The RAF Harriers

Operation Blue Nylon

Playing on the myth that Nylon had been named by two chemists on an intercontinental flight between New York and London, the RAF entered the race under the banner Exercise Blue Nylon. Included were the aircraft and crews of No.1 Squadron (Hawker Siddeley Harrier), No.55 and No.57 Squadrons (Handley Page Victor tankers), No.72 Squadron (Westland Wessex), and No.543 Squadron (Victor SR.2 reconnaissance aircraft)

A great deal of thought, effort and politics went into finding and agreeing on the use of inner-city landing sites for the Harrier. In London, the RAF negotiated a lease on a disused coal-yard situated on the roof of St. Pancras Goods Terminal. Early in May 1969, RAF ST Pancras was established. Access was via a ramp to the yard which was about 50-80 feet above street level. On one side of the coal-yard were some high-rise flats, on another, at street level, was a church.

38 Group Tactical Signals Unit (TSU) based at RAF Tangmere assigned a small team to act as the Defence Communications Squad, responsible for all radio communications between military and civilian authorities involved in the Race, including Air Traffic Control.

Support came from 51 Field Squadron (Airfields) Royal Engineers, who laid down a MEXE landing pad and a squad of the RAF Regiment who were responsible for security, general administration of the site and to guide and escort the competitors to and from the GPO Tower.

Ground Communications Technician Ritchie Stephen wrote that the ‘accommodation and victualing was in canvas tents, erected in the yard. Sanitation was primitive to non-existent, but an arrangement with the Landlord of the local pub provided access to a shower and toilet facilities above the pub.’

He recalled that one of their tasks ‘was to hand-deliver leaflets to all flats and houses bordering the coal-yard, suggesting that, when the Harrier was due to land, they open their windows to minimise the chance of exhaust pressure from the jet breaking the glass panes.’

Negotiating a site in New York for the Harrier was somewhat easier than it has been in the UK. An empty landfill, owned by the UN, at the eastern end of 23^rd Street was selected. Fittingly the rubble that had been used came from bombed out buildings in Bristol, transported as ballast in ships returning to the US during the war.

For the FAA Phantoms, Victors of 543 Squadron and the 10 Squadron entry a more conventional approach was required. Wisely, BAC’s test flight facility in Surrey, with its long, near east/west runway, was selected as the closest suitable airfield to London. On the American side, it was decided to use the US Naval Air Station Floyd Bennett in the Bronx, close to New York City.

Harrier Pilots and other runners brought in by Wessex helicopter were rushed to and from the base of the GPO Tower to the St Pancras coal yard by RAF Police motor cycle riders. In New York there was a similar arrangement from the helipad or the Harrier landing zone. The RAF Regiment team became very familiar with the layouts but also the workings of the lifts in both buildings. Vic Pheasant of 543 Squadron recalls that ‘they learnt to function as a team controlling the lift movements at every level to ensure that their competitor got down the towers in the quickest possible time, and (unofficially), controlled the traffic outside the towers’.

Onward transport to Wisley and Floyd Bennett was by Royal Navy and RAF Wessex helicopters in the UK and a detachment from 72 Squadron were on hand. Their Wessex machines had the RRPM tweaked to allow 140knots instead of the usual 120knots.

The RAF formed a cell at HQ Strike Command to control the RAF participation and to observe the weather patterns and winds over the North Atlantic in order to decide the best day for each of the crews and competitors to fly their route.

To support the military competitors, most of the Victor tanking force was deployed to Goose Bay and Loring AFB in north-eastern Maine. The Harriers could cruise at Mach 0.88 at 36 000 feet which conveniently matched the performance of the Victor tankers. The tankers had been streamlined with the removal of the wing refuelling pods, leaving a single centre line hose to improve performance. Immediately the Harriers reached cruise altitude, after take-off, three tankers were on hand to refuel. The tankers, in turn, were refuelled by another three Victors and then they escorted and topped up the Harrier across the Atlantic. A similar pattern was adopted for the FAA and 543 Squadron aircraft.

Harriers

Undoubtedly the most iconic image of the air race is of a Harrier taking off from central London, the first jet ever to operate within a city. Entering the Harrier was a masterful stroke of marketing brought to fruition through old fashioned ingenuity and the will to succeed.

At the time the aircraft had not entered service and was in the later stages of development. Squadron Leaders Tom Lecky-Thompson and Mike Adams were the only pilots with enough experience to fly the aircraft. With only ten hours on type, Graham Williams was appointed as backup pilot. At the end of February1969, he was thrust into a main role when Adams was injured in an accident and had to withdraw from the race. It was an air force requirement that Williams had to have 50 hours before he could participate. In his book ‘Rhapsody in Blue’, Graham notes that with on-going engine, oxygen and refuelling trials, the necessary hours soon accumulated.

It was important to present the Harrier entry as an operational aircraft. Accordingly, they were officially based with No 1 Squadron RAF Wittering and the pilots were posted to the base as normal squadron pilots and not as test pilots. For long ferry flights wing tip extensions, that increased the wingspan by about four feet, had been designed to reduce drag and increase range. These were fitted to the Harriers and Williams records that they ‘did increase the stability of the aircraft and made it easier to fly at high level’. The extensions were never used operationally.

Tom repositioned the second aircraft, XV744, to America in a trial run that proved that entering the Harrier in the race had a fair chance of success. On Saturday 3^rd May Tom landed a jet fighter for the first time in the centre of a city.

Ritchie Stephens wrote that as the Harrier landed, a dense cloud of coal dust rose up and descended all over those gathered for the landing. Senior military officers and fashion models were all streaked in soot and those householders who had opened their windows had their homes inundated with the dust. Below the coal-yard, a wedding party was having photographs taken on the church steps. An irate bride Jean Phillips, groom and guests, stormed the yard. They were somewhat mollified when invited to have their photographs taken with the Harrier as a backdrop.

On the 5^th May Squadron Leader Lecky-Thompson clocked his race card at 10 am, took the lift down the GPO tower to a waiting a Wessex helicopter and onto RAF St Pancras, where he climbed into the cockpit of Harrier XV741. The take-off at 10.06.was dramatic and dirty. The downdraught from the engine generated billows of black dust clouds that permeated everything in the immediate area.

The take off and climb to 36 000 feet had used two thirds of his 900lbof fuel and his first task was to take on fuel over RAF Boscombe Down. It was not straightforward. The Victor’s TACAN (tactical air navigation instrument), which enabled aircraft to close in on each other was defective. The flight was on the point of being abandoned when Tom spotted the tanker for a successful fuel transfer.

It was a busy flight, not only did Tom have to refuel ten times, but he had to communicate with various authorities, monitor the weather and manage fuel consumption. It was a fine balancing act between running short of fuel and having to dump fuel ahead of landing and so lose valuable minutes.

He then flew south along the east coast of America, passing over Boston and the edge of John F Kennedy Airport in New York before heading up the East River and touching down on a makeshift landing on the 90sq ft pad set up by the Marines on Bristol Basin, then climbed out and was driven to the Empire State Building on the back of a motorbike by an off-duty police officer.

Travelling at speeds of up to 0.89 Mach, about 683 miles per hour Tom set the best eastward race time of 6 hours 11 minutes and 57 seconds.

On 25 April Graham Williams was aboard a 99 Squadron Britannia that carried the Royal Navy and RAF ground crew and equipment from Wattisham to Floyd Bennett Naval Air Station, Brooklyn, via Gander. He had to wait until Friday 9^th to enter the race. The weather over the east coast of the US was terrible was but expected to be clear for the remainder of the route. He raced out of the lobby of the Empire State Building and into an open E Type Jaguar that struggled through slow moving traffic so that by the time he arrived at the landing pad he was soaking wet.

XV744 was only fitted with a rudimentary instrument set, no inertial system and on take-off Graham found he had lost the artificial horizon and was left only with turn and slip and a compass. Condensation obscured the instruments and his forward view. He cleared the clouds at 38 000ft with less than 1200lbs in the tanks. Fortunately, he saw three tankers lined up in front of him. Shortly after he had taken on fuel, another three new tankers arrived to refuel his three. Graham wrote ‘that it was a magnificent sight and a really professional performance.’

The ‘fleet’ of four cruised at Mach 0.88 at 38 000f feet with the Harrier throttle set at maximum. During the crossing, several short fuel transfers took place to ensure the Harrier could reach the planned diversions. Graham topped up 350 nautical miles from Ireland, then left the last Victor over Dublin to make for the finish. He focused on balancing fuel consumption and speed to achieve the correct fuel tonnage for a vertical landing.

As always ATC (Air Traffic Control) was very obliging and it was crystal clear over London. He was so enthralled by the sight of the GPO Tower the he almost missed St Pancras. He shut down, jumped on an RAF Police motorbike to the helipad where a Wessex took him to the Moss building next to the GPO Tower. He had expected to be dropped off at RAF St Pancras and was a little disorientated until he realised where he was and ran across the road to the GPO Tower to register a time of 5 hours 49 minutes and 58.52 seconds.

The prime reason for entering the Harriers was to demonstrate its VTOL capability matched with its speed and fitness as a fighter aircraft. Vic Pheasant was aboard the 72 Squadron Wessex flying SAR safety for the Harrier as it landed the East River landing pad, recalled that ‘this really blew the minds of the New Yorkers when pictures featured on TV and the front pages of the newspapers the following day - a fast-jet combat aircraft landing in `down town New York!’

Harrier excitement and high-profile publicity were firmly rounded off when the two Harriers escorted the Queen Elizabeth 2 up the Hudson River into New York harbour as it completed its maiden voyage. With only local authorisation they flew almost in the hover on either side of her in a strong crosswind.

The risks had been high. It was a new aircraft type, single engine, that required frequent hazardous mid-air refueling, travelling a long distance over water.

Tom Lecky Thompson stayed on in America for two weeks giving demonstrations which paid off when the US Marines selected as their close support aircraft the AV8A and B to become the largest user of a Harrier derivative.