The point about SHAR unreliablity is, I suspect, probably a digest by a BBC researcher of some of the observations on the
Sea Harrier at Falklands Anniversary Thread.
Imagine the raw data from that thread, precised by a researcher, then passed on to Dan Snow - who at least has some interest in matters military -who'd then add his own interpretation, and you can understand where the error started to creep in.
And it wasn't Neil Thomas's finest hour, I fear - I could see his point, which I took to be that it was a pity that an RN fast jet wasn't leading the flypast, since the domination by RAF aircraft might lead to the impression that the FAA didn't do much, but he he put it spectacularly badly, I thought.