Dick Everett had a GR.7 which had been ditched . I guess that will be preserved in due course . Apart from that not many! The one that should have been preserved in the U.K was ZD318 which effectively was the first U.K production Harrier II.

Hello David and all here,

I’ve just discovered this forum so please be gentle !

ZD 318 & 319 were always kept back as development aircraft, mostly at Dunsfold where they were built; ZD318 was the first British Harrier II to fly, in the hands of CTP Mike Snelling.

318 usually did avionics development, while 319 performed weapons & equipment trials, so software & hardware respecively; I usually went along to look after the onboard instrumentation cameras on ZD319, up to 16 could be carried in one go, 3 each side in modified CBLS200 practice bomb carriers, 2 wide angle facing forward by the airbrake, and 4 in each dummy mahogany gunpod, of which 3 faced outboard & 1 in each pod faced forward for gun, rocket & missile work.

ZD318 was retired because it was nowhere near production GR9 standard, through its’ testing career the aircraft was usually ahead but sometimes behind of or different to what the squadrons had, and nowadays there is an effort to avoid ‘fleets within fleets’ and to keep every aircraft to the same standard.

I heard ZD319 was overstressed while at Wart On, they tried flying it without pylons and it departed, at least that’s what I was told.

Both these aircraft, in my view especially ZD319, should be preserved and saved from the aeronautical National vandalism that the recent defence cuts represent.

I was one of two photographers at Dunsfold 1979-93, I loved it and left when I couldn’t stand what the bean counters were doing…

Hope the pics are of interest…

ZD318 Under build, Dunsfold; the chap leaning over the starboard side in a grey suit is Ted Fitton, in the words of John Farley ” the only person I know to survive a Mosquito engine failure on takeoff ! “…

ZD318 1st takeoff, 1st British Harrier II

ZD319 On Harrier II Rough Ground Trials, this is at Wittering on the PSP, camera gunpods and CBLS200’s.

ZD319 Rough Ground Trials Wittering, Test Pilot Graham Tomlinson. nb nose reaction control duct.

ZD319 landing on PSP, Rough Ground Trials Wittering ( these trials were also carried out at Boscombe ). Test Pilot Bernie Scott.