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Old 28th Apr 2007, 09:21
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John Farley

Do a Hover - it avoids G
 
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On a point of detail, Hugh’s two force landings were in P1127 aircraft not Harriers. Barrie Tonkinson’s was in a RAF standard Harrier T2.

The problems of force landing such aircraft (assuming you have the gliding range to get to the landing site) are judging the height and speed combination of the final approach and (importantly) getting round the flare. The P1127 was for its day a heavy high wing loading beast that did not want to fly conventionally at low speeds. However the P1127 was over 2000lb lighter than the subsequent RAF single seat Harrier and some 3500lb lighter than the RAF two seat Harrier. All of these aircraft had broadly similar wing areas. In this context Barrie’s achievement was (and remains) quite exceptional.

I go into this detail not to detract in any way from Hugh’s achievement but to emphasise what Barrie had going against him.
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