Praising the Harrier: RAeS Aerospace Professional
Report on page 23 of the Oct 06 edition, under the main commentary on "Wings over Europe" is a sub-section "Red Harriers", a highly paraphrased extract from which is:
Among the nations interested in the Harrier was the People's Republic of China. During the 1970s John Farley was asked to give a flight in a 2-seat harrier to the second-in-command of the People's Liberation Army Air Force - a current MiG pilot............However a combination of UK inflation and the hot,high environment from where they would be operating put paid to the idea. As a postscript, after the Falkland's war the same General contacted John to say "If we had realised how good the Harrier was we would have found the money for it somehow!"