Jump Jet: The Secret History of the Harrier

In the 1990s BAe thought the X-32 was the JSF design to beat.

Draw a line to Brontanax.

The FOAS stealth work stemmed in part from the P.1216 stealth tests and the RAE Combat Aircraft Beyond EFA (CABE) and BAe Next Combat Aircraft studies for the jump jet Tornado/Harrier replacement that my book describes. This led to the BAe P.125, that morphed into an F-35 clone before the F-35 existed. Sadly, BAe thought the X-32 was better!

https://twitter.com/x/status/2083476662314791388
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Mike Pryce said:
In the 1990s BAe thought the X-32 was the JSF design to beat.

Draw a line to Brontanax.

The FOAS stealth work stemmed in part from the P.1216 stealth tests and the RAE Combat Aircraft Beyond EFA (CABE) and BAe Next Combat Aircraft studies for the jump jet Tornado/Harrier replacement that my book describes. This led to the BAe P.125, that morphed into an F-35 clone before the F-35 existed. Sadly, BAe thought the X-32 was better!
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Well, at least when comparing the X-32 to the X-35, the X-32 was faster and more maneuverable. I guess it all depends on what ones' definition of "better," is. I can't say, because they never said what the requirements were. Maybe that info will be in the files that will be declassified soon?
 
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Sundog said:
Well, at least when comparing the X-32 to the X-35, the X-32 was faster and more maneuverable. I guess it all depends on what ones' definition of "better," is. I can't say, because they never said what the requirements were. Maybe that info will be in the files that will be declassified soon?
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Talking to Warton folk it was the cheapness of the X-32 that appealed. In cost/benefit analyses it looked good, even if in the flesh it didn't.
 
Mike Pryce said:
The big one, though, is Maggie Thatcher. As a trained scientist, and one whose work actually found its way onto the Harrier, you would hope she was more sensitive to how fighters are designed.

You'd be wrong. She was impulsive, opinionated and, while seeking to soak up post-Falklands glory, as susceptible to the British state's obsession with analysis and data over common sense as many of those she criticised. She was also pretty easy for industrial interests to 'play' to get what they wanted, to fill their factories, rather than what the front-line needed.
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Told you she was a wrong 'un!

Any photos of her in this book?

Chris
 
BigD said:
Looks like Amazon US is only offering the Kindle and Audiobook versions for preorder, not the hardcover, for some reason...
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That's weird. I see the hardcover as well.

But I ended up preordering via Awesome Books in the UK. Cheap shipping and they support children's literacy programs in the UK.
 

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As a wise man once told me (and you I think) 'People don't buy aviation books for photos of politicians.'

You must use Maggie like I use volcanoes.

Chris
 
Turing and the English Electric P1

My book has much more than the Harrier in it. This was one of the surprising stories I found, that had been hidden until now:

Alan Turing said running helped him think.

After one run at Cambridge he lay down in a meadow and the idea for the computer popped into his mind.

A decade later, after the war, he wanted to make his idea real. The Post Office was meant to build his computer, but runs to visit them, from the National Physical Laboratory in Bushy Park where he worked, did not help. The computer was too hard for them to build.

Turing wanted to make an electronic brain, one that could make mistakes but also learn. His colleagues wanted to use the computer for military calculations. Despite their ridicule, he persisted. Eventually, a cut-down version of his electronic brain, the Pilot ACE, was built by the English Electric company. Unknown to Turing, the English Electric engineers hijacked the computer to help design the first British supersonic jet fighter, the P1.

That move set us running down a path we are still on. Turing wanted a computer that could replace human intuition. What we got were machines that could analyse existing things, but not synthesise new ideas. Turing wanted his machine to do more than just apply algorithms. He wanted it to do things that no computer, even today, can do - to generate new ideas intuitively, just as he had in the meadow after his run.

While some aircraft designers hijacked computers for analysis, another one, Ralph Hooper, found a way to design with intuition, an anti-algorithmic way to make a practical jump jet. What would Turing have made of that? Their paths almost crossed. Imagine if they had!

My book, Jump Jet - The Secret History of the Harrier, tells the full story, out on August 27th. Pre-order it here: Jumpjetpenguin.com
 

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Two weeks today my book will be out!

Perversely, if you pre-order online more physical bookshops will decide to stock it. Go to www.jumpjetpenguin.com for info and options.

Signed copies are available from:
https://goldsborobooks.com/products/jump-jet-the-secret-history-of-the-harrier

https://coles-books.co.uk/jump-jet-by-michael-pryce-signed-edition

I used AI to make a banner ad, as authors have to do most of the promo these days. See below. No AI used in the book though, but it does get discussed - the BAe P1216 was designed to be ready for AI back in 1984!
 

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Paul Beaver has just added on X:

"I also think it covers new ground with style and aplomb"

It's such a nice thing to hear as this is a book about projects that is written like a novel, while not repeating familiar things unless I have something new to say about them. So it could easily have not worked, but so far the reviews say it does.

The real proof comes in 2 weeks though!
 
Mike Pryce said:
Two weeks today my book will be out!

Perversely, if you pre-order online more physical bookshops will decide to stock it. Go to www.jumpjetpenguin.com for info and options.

Signed copies are available from:
https://goldsborobooks.com/products/jump-jet-the-secret-history-of-the-harrier

https://coles-books.co.uk/jump-jet-by-michael-pryce-signed-edition

I used AI to make a banner ad, as authors have to do most of the promo these days. See below. No AI used in the book though, but it does get discussed - the BAe P1216 was designed to be ready for AI back in 1984!
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Mike, I'm quite surprised (but only quite, and definitely impressed) to see the Rory Sutherland quote. Is the big man into Harriers? How did you happen to get a copy to him? J

Ps. Very much looking forward to reading the book myself. If you ever do a second edition would be great to see if you can get any material on the late 70s and early 80s airshows of the harrier which were incredible. I grew up in Ripon North Yorkshire. The town was home to Claro barracks which was a Royal Engineers base. They had responsibilities for the engineering support for Harriers in Germany I think. Either way, every year they had a open weekend event where all the families for miles around would bring their kids to crawl around on bridge laying tanks and fast tracks and so on. The super-highlight of the day was always a GR3 coming in to do a fast flypast and then coming into land in front of half the town. We were all behind a rope.... (seriously!) and this beautiful incredible loud hovering dragon would come in with nozzles down wrecking my 5-6 year old ears. It was incredible, and frankly terrifying the first couple of years but with each year my dreams of flying my own harrier to school grew!!! It's a wonderful memory and gave me a love of Aircraft and engineering that have lasted 50 years.

If anyone else has similar memories I'd love to hear them, but don't want to highjack the thread. It is such a great vision all this time later. We were barely 100ft from the landing pad, or so it seemed.
 
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jmspeedfreak said:
Mike, I'm quite surprised (but only quite, and definitely impressed) to see the Rory Sutherland quote. Is the big man into Harriers? How did you happen to get a copy to him?
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He made a radio documentary about Concorde https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002s37w but his interest in my book is the struggle between data and intuition.

The book is about how designers think up new things, in this case jump jets. Rory loved that his belief that all engineering is data-driven doesn't hold in the project stage.

Anyone who saw a Harrier as a kid probably had the same reaction you did. Including me!
 

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I’m trying to remember when the (Sea) Harrier replaced the Tomcat as my favourite aircraft.

I think it was a combination of Roy Braybrook’s V/STOL The Key to Survival, Sharkey Ward’s Sea Harrier Over the Falklands and the BBC series Decisive Weapons. A fascination with small (escort) aircraft carriers also helped!

I was always frustrated that the UK didn’t end up with a common fleet of multi-role Harrier II+ with Blue Vixen and TIALD pods operating off a better Invincible class sized aircraft carrier.

Always sounded sensible to me but I guess the data driven studies disagreed ;)
 
Sensible, a word seldom used in conjunction with military acquisition. Unless we are talking about big business selling sherbet dip to gullible idiots in 'big houses'.
 
One thing explored in the book is the TSR2.2, and studies that led to it.

The mad lifting platform idea is covered, but the really interesting part was discovering the bad blood between Warton and Weybridge.

The tail fin that would fall off. The vibrating undercarriage. The supersonic and STOL aspects TSR.2 were as problematical as V/STOL promised to be.

The book follows TSR.2 designer Ivan Yates in parallel with Ralph Hooper. Ivan was a digital pioneer on the EE P.1, and was the driving force behind EAP/EFA/Typhoon.
 

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I've not seen the image on the left before, I assume thats a find from your trawling the archives? Its interesting how differently the various artists interpret these things. They make the P.17A "TSR.2" look a lot larger against the PD.17 than the measurements of the various drawings suggest. My modelled effort attached for comparison; PD.17 sized according to available drawings, and TSR.2 as per Airfix's best effort.

I'm looking forward to the book, hopefully it'll be waiting for me when I get back from my imminent holiday!
 

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scautomoton said:
I've not seen the image on the left before, I assume thats a find from your trawling the archives? Its interesting how differently the various artists interpret these things. They make the P.17A "TSR.2" look a lot larger against the PD.17 than the measurements of the various drawings suggest. My modelled effort attached for comparison; PD.17 sized according to available drawings, and TSR.2 as per Airfix's best effort.

I'm looking forward to the book, hopefully it'll be waiting for me when I get back from my imminent holiday!
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Slightly off topic comment here but that is an outstanding model. Well done.
 
scautomoton said:
I've not seen the image on the left before, I assume thats a find from your trawling the archives? Its interesting how differently the various artists interpret these things. They make the P.17A "TSR.2" look a lot larger against the PD.17 than the measurements of the various drawings suggest. My modelled effort attached for comparison; PD.17 sized according to available drawings, and TSR.2 as per Airfix's best effort.

I'm looking forward to the book, hopefully it'll be waiting for me when I get back from my imminent holiday!
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Just found that image via Google. Have seen it in brochures though.

I think Project Cancelled has a scale drawing of the two together IIRC. Great model pic you posted.

Makes it clear the PD.17 would need a legendary pilot too. Plenty of them in the book. Thanks for the order - hopefully it eases any post-holiday blues.
 
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What is even sadder is that Ralph Hooper the chief designer died back in 2022, and it was his idea to initially make the decision to have the P.1154 as the Harrier and if that had not been canclled then we would have had a different Harrier instead of the P.1127.
 
FighterJock said:
What is even sadder is that Ralph Hooper the chief designer died back in 2022, and it was his idea to initially make the decision to have the P.1154 as the Harrier and if that had not been canclled then we would have had a different Harrier instead of the P.1127.
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The book is about Ralph. I sent it to the publisher on the day he died, before I heard the news.

He was sceptical about the P.1154, once it became joint-service, and stuck with the P.1127 (for the US Army with Northrop) while handing the supersonic jet over to John Fozard. That kept the subsonic project alive and ready to become the Harrier when the P.1154 was cancelled.
 
After work today I found time to drop some free Jump Jet bookmarks around shops in central London.

If you visit any of the shops please do ask and pick one up. Even better if you choose to order your copy at them too. The book shows the limits of digital tech in jump jet design, versus physical reality, so buying in a physical bookshop seems appropriate!

The shops are:

Foyles on Charing Cross Road (ground floor main desk)
Foyles South Bank
Waterstones Piccadilly (main desk and 4th floor desk)
Waterstones Trafalgar Square (ground floor)
Goldsboro Books (signed copies nearly sold out)

In addition, Waterstones in Kingston (Bentall Centre) and Teddington have them at the main desk, courtesy of a local family member who I owe some cake to!
 

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Seems it is on the shelf in some Waterstones, or at least ready to click and collect in 2 hours. It also says it is fully available online on their website.

Other branches that I know do have it on order, and told me it would be on the shelf on the 27th, but they also show it as 2-3 days for click and collect if ordered today.

So if you want it soon, check the Waterstones website and punch in your postcode to see if there is a 'tick' near you.

EDIT: Watch out for the AI-written cash-in/rip-off book with a similar title. The Pryce one is the right one!
 

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