Harrier performance
Thanks to you all for the info; I realise drop tanks, especially the large ones currently trendy, are a different issue and enough to stop anything...
Seem to remember an FRS1 involuntarily 'lofting' a pair of ( actually smaller ) tanks into an asparagus bed !
Are the speeds quoted here Harrier 1 or 2 ? I know the AV-8B was originally around 100 knots slower, but had the impression progress has caught up with the gap to an extent at least - and surely the Seajet was a lot faster than 520 kts, transonic in a slight dive ?
Or am I getting as I suspect into the original question of this thread, and confusing max' speed with max' IAS ?!
As for the old stories about stores drag, there was the classic ( and probably true ) tale that a fully loaded Buccaneer carrying it's weapons internally was in fact faster than a Phantom with a similar load - now I wish they'd have thought of that with the F-22 & JSF - Oh, hang on...
Last edited by Double Zero; 30th Apr 2008 at 22:02.