ducts can actually be rotated forward beyond vertical to 98°, allowing the aircraft to fly backward. Small nozzles in the nose, tail and wing tips use thrust that is tapped off the main engine to control the aircraft attitudes of pitch, yaw and roll while hovering or translating between vertical and horizontal flight., The Harrier GR Mk. 1 first flew on December 28, 1967, and was first used in combat by the British Royal Navy during the Falklands War in 1982. The U.S. Marine Corps realized the Harrier's potential much earlier than this and purchased 110 AV-8A Harriers from England in 1970-1971. These aircraft were updated with a radar warning receiver, a chaff-dispensing countermeasures system and structural upgrades, extending their service life. The modified Harriers were redesignated AV-8C and reentered service in May 1979., U.S. Marine Corps Harrier unit suffered an appalling accident record during the first decade of use: 55 aircraft were lost to peacetime mishaps. Improved training procedures led to a drastic reduction in losses., The aircraft on display is dedicated to Capt. Manuel Rivera, USMC. Rivera flew AV-8B Harriers and was the first marine from New York City lost in the line of duty during Operation Desert Storm on January 22, 1991.,

Length: 45 feet 7 inches (13.9 m) , Wingspan: 25 feet 3 inches (7.7 m) , Height: 11 feet 11 inches (3.7 m) , Empty Weight: 13,086 pound (5,936 kg) , Max Weight: 25,200 pounds (11,431 kg) , Top Speed: 730 miles per hour (1,175 kph) , Ceiling: 51,200 feet (15,605 m) , Crew: One , Armament: 25mm cannons, 5,000 pounds (2,268 kg) comprising four AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, bombs, rockets or extra fuel tanks

, [Captions:] , AV-8C Harriers operate from small ships. Here, a U.S. Marine Corps Harrier from Marine Attack Squadron VMA-513, the Flying Nightmares, takes off from an amphibious transport dock ship in 1982., McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) designed the more advanced AV-8B Harriers. They were the first Marine Corps tactical strike aircraft used during Operation Desert Storm (1991), flying 3,380 combat sorties in more than 4,300 flight hours.