Harrier Of The Desert

Historical Background

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the revolutionary Hawker Siddeley (later British Aerospace) Harrier V/STOL combat aircraft entered service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Marine Corps (USMC). These first generation Harriers were however handicapped by its short range and rather light payload. In Short Take-Off and Landing (STOL) operations, the AV-8A (as the Harrier was designated in USMC service), carried only half the payload of the smaller A-4 Skyhawk and over a smaller radius of action. In 1973, Hawker Siddeley and McDonnell Douglas began joint development of an improved Harrier. They started by designing an improved Pegasus engine, called Pegasus 15. While more powerful, the Pegasus 15 was too large to fit easily into the Harrier's airframe. In December 1973, a joint US-British team completed a project document for a replacement aircraft to replace the original US and British Harriers, as well as the A-4 Skyhawks of the USMC, called the Advanced Harrier or the AV-16 (as the project intended to double the AV-8's payload and range). The British government however pulled out of the project in March 1975, due to decreased defence funding. escalating costs and the RAF's insufficient requirement (for economies of scale). With development costs estimated to be around £180-200 million, the United States was unwilling to fund the project by itself and ended the project later in the same year.

Despite the cancellation, McDonnell Douglas and Hawker Siddeley continued their separate programs for an enhanced Harrier. The British focused on a larger wing that can be retrofitted onto existing airframes while McDonnell Douglas concentrated on a less ambitious project, catering for the needs of the US military as the USMC wanted a substantially improved Harrier without developing a new engine for it. The US Department of Defense authorized the development of the Harrier II in 1976. McDonnell Douglas modified two AV-8As with new wings, revised intakes, redesigned exhaust nozzles and other aerodynamic changes. Designated YAV-8B, it first flew on 9 November 1978. Test results showed greater than expected drag, reducing maximum speed. It were all positives for other aspects however, such as payload, range and V/STOL performance and this led to a development contract in 1979. Despite that the DoD and the US Navy (who traditionally procured aircraft for the Marines), repeatedly tried to terminate the AV-8B program with the Navy pressured the USMC to adopt the then-designated F-18 fighter (later designated the F/A-18 Hornet and was eventually adopted by the USMC alongside the Harrier). Despite the obstacles, the DoD included the AV-8B in its annual budget and five-year defense plan in 1981. The USN declined to participate, citing the limited range and payload compared to conventional aircraft.

In August 1981, McDonnell Douglas and British Aerospace (BAe) signed a Memorandum of Understanding, signalling the UK's re-entry into the program, However, under the agreement, BAe was reduced into the role of sub-contractor, shouldering 40% of the airframe work-share. Work share for the engine was 75% Rolls-Royce (which had absorbed Bristol Siddeley) and 25% Pratt & Whitney. The aircraft were to built at McDonnell Douglas' facility in St. Louis, Missouri and BAe's Kingston and Dunsfold facilities in Surrey. Four Full Scale Development aircraft were built, with the first flying on 5 November 1981. The first production aircraft was delivered to VMAT-203 at MCAS Cherry Point on 12 December 1983.

The Harrier II retained the basic shape of the original Harrier. To improve pilot's visibility and to accommodate the crew and hardware, the cockpit was raised by 27cm and the canopy was redesigned. To compensate for the changes in the forward fuselage, the rear fuselage was lengthened by 46cm and the taller tail of the Sea Harrier was used. To reduce weight, the tail assembly was made of composite materials. The most significant change however is the wing, with the objective of having the projected AV-16's performance while still using the AV-8A's original Pegasus engine. The wing is a one-piece supercritical structure which improves cruise performance. It was also made of composites; in fact the Harrier II was the first combat aircraft to extensively employ carbon-fibre composites, reducing weight without sacrificing strength. The AV-8B is equipped with one centreline and six wing hardpoints along with fuselage stations for a 25mm GAU-12 cannon together with an ammunition pod. The British version (the GR.5 and onwards) have an additional missile rail under each wing in front of the outrigger leg fairing. The hardpoints allow the aircraft to carry up to 4,200kg of weapons including rockets, dumb and smart munitions and missiles. The Harrier II also retained the tandem landing gear layout of the original Harrier although the outrigger leg was moved inboard to allow better maneuverability on the ground. On the underside of the fuselage, McDonnell Douglas added lift-improvement devices (called air dams), which capture the reflected engine gas when close to the ground, giving an equivalent of 1,200lb of extra lift.

The Harrier II achieved its Initial Operating Capability (IOC) in January 1985 with VMA-331 'Bumblebees' and later saw extensive action during the First Gulf War in 1991. AV-8Bs on board USS Nassau and USS Tarawa initially flew training and support sorties, being held as a reserve during the preparatory phase of Operation Desert Storm. On 17 January 1991, in response to a call from an OV-10 FAC aircraft, the AV-8Bs were used to attack Iraqi artillery positions bombarding the Saudi town of Khafji. Throughout the war the AV-8Bs flew armed recon missions and worked in concert with Coalition forces and lost five of their number. Following the war, they flew from amphibious assault ships and Ali Al-Salem Airbase in Kuwait in support of Operation Southern Watch. In 2003 they returned to Iraq supporting USMC ground units. Initially operating from USS Bonhomme Richard and USS Bataan, the Harriers moved to forward-locating points to enable prompt actions. The Harriers also took part in Operation Allied Force over the Balkans in 1999 and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan since 2001. The AV-8B were also used by the Italian Marina Militare since 1995, operating from carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi. Spain was another export customer, operating their Harriers from the carrier Principe de Asturias.

The baseline AV-8B is essentially a 'day-only' attack aircraft, utilising the Hughes AN/ASB-19 angle rate bombing system. In 1991, the Night Attack Harrier was introduced. It differed from the AV-8B by having a FLIR camera in a fairing atop the nose cone, a wide HUD, provision for night vision goggles and a Honeywell digital moving map system. A further upgrade program resulted in the Harrier II Plus. This is basically a Night Attack Harrier with an APG-65 multi-mode radar replacing the angle rate bombing system. The radar was taken from early F/A-18s and allowed the Harrier to fire missiles such as the AIM-120 AMRAAM and AGM-84 Harpoon. The production of the AV-8B ended in 1997.

The Kit

Hasegawa came up with a new-tool 1/72 AV-8B in 2001. As the 'King of Reboxings', Hasegawa re-released the kit for a number of times, with the 'Desert Harrier' boxing in 2002. The kit parts were spread among nine grey and one clear sprues plus some polycaps for the nozzles. The surface detail was as expected from Hasegawa with nicely engraved panel lines. The LERXs are separate, allowing the larger LERX of the Night Attack and Plus to be moulded separately. Another plus point is that the auxiliary inlet doors are moulded in the open position. The cockpit is however fairly spartan with a barely passable Stencel seat. While the auxiliary intake doors were accurately portrayed in the open position, Hasegawa moulded the airbrake door shut; there wasn't even the strakes on the door. The hot nozzles were also simplified. And as usual, there is virtually no weapons save for a pair of fuel tanks and a pair of Sidewinders. Markings are provided for three aircraft, all during the Desert Storm time period:

1. BuAer 162943/'01' VMA-231 'Ace Of Spades'
2. BuAer 163512/'05' VMA-231 'Ace Of Spades'
3. BuAer 163662/'01' VMA-311 'Tomcats'

Construction

Without fail, construction invariably started at the cockpit. The cockpit tub, instrument panel, bottom half of the control stick and the whole interior of the fuselage was painted Grey FS 36231 using Gunze Aqueous H317. The upper half and the sides of the seat was painted XF-1 Flat Black while the fabric of the seat was painted XF-62 Olive Drab. The instrument faces were in the form of decals and they applied as normal. The next sub-assembly to be attended to was the engine face, which consisted of three parts. The fan blades were painted Silver with the intake tunnel painted XF-2 Flat White. The two-part structure between the cockpit assembly and the compressor face was painted H317. Before joining the fuselage halves, the poly caps were inserted into their places and cement was carefully applied to join the spreader bars to one half of the fuselage. A couple of holes were also drilled on the left fuselage to accommodate the IFR probe later on. With the cockpit and engine face assembly cemented to one side, the fuselage halves were glued together. The separate nose halves were glued together and mated to the main fuselage. The intakes were glued but the exhausts and the heat shields were left off at this time. The intake at the base of the fin was also glued on but there is a slight step here. The horizontal tails were also glued, finishing the basic fuselage at this time.

Before moving to the wings. the gun and ammo pods were assembled. The pods were optional in the kit, like the original. The pods can be substituted with the ventral strakes if one so wished. The pods were also left off at this time. The wing proper consists of three parts: a single upper half and two separate lower halves. I started off by filling the holes in the forward part of the outrigger (for the Sidewinder rails in the RAF Harrier version). The fit is OK but the same cannot be said with the wing-LERX joint. Like the nose, Hasegawa moulded the LERX as separate from the wings to allow minimal tooling for other versions of the Harrier II. Perhaps I should have glued the LERX section to the wing first before cementing them to the fuselage. Although I originally intended to paint them separately, the pods and the IFR probe were cemented before commencing the painting.

Painting and Decaling

Some word about USMC AV-8B colour schemes first. When delivered, the majority of AV-8Bs were painted a camouflage pattern of dark green and  dark grey. With their deployment to the Persian Gulf in 1990-1991, the dark green/dark grey pattern was replaced with Light Ghost Grey (FS 36375) / Medium Ghost Grey (FS 36320) pattern, except for VMA-231 which used Medium Ghost Grey FS 36320 and Blue-Grey FS 35237. The Desert Harrier boxing accurately reflected the scheme by having the VMA-231 options in FS 36320/FS 35237. I have already decided earlier that I'm going to do Option 1. The model was painted accordingly using Gunze Mr. Hobby Aqueous colours. The paints dried glossy so removing the need to gloss coat the model for decals (as if I did that previously!). The 'cold' jetpipe nozzles were painted the appropriate camouflage colours while the 'hot' nozzles were painted Burnt Iron. The heat shields were painted a custom mix of metallic paints to approximate the titanium-ish colour.

When the paints had dried, it was time for the decals. I chose 'Shank 01'/'Venom' (Shank being VMA-231's radio call-sign) flown by VMA-311's CO at that time, Lieutenant Colonel William 'Rusty' Jones. The reason was plainfully obvious - the shark face motif! The decals were typically Hasegawa, having a thick carrier film. Thankfully the off-white white was not a problem here as the markings were all of the low-visibility type. In fact some stencil markings were nearly invisible because of the low-contrast grey colour scheme. All the decals received the usual Mr Mark Softer treatment.

Finishing

With the markings in place, it was time tie up the loose ends. I started by cementing the main landing gears and the outrigger wheels, allowing the model to stand on its own. This was followed by cementing all the wing pylons, followed by the heat shields and the 'hot' exhausts. For ordnance, I turned to the internet for guidance. There were a lot of combinations and I have to check my stash to see whether I have the relevant weapons in stock. I eventually settled for four Mk.83 1,000-lb bombs from Hasegawa's Weapons Set I, and one of the kit's Sidewinders on the left wing. The other Sidewinder made its way to the stash. There weren't any sway braces however and the bombs looked like they were magically hung there! The various small parts like aerials and the clear ARBS aperture in the nose were then cemented onto the model. Although having read on the internet that the inside of the ARBS should be painted a spot of blue to simulate the camera aperture, I forgot about it! The panel lines were then highlighted with 2B pencil and some recesses received the sludge wash. The canopy was the cemented in the open position after the model has received a spray of Flat Clear.

Conclusion

Hasegawa's 1/72 AV-8B is actually a nice little kit with nicely engraved panel lines and general outline. Another of its plus point is the open auxiliary intakes, a feature most manufacturers left in their 1/72 kit. Having said that, Hasegawa moulded the ventral airbrake in the closed position, whereas it should be opened whenever the landing gears are down. Some other details were also left off, like the yaw vane on the nose. Fit is also a problem on certain parts of the kit, especially on those moulded separately to allow for other versions of the AV-8B/Harrier II. And I need not go on about the sparse cockpit detail and the lack of weaponry. Having said all that, it was still a very buildable kit and just needed a little TLC and perhaps some help from aftermarket goodies.