Chris Wilson of Jet Art Aviation describes the restoration of a very special Harrier
Next year sees the 50th anniversary of the transatlantic air race organised by the British newspaper the Daily Mail. By a happy coincidence Yorkshire-based Jet Art Aviation is bringing to an end a fiveyear restoration of Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.1 XV741, the winner of the now legendary event.
As the 1960s ended, the Harrier – the world’s first vertical/short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) aircraft – entered RAF service with 1 Squadron at Wittering, Northants. Keen to show off its wonder jet, the RAF ‘top brass’ took very little persuasion to enter a brace of its Harriers in to the race – XV741 and XV744.
This was also a great excuse to fly the flag for British industry and demonstrate the new marvel to the rest the world. In particular, the United States was seen as a potential purchaser for the ‘jump jet’.
Staged between May 4 and 11, 1969 the Daily Mail race was intended to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first nonstop crossing of the Atlantic by British aviators Captain John Alcock and Lt Arthur Brown in their modified Vickers Vimy. (The Vimy is today on show at the Science Museum in London.) In 1919 the Bri…
