Harrier GR1 Ejection

I remember this well. Was watching the rehearsal from outside the barrack block 2 by the fire station when we heard the engines of the harriers as they lifted off from the beach. As they rose just above the cliff tops one harrier peeled away and the other seemed to hover for a second. There was a change in engine pitch and then suddenly we saw the canopy blow and the pilot eject. The plane veered seawards then turned and came down in the sports field at Happy Valley. The pilot landed in the burning wreckage and had it not been for the quick action of a PTI nearby the result may of been worse than a broken ankle. We spent the next couple of days guarding the wreckage while awaiting crash analysts from the UK. I also remember a search going on as only 3 rockets fired on the ejector seat. I believe the fourth was found on the hillside. If memory serves me correctly this picture was taken by a young lad with an Instamatic camera and appeared on the front pages of many national papers next day. I still have photo’s that I took of the fire power display which continued within the next few days.

I found this old story after Googling this Harrier crash – I clearly remember one of the daily rags (Mirror I think) back in 1973 had this photo in B&W enlarged to fill the entire centre pages. I pinned it up on my bedroom wall, and vaguely remember the story heading was something like “seconds from disaster”…….

Glad I found it again after all these years.

Eddie D

Welcome to the forum. Please feel free to give us the story as you saw it and heard about afterwards. You’ll find a lot of ex services people on here with experiences to share.

Regards

John

I agree with Flanker_man, having read the newspaper article at the time. 3 x Mirage F1s on delivery flight, having stopped over en-route at Cyprus orGreece. A local guard bent one pitot tube while hanging off it due to boredom, then bent the rest to make them look the same. I don’t condone vandalism, but the F1 does have the most deliciously pointy nose.

Don’t you believe it, one of them (FHM if memory serves) did an article on the AN-225, most of the write up was 10 years out of date. Another FHM article had a piece about a Syrian solider doing pull-ups on the Pitot probe of an RAF Harrier, thus bending it. Thinking that nobody would notice the damage if the Pitot probes on all of the rest of the aircraft on the flight line looked the same he bent the rest to the same angle. The pity is the Magazine never explained what RAF Harriers were doing in Syria in the first place :confused: . (The actual story I heard about in 1982 ;), the place was Cyprus, the man was a Flight Line Mechanic in the RAF and the aircraft were Lightning’s). As a footnote, I’ve met the bloke, he was a line SNCO on the LTF and was still a bit of a nutter 😮 .

Funny how stories do the rounds…… and turn into urban legends.

When I heard it, it was French Mirage F.1’s being delivered to Jordan and transitting through Cyprus.

Bored ramp guard etc – same outcome – a line of bent probes.

Dunno which one is true – although I bow to your superior knowledge.

Ken

Dave T. Thanks for the clarification. I gather it was a very hot day on the day of the show ; despite this all RAF Officers present had to wear No 1’s . This caused more of a “monk” than the 1 Squadron incident, fortunately the pilot was O.K. 🙂

I got rid of the text to the left, and I did wonder about the effect in the cockpit, but it does look real to me.

If you were going to edit a picture to use, you’d use the right type of aircraft wouldn’t you?

Don’t you believe it, one of them (FHM if memory serves) did an article on the AN-225, most of the write up was 10 years out of date. Another FHM article had a piece about a Syrian solider doing pull-ups on the Pitot probe of an RAF Harrier, thus bending it. Thinking that nobody would notice the damage if the Pitot probes on all of the rest of the aircraft on the flight line looked the same he bent the rest to the same angle. The pity is the Magazine never explained what RAF Harriers were doing in Syria in the first place :confused: . (The actual story I heard about in 1982 ;), the place was Cyprus, the man was a Flight Line Mechanic in the RAF and the aircraft were Lightning’s). As a footnote, I’ve met the bloke, he was a line SNCO on the LTF and was still a bit of a nutter 😮 .

I think this may well be of an ejection during a display in Cyprus by memory, in the mid 70’s. It is a genuine image from before the days of Photshop.

Indeed its a geniune photo.

Harrier GR.1 XV739 whilst serving with No.1 Sqdn coded ‘V’, crashed near Episkopi, Cyprus 24 September 1973 after pilot experienced uncontollable forward pitch whilst accelerating from the hover during a display rehersal. One minor injury (a broken leg) 😮

Cheers……..

Guys ,this picture has been around for 30 years or so -it is genuine.

I got rid of the text to the left, and I did wonder about the effect in the cockpit, but it does look real to me.

If you were going to edit a picture to use, you’d use the right type of aircraft wouldn’t you?

MDC only blows the top out

eject

It looks to me that the canopy is still intact. :confused:

I think this may well be of an ejection during a display in Cyprus by memory, in the mid 70’s. It is a genuine image from before the days of Photshop.

is that a true pic or a photo editing?

Alex

What the article (but not the photo) presumably was about:
One Sea Harrier was shot down on 16 April 1993. The pilot, Royal Navy Lieutenant Nick Richardson, ejected and was picked up by British Special Air Service (SAS) rescue team. The SAS commandos led Richardson through enemy lines and the group was then picked up a French helicopter.
From http://www.vectorsite.net/avav8_2.html

OK – got the picture from the magazine. I made an error from memory – the gear’s up. Ignore the title – the article was ‘lads mag’ on ‘how I survived ejecting over hostile territory’ stuff – not matched to the picture.

Any way you can photo or scan the magazine ?

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