Search the Community

Hi Harriervites, I've been contemplating the load out options for Harrier GR7 and later, by reading through books and anything I can find online - which not too surprisingly often points me to topics on Britmodeller where people have tended to ask "Is this loadout OK for this Harrier during Operation X?" However, this "research" has made me realise that the options seem to be primarily role based, with the combat roles being: Close Air Support Air Interdiction Reconnaissance The non-combat scenarios seem to be: Ferrying Flight testing Development Air display Despite my lack of professional knowledge and experience, I thought I would stick my neck out and try to list the various options I have seen/heard talked about and invite correction and clarification from the pros/ex-pros/gifted amateurs who seem to frequent this site: Ref Role Name 1 2 L o/r 3 L Str 4 R Str 5 R o/r 6 7 1 CAS GCAS? PW4 CRV-7 BOL, AIM 9 Fuel tank Sniper DJRP TERMA Fuel tank BOL, AIM 9 CRV-7 PW4 2 CAS Anti-tank LAU-117,AGM-65 LAU-117,AGM-65 BOL, AIM 9 Fuel tank Strake/ Gun Pod DJRP Strake/ Gun Pod Fuel tank BOL, AIM 9 LAU-117,AGM-65 LAU-117,AGM-65 3 CAS Brimstone* Brimstone Brimstone BOL, AIM 9 Fuel tank Strake/ Gun Pod DJRP Strake/ Gun Pod Fuel tank BOL, AIM 9 Brimstone Brimstone 4 Interdicton? ? BL755 1000lb LAU 7A, AIM9 Fuel tank Strake/ Gun Pod (no pylon) Strake/ Gun Pod Fuel tank LAU 7A,AIM9 1000lb BL755 5 Interdicton? ? BL755 BL755 LAU 7A, AIM9 Fuel tank Strake/ Gun Pod 1000lb Strake/ Gun Pod Fuel tank LAU 7A,AIM9 BL755 BL755 6 Interdiction AI 1 PW4 PW4 BOL, AIM 9 Fuel tank Sniper DJRP TERMA Fuel tank BOL, AIM 9 PW4 PW4 7 Interdiction AI 2 - Fuel tank BOL, AIM 9 PW2 Sniper DJRP TERMA PW2 BOL, AIM 9 Fuel tank - 8 Interdiction AI 3 - Fuel tank BOL 1000lb TIALD (no pylon) Gun Pod PW3 BOL, ACMI Fuel tank - 9 Interdiction AI 4* - Fuel tank - Storm Shadow Strake/ Gun Pod (no pylon) Strake/ Gun Pod Storm Shadow - Fuel tank - 10 SCAR SCAR - - BOL, AIM 9 Fuel tank Strake/ Gun Pod DJRP Strake/ Gun Pod Fuel tank BOL, AIM 9 - - 11 CAP CAP? - CRV-7 BOL, AIM 9 Fuel tank Strake/ Gun Pod (no pylon) Strake/ Gun Pod Fuel tank BOL, AIM 9 CRV-7 - 12 Ferry Ferry - Fuel tank BOL Fuel tank Strake/ Gun Pod Baggage pod Strake/ Gun Pod Fuel tank BOL Fuel tank 13 Training A/A training - - BOL, AIM Aq Fuel tank Strake/ Gun Pod (no pylon) Strake/ Gun Pod Fuel tank BOL, AIM Aq - - 14 Training A/G training - CBLS - Fuel tank Strake/ Gun Pod CBLS Strake/ Gun Pod Fuel tank - CBLS - 15 Development Brimstone test Brimstone Brimstone BOL, AIM 9 Fuel tank Camera Pod pylon Camera Pod Fuel tank BOL, AIM 9 Brimstone Brimstone 16 Development Paveway PW4 Fuel Tank BOL PW2 Camera Pod (no pylon) Camera Pod PW2 BOL Fuel Tank PW4 17 Test First Flight - - - - Strake/ Gun Pod (no pylon) Strake/ Gun Pod - - - 18 Test Test Flight - - - Fuel tank Strake/ Gun Pod (no pylon) Strake/ Gun Pod Fuel tank - - 19 Display Display 1 (no pylon) (no pylon) - Fuel tank Strake (no pylon) Strake Fuel tank - (no pylon) (no pylon) 20 Display Display 2 - Baggage pod - Fuel tank Strake (no pylon) Strake Fuel tank - - Abbreviations CBLS CBLS 200 Carrier Bomb Light Store - Pylon fitted PW2 Paveway II 2000lb LGB PW3 Paveway III 1000lb LGB PW4 Enhanced Paveway IV 540lb LGB Gun Pod The empty pods flown as an alternative to strakes, necessitating use of a shaped piece in the LID air dam BOL LAU-138 BOL Chaff dispenser/launcher LAU-7A AIM Missile launch rail LAU-117 Launch rail for AGM-65 air-ground missile AGM-65 Maverick Air/Ground missile Fuel Tank 290 (ish) Gallon external tank ACMI P4A-M Pod Sniper Sniper XR Targeting pod and dedicated pylon TIALD TIALD Targeting pod Terma Terma countermeasures pod + dedicated pylon Brimstone Brimstone anti-tank missile fitted on dedicated triple launch rail BL755 Cluster bomb AIM AIM-9 A/A missile * Planned but never flown as far as I can establish ? Is it? I've tried to put a name to each loadout but I have no idea whether or not this bears any relationship to how they are actually referenced - or indeed if there is any such thing as a standard name. If anyone can clarify this aspect (or even properly define the term "store"!!) I'd be very grateful. I suspect I've got myself in a pickle with the whole Paveway thing. I seem to remember Merv posting (maybe even on one of my referenced links) that the Paveway number was about the guidance system not the size of explosive carried. Feel free to correct me. There are a few roles that I've come across and stuck in the table but am very unsure about. E.g. did the Combat Air Patrol role that the FA.2 used to perform ever get covered by JFH? If I understand correctly, an FA2 would have worn AMRAAMS and guns for this role - none of which for obvious reasons are in the GR7/9's arsenal. Included are some apparently intended GR.9 capabilities that never saw operational clearance, such as Storm Shadow, which may have been fitted to or flown on the development aircraft. In such cases I've assumed that the pods are camera pods and that any missiles fitted are likely to be brightly coloured test versions. Dunno. Phimat? Anyone? Anyway, I hope this turn out to be useful to others. Cheers, Kirk References: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/26047-weapons-in-use-by-the-raf-in-172/ http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234927254-helpneed-taild-and-training-bomb-data/ http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/56364-how-do-you-identify-a-harrier-gr9/page-2 http://forums.flyer.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=67373 http://www.airsceneuk.org.uk/hangar/2001/acmi/acmi.htm PS: Tried my hardest with table formatting - sorry if not as easy to read as a nice Word table...

Hi chaps, I'm thinking about modelling dioramas (like this one) and also considering making improvements to flight simulation. It's possibly not the best forum to ask this but I know quite a few of the Harrier nuts on here are genuine forces pros, so here goes: How did routine Harrier servicing work? i.e. Does much take place in the hangar rather than on the pan - e.g. Where are tyre pressures checked? Is oil checked/replenished every sortie? By whom? Does the fuel bowser carry oil or is there a dedicated cart? Is water always topped up? What vehicle brings the water? Ditto hydraulic fluid & nitrogen Is there a specific order in which these things were done? Is there a technician walkaround that occurs before the pilot does his and are they very different? I seem to recall that there is a telephone connection on the wing (in the outrigger bay?) Under what circumstances is this used? Just hot refuelling? That's quite a few more questions than I intended but anything that gives a broad understanding of how this all works would be really welcome. Cheers, Kirk

Harrier GR.7 - ZG474 / 64, 1(F) Squadron, RAF, Exercise Snow Falcon 1, January 2004. 1/48th scale Harrier #24 rolls off my production line. This time it's a GR.7 in the RAF's Arctic camouflage scheme of white over the standard dark sea grey / dark camouflage grey scheme. The jet represented, ZG474, is one of those that participated in Exercise "Snow Falcon 1" at Bardufoss, Norway in January 2004. This was a deployment by 1(F) Squadron, with IV(AC) Squadron taking part in Snow Falcon 2. ZG474 first flew on 28 July 1990 and saw combat service on Operation Wadren in 1993. She was upgraded to a GR9 in July 2006 and withdrawn from service on 1 November 2010. She was one of the jets sold to the US in 2011. In her time, she has served with 1(F), 3(F), IV(AC) and 20® squadrons. Having recently completed a GR3 in the Arctic scheme, I decided I would do the same for a second generation Harrier, giving me the option of a GR.5 and a GR.7. The GR.5 became the Rough Ground Trials build, so it had to be a GR.7 and the two greys. There's an Airfix 1/72nd scale kit that has this aircraft in this scheme, but for some reason gives it the tail (build) number 68 instead of 64. Whilst some tails have been swapped, I've seen no photographs to support the Airfix decals in this instance and all point to the correct 64. Aside from the scheme, it's a pretty standard GR.7 build, with the addition of a resin MB Mk.12 ejection seat, resin replacement nose wheel doors (the kit has them moulded in place) and some Maverick missiles from donated spares. I approached the painting as follows. Unlike earlier deployments, the white looks to be sprayed on the real aircraft rather than brush painted. I toyed with the idea of using a rattle can, but ultimately went for an all brushed finish. The aircraft was primed all over with Halfords acrylic white primer. I then used a pencil to draw the Arctic scheme pattern on the aircraft and rough-striped the grey areas so that I could now reinforce the white primer with Vallejo Model Color White as a top coat (a couple of coats required) and not keep referring to photos whilst doing so. I then masked the white edges using 3M Scotch Invisible Tape cut to shape and also added the masking to delineate the Humbrol Dark Sea Grey and Dark Camouflage Grey enamels. I painted the dark sea grey and then masked that and the white in a similar fashion to do the dark camouflage grey. The three paints were then used as necessary to touch up any dodgy areas (the whole lot I hear some wag cry). Other colours included Life Color Black, Gun Metal, Silver and Light Compass Ghost Grey (FS36375) for the Mavericks and CATR, Precision Paints Tyre Black and Dark Sea Green and Humbrol Ochre. A few coats of Humbrol Clear were used in preparation for decals, which were from a mixture of sources from previous kits and third-party sheets. I did the markings for the Mavericks, CATR and wing-tip slime lights on an inkjet printer. Another coat of Clear then sealed the decals before I used Tamiya weathering powders to dirty her up, sometimes combined with Humbrol Decalfix. I sealed this with Humbrol acrylic matt spray and then a final coat of Vallejo matt varnish. Think that's about it. If you think her back-end looks dirty for a short deployment then you're right, it is, but then again, that's what the photos show - so she must have had a engine that liked chucking out soot! Here she is ... All my Harriers can be seen here .... http://p1127.co.uk/Harrier/HarrierModels/index.html Comments welcome as ever.

Last of the Line – Harrier GR.7A, Naval Strike Wing Harrier GR.7A, ZD411 / 40A, Naval Strike Wing, Joint Force Harrier (Hasegawa 1/48th) The LAST* model in my Harrier build project (#20) is the Harrier GR.7A in the colours of the Naval Strike Wing (800 and 801 NAS combined) within Joint Force Harrier. ZD411 first flew in April 1989 as a GR.5 and was later upgraded to a GR.7. Delivered back to the RAF in May 1993, she remained a GR.7 until withdrawn from service in March 2010, and was the last GR.7 flown operationally by Joint Force Harrier. For a time she flew with the Pegasus 107 engine, hence the “A” designation. ZD411 is depicted here when deployed on HMS Illustrious in July 2009. Although not carrying the CRV-7 pods at that time, these pods were used in training and in operations in the Gulf. And as they were not going to get used on anything else, I decided to fit them!, so there! This is the Hasegawa 1/48th scale Harrier GR Mk.7 “Royal Air Force” kit. The model is straight from the box, with the addition of a resin MB Mk.12 ejection seat, Amraam-line’s extended in-flight refuelling probe, L’Arsenal’s Paveway IV LGBs and Belcher Bits’ 6-shot CRV-7 rocket pods. The model shows the penultimate JFH camouflage scheme for Harriers of Dark Sea Grey over Dark Camouflage Grey, with a liberal sprinkling of replacement Medium Sea Gray panels and flaps, etc. There’s even a bit of primer on the tail fin for good measure – all as a result of a visit to the JUMP line? It is brush painted with Humbrol enamels and I used a combination of kit, third-party and home-made decals. The Hasegawa kit decals largely fell apart – just as well most of them are not relevant to this era of Harrier. I had to use up another MDC as the first disintegrated into 5-10 pieces once on the canopy – they are the worst aspect of the Harrier model IMHO. The model is weathered using Tamiya powders, artist pastels and Zig brushable pens. Vallejo matt varnish was used to finish. I don’t think I saved the best model until last, but this is how it turned out, for richer for poorer ... You can see a few more shots of this model and all the others by clicking on the "My Harrier Project Models" link in my signature. All feedback welcome as ever. LAST*. Well, sort of. The GR3 I’ve used in the collection to-date was one of the pair for my Operation Corporate set. I will replace XZ989 with another GR3 from 233 OCU in due course, but the project brief has technically been met; “one of every single-seat variant that flew operationally with every service operator”. It’s taken just over four years and has made me much more knowledgeable about the Harrier, introduced me to lots of new experiences and people I would not otherwise have had and been a lot of fun. Special mention here to Nick and Colin in particular from the IPMS Harrier SIG – I couldn’t have done this without your help and friendship. I might even have become a better model-maker as a result, but that was a by-product and not an intent – and I was starting from memories of 30 year’s previous! My club colleagues at West Middlesex Scale Model Club might be thinking they’ve seen the last of the Harrier … but will they?

Hi all, Another recent completion is this 1/72 Revell (Hasegawa) Harrier GR7, 'Lucy' in Afghan 2009. Nice kit overall, went together well. The kit is lacking in stores so I raided the spares box and added some Paveway's and some good old fashioned bombs, not sure if this is a totally accurate payload for this aircraft but does make it look pretty mean! Now sitting here with a box of 5 1/72 harriers - what to do next! Anyway, heres some pics, tricky lighting conditions! cheers Simon PS: one day i'll build a Harrier where all the wheels actually touch the ground!!