BOAC,
The unfortunate pilot suffering the uncontrollable roll in the Harrier was Nigel Storah. He ejected into the football pitch at Gutersloh and didn't survive the impact. He was previously a "creamie" QFI at Linton. I recall the event vividly as it occurred just as I drove through the main gate to begin my tour on the station. I had hoped to have a bier or two with him to celebrate our lucky escape from a JP icing incident about 3 years previously.
One horrible wet night in 1978, February 6th according to my logbook, Nigel and I were flying back from Waddington towards Linton. We had transitted to Waddo and unsuccessfully tried to break cloud for night circuits there, due to bad weather at Linton.
Our Mk3A (XN494) got very badly iced up and slowed down more and more until it could eventually only make about 130 knots IAS. As we briefly cleared cloud, against a dulled moon we saw that the wings were covered in thick, rough textured white ice - I distinctly recall thinking the tip tank on the port wing looked like a huge cauliflower. The engine was giving a maximum of 90% rpm, probably not a lot of thrust. The handling became quite waffly and we agreed that if it stalled I would eject immediately on his command and he would follow. We were going through the pre-ejection checklist, checking pins stowed, leg restrainers correctly attached, harness tight and locked etc, when we found a bit of clear air between layers of cloud. The engine gradually picked up to 95% and we made it back for a straight in PAR at Linton. Nigel flew the approach, meanwhile I remember confirming I could find the seat bottom handle at least a couple of times and going through the parachute drill in my mind. We taxied back in and as we stood by the aircraft, in heavy rain, long slabs of melting ice slid off each wing onto the dispersal. To this day I have never been so pleased to be back on the ground.