AV-8B Harrier Details Part 2

Part 2 of our Harrier coverage begins with a look right down the nose of AV-8B #08. Right in the middle of the sharkmouth is the RCS pitch outlet. The RCS allows the pilot to control the aircraft while it is hovering, when conventional controls are ineffective. The size of the intakes necessary to feed air into the Rolls-Royce Pegasus F402-RR-408 engine, which generates almost 24,000 lbs. of thrust.

Like all USN/USMC aircraft, the landing gear and wheel well interiors are painted white. The crew chief's name is painted on the port nose gear door; note how difficult the low-visibility stencils can be to read on this aircraft.

The giant fan for the F402 is clearly visible through the air intake - nothing stealthy about this plane! The inside of the intake is white. Note how the upper auxiliary inlet doors are open, while gravity pulls the lower ones closed. A retractable in-flight refuelling probe is fitted to the port side of the aircraft, scabbed right over the air intake. USMC AV-8Bs usually refuel from Marine KC-130 tankers.

A nice close-up of the nose landing gear. Immediately behind the landing gear is the Lift Improvement Device (LED) in the deployed position. When the aircraft is hovering, the LED deploys to fill the gap between the belly strakes (fitted when the GAU-12/A 25mm gun packs are not carried) to keep hot air from being reingested into the air intake.

A number of interesting details are visible here. On the wingtip can be seen one of the RCS roll outlets, with striped "slime lights" immediately behind it. On either side of the chaff/flare dispensers are written VMA-223 Bulldogs. Finally, note the weathering under the horizontal tail. The paint has veen completely scorched off, exposing burnt metal! The AV-8B's engine must run very hot - I have never seen such extreme weathering on an operational aircraft before.

The tail of #03, showing similar exposed metal along the fuselage side. A couple of other interesting details here: the chaff/flare dispensers have been plated over, and the rivets on the fuselage just above the trailing edge of the wing are very prominent. Also, this aircraft does not have Bulldogs painted on the fuselage side aft of the chaff/flare dispensers.

THis photograph gives at least some hint of the curve of the AV-8B's wing. Of note are the vortex generators lined behind the leading edge, the RCS outlet on the wingtip, the radar warning receiver facing forward, and the AIM-9 Sidewinder launch rail on the outer pylon.

Harriers have an unusual landing gear arrangement, with tandem nose and main gear with outriggers about midway out on the wings. This shot shows some details of the starboard outrigger and its well (the wheel itself actually portrudes behind the wing during flight). The starboard belly strake is also visible.

This rear 3/4 view of #08 really emphasizes the beating that the rear fuselages of these planes seem to take. Aside from large areas of burnt metal, an entire panel below the chaff/flare dispensers has been replaced with an unpainted one. Note the partially deployed airbrake below that panel and the completx fuselage contours around the wing trailing edge and the chaff/flare dispensers.

Our final photo, though regrettably dark, shows the main gear, exhausts, and deployed airbrake. Once again, the weathering is pretty spectacular, with very prominent panel lines and lots of staining.

I hope that these photos have been of use to anybody working on a second-generation Harrier model. After seeing these planes, I'm ready to buy a Hasegawa 1/48 AV-8B - or should I wait for Trumpeter's 1/32 scale kit?