Hawker P.1127
This aircraft, XP 831, is the first prototype of the Hawker P.1127. The experimental flying done with it proved the practicality of a new method of flight and led directly to the successful Harrier series.
Following WWII, the new power of the jet engine suggested that aircraft could be designed to take off and land vertically using engine thrust alone. Various ideas were tried, including the use of separate downward-pointing lift engines in addition to the main engine used for forward flight. Most of these designs were too complex or too difficult to fly.
The system used on the P.1127 is simpler, relying on a single powerful jet engine with four swivelling (vectoring) nozzles. For take-off and hovering the aircraft is, in effect, supported on four stable 'legs' of thrust.
With this aircraft the test pilot, Bill Bedford, performed the crucial trials in the programme. From October 1960 hovering trials were conducted to refine the control system. In September 1961 the transition from hovering (jet-borne) to conventional wing-borne flight was achieved. Later Bedford showed that the transition from wing-borne forward flight back to a stationary hover could also be performed stably and safely.
The aircraft's engine is a single Bristol-Siddeley Pegasus vectored-thrust turban with an initial 11,000-lb thrust. An example can be seen above on the floor beneath the aircraft.
The aircraft is on loan from the RAF Museum at Hendon and seen in the Flight display of the Science Museum in South Kensington, London.
Hawker P.1127
This aircraft, XP 831, is the first prototype of the Hawker P.1127. The experimental flying done with it proved the practicality of a new method of flight and led directly to the successful Harrier series.
Following WWII, the new power of the jet engine suggested that aircraft could be designed to take off and land vertically using engine thrust alone. Various ideas were tried, including the use of separate downward-pointing lift engines in addition to the main engine used for forward flight. Most of these designs were too complex or too difficult to fly.
The system used on the P.1127 is simpler, relying on a single powerful jet engine with four swivelling (vectoring) nozzles. For take-off and hovering the aircraft is, in effect, supported on four stable 'legs' of thrust.
With this aircraft the test pilot, Bill Bedford, performed the crucial trials in the programme. From October 1960 hovering trials were conducted to refine the control system. In September 1961 the transition from hovering (jet-borne) to conventional wing-borne flight was achieved. Later Bedford showed that the transition from wing-borne forward flight back to a stationary hover could also be performed stably and safely.
The aircraft's engine is a single Bristol-Siddeley Pegasus vectored-thrust turban with an initial 11,000-lb thrust. An example can be seen above on the floor beneath the aircraft.
The aircraft is on loan from the RAF Museum at Hendon and seen in the Flight display of the Science Museum in South Kensington, London.