Hawker Siddeley P.1127
| P.1127 / Kestrel | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Hawker XV-6A in 1968 | |
| Role | Experimental V/STOL aircraft |
| National origin | United Kingdom |
| Manufacturer |
Hawker Aviation Hawker Siddeley |
| Designer |
Sydney Camm Ralph Hooper |
| First flight | 19 November 1960 (P.1127) 7 March 1964 (Kestrel) |
| Primary users |
Royal Air Force US Department of Defense/NASA German Air Force |
| Number built | 6 P.1127s 9 Kestrels |
| Developed into |
Hawker Siddeley P.1154 Hawker Siddeley Harrier |
The Hawker P.1127 and the Hawker Siddeley Kestrel FGA.1 were the experimental and development aircraft that led to the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first vertical and/or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) jet fighter-bomber. Kestrel development began in 1957, taking advantage of the Bristol Engine Company's choice to invest in the creation of the Pegasus vectored-thrust engine. Testing began in July 1960 and by the end of the year the aircraft had achieved both vertical take-off and horizontal flight. The test program also explored the possibility of use upon aircraft carriers, landing on HMS Ark Royal in 1963. The first three aircraft crashed during testing, one at the 1963 Paris Air Show.
Improvements to future development aircraft, such as swept wings and more powerful Pegasus engines, led to the development of the Kestrel. The Kestrel was evaluated by the Tri-partite Evaluation Squadron, made up of military pilots from Britain, the United States, and West Germany. Later flights were conducted by the U.S. military and NASA.
Related work on a supersonic aircraft, the Hawker Siddeley P.1154, was cancelled in 1965. As a result, the P.1127 (RAF), a variant more closely based on the Kestrel, was ordered into production that year, and named Harrier - the name originally intended for the P.1154 - in 1967. The Harrier served with the UK and several nations, often as a carrier-based aircraft.
Following the end of the Korean War, a number of aircraft companies in both Europe and America separately decided to investigate the prospective of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, which would eliminate the requirement for vulnerable runways by taking off and landing vertically as opposed to the conventional horizontal approach. In addition to military applications, the prospect of applying such technology to commercial airliners was also viewed with considerable interest by the mid 1950s, thus the value of developing viable vertical take-off systems was judged to be substantial. However, even during this era, few companies had envisioned that a VTOL aircraft would also be realistically compatible with the characteristics of high performance military aircraft.
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Wikipedia