@ London, UK
September 2023
Looking up at the combat veteran Harrier (ZD461) greeting visitors at the Imperial War Museum. Delivered to the Royal Air Force in 1989 as a Harrier GR5, this aircraft was later upgraded to GR7 and GR9 specs. Eight underwing hardpoints accommodate 8,000 lbs of ordnance. This also provides a good view of the four vectoring thrust nozzles, the two forward ones using cold air from the engine fan and the aft two with hot jet exhaust. During 20 years of service ZD461 saw action in Iraq and Afghanistan, finishing with the Naval Strike Wing before a taxiing incident put this airframe on the scrap list. First flown in 1985, the Harrier II was derived from the McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II, with 143 produced. Following the retirement of the Harrier fleet from RAF service in 2010, ZD461 was acquired by the IWM in 2012.
