Mark A. Chambers charts the history and output of Hawker Aircraft Ltd from Sopwith onwards, through the Harrier's development, production, flight testing and operational and combat history, and also considers its future replacement, the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

During the Falklands War in 1982, RAF and Fleet Air Arm Harriers and Sea Harriers flew in action against the invading Argentinean forces. RAF Harriers have also seen active service over Bosnia, in Desert Storm 1 and 2, and in Afghanistan. The Hawker Siddeley/Bae Harrier, formally referred to as the 'Harrier' or colloquially as the 'Jump Jet', is a British-designed military jet combat aircraft capable of Vertical/Short Take-off and Landing (V/STOL) via thrust vectoring. The Harrier family is the only truly successful design of this type from the many that arose in the 1960s.The Hawker P.1127 first flew as a prototype in 1960 and the RAF ordered a modified P.1127/Kestrel as the Harrier GR1 in 1966. Harriers of a number of different marks have since been used by the RAF, US Marine Corps, the Royal Navy, the Spanish Navy and the Royal Thai Navy.

Detailed profile artworks and descriptions of 14 different RAF jet aircraft types.

This volume chronicles the making of the Harrier Jump Jet—the innovative Cold War fighter aircraft designed to operate from virtually anywhere. In 1957, the British engine manufacturer Bristol Siddeley turned aircraft design on its head with the creation of the Pegasus engine. Until then, aircraft designs would seek out suitable engines. Now the Pegasus was an engine in search of a suitable aircraft. The result was the famous Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first military airplane capable of vertical takeoff and landings. To this day, Harrier Jump Jets are still in front-line service with air forces around the world including the Royal Air Force and US Marine Corps. In this volume, former Bristol Siddeley executive Andrew Dow offers an in-depth look at the Pegasus engine's original design concept, production and flight testing. Dow then covers the developments and improvements that have been made over the years. He also includes experiences of operational combat flying, both from land and sea. Written in straightforward prose that avoids technical jargon, Pegasus, The Heart of the Harrier is copiously illustrated with many previously unseen photographs and diagrams.

This illustrated history covers in detail the design and development of the Hawker P.1127, Kestrel and Harrier. It examines how their designs came together, the flight testing undertaken by the manufacturer and the RAF, and it includes some of the designs, showing alternative and rejected ways of performing the vertical take-off role for the RAF. It considers proposed developments and the Sea Harrier, focusing on the work done in the late 1950s-1970s.

Hawker Siddeley's history can be traced back to 1912 and the formation of the Sopwith Aviation Company by Tom Sopwith which metamorphosed into Hawker Aircraft after World War One. In 1934-35, Gloster, Avro, Armstrong Siddeley, Armstrong Whitworth and others were taken over to create the Hawker Siddeley Group. The Group built some of the most important aircraft and missiles of the 1960s, 1970s and beyond; its best-known products included the Harrier, Buccaneer, Nimrod and Hawk warplanes, Sea Dart missile and HS748 airliner. Its collaborative projects included the European Airbus and various satellite programmes. Hawker Siddeley was subsumed into British Aerospace in 1977, but some of its products still remain in service to this day. This is their story. Illustrated with over 400 colour and black & white photographs, many of them previously unpublished.

A large number of fighter projects have been drawn by British companies over the last fifty years, but very few have turned into hardware, and very little has been published about these fascinating "might-have-beens". This book makes extensive use of previously unpublished, primary-source material-much recently declassified. It gives an insight into a secret world where the public has had little idea of what was going on, while at the same time presenting a coherent nationwide picture of fighter development and evolution. Particular emphasis is placed on tender design competitions and some of the events that led to certain aircraft either being canceled or produced. Some of the many and varied types included are the Hawker P.1103/P.1136/P.1121 series, and the Fairey "Delta III". The book includes many illustrations, plus specially commissioned renditions of "might-have-been" types in contemporary markings.