Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.1N

[The Big Gimper]

Here are WIP shots of my GR.1N. It will be part of the NATO "NADA" force. Hence the "N". I'll provide the history at the end of the build.

Now is this build:

A) Harrier Heroics?
B) Harrier Heresy?
C) Harrier What-the-hell?
D) Harrier Hemp induced madness? (Canada will legalize Hemp in the fall)
E) All of the above
F) Push this guy sans spacesuit out the airlock as he crossed-the-line doing the unspeakable to a Harrier


GR.1N-01 by Big Gimper, on Flickr


GR.1N-02 by Big Gimper, on Flickr


GR.1N-03 by Big Gimper, on Flickr


This is the 1/72 Fujimi GR.3. Awful kit but a donor for my AV-8X. So to save it I used 1/100 A-6 horizontal stabs and Do-217 vertical stabs.  Other surprises still be added.

[Scotaidh]

That ... actually looks really good!    I may have to do something similar - different, though - wouldn't want to mess with your mojo.  Besides, my ideas usually run counter to everyone else's ideas, no matter how parallel they begin ... 

[Captain Canada]

Harrier Heck Ya !

[The Big Gimper]

And only 4 months and 7 days since I first posted this build. Finito!


The Narriers of Baden Soellingen

22:00 Zulu, CFB Baden Soellingen NADA  Alert Pad B.

Capt. Francois "Le Grand"  Fromage of 414 Squadron CAF, NADA Detachment "B" listened to the happy hum of his Pegasus powered Harrier GR.1N. A quick glance around his red hue cockpit showed everything was normal.

His wingman tonight and almost every mission was the USMC exchange pilot Capt. Charles "Chuck E" Cheese. Together they made up the Baden Soellingen Harrier component of NADA.

Their CO, Lt. Col "Rouge" Vin was in the command centre in constant communication with the other NADA detachment commanders. The G2 coming that was that the Warsaw pack building up their forces at the border and they are in position to attack NATO any time now. 

It was stressful to say the least waiting for the go message. But at least someone at HQ does have a sense of humour having both Fromage and Cheese fly together. And detachment B was known as "Baguette" flight.


A quick history lesson.

Back in '76, study took place and it was determined that European airbase defence was very static and very weak. There was a perimeter defence but it was based on fixed positions and was dedicated to one location. Once overrun, it was lost. Simulations showed that the Warsaw Pac forces could saturate our defences, break through and cause considerable damage to the airfield. So a new combined NATO force dedicated to base protection was created. It was called "NADA". NADA is an acronym for: NATO Airbase Defence Alliance. As in NADA Igor, you're not going to get our bases tonight! 

By using a dispersed but dedicated force of homogenous fixed wing aircraft and helicopters, the NADA assets could be quickly sent from one location to support another location that was under attack. Both aircrew and ground crew could fly and service any aircraft or helicopter as they would be in the same configuration. Each NADA aircraft or helicopter would be assigned a "N" suffix. IE the Harrier GR.1N or the Sea Cobra AH-1N.

The next decision was what to use. Range was not important but flexibility was and the ability to operate from limited or unprepared locations. So the helicopter was an easy choice. As for a jet, it did not take long to narrow it down to the Harrier. The Jaguar was in the running but it needed a runway or a highway and a worst case scenario showed it could be pushed too far west to be effective. So the Harrier won but NATO requested some changes.

First one was a twin tail. The Allied Air Forces Central Europe command like the twin tail design of Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II for additional control and damage resilience. An unpredicted but beneficial side effect was that the twin tails improved the VIFFing "Vectoring in Forward Flight" capability. (See AV-8X for the next evolution of this concept). The GR.3 was selected as the base airframe. The stand anti-tank load was four AGM-12B Bullpups.

Second was the mounting of AIM-9 Sidewinders Air-to-Air missiles on top of the wing. This kept the four existing pylons available for Air-to-ground munitions but provides self-defence and opportunistic offensive attack option.

Each NATO airbase was assigned a flight of two Harriers (known locally as Narriers) and two Sea Cobras (known as Nobras). The markings applied were those of the airbase nationality.

The total serviceable assets was around 100 Narriers and 100 Nobras.

Now back to the two cheeses.

Igor was not crossing the border tonight so they were told to stand down. They taxied back to the HAS. The ground topped up the fuel and Fromage and Cheese went back to the alert hut to have some baguette, cheese and a sip of red wine with the helo guys.


CAF-Harrier-GR.1N-02 by Big Gimper, on Flickr


CAF-Harrier-GR.1N-06 by Big Gimper, on Flickr


CAF-Harrier-GR.1N-04 by Big Gimper, on Flickr


CAF-Harrier-GR.1N-07 by Big Gimper, on Flickr


CAF-Harrier-GR.1N-03 by Big Gimper, on Flickr

[McColm]

Wow that does look good

[TimJ]

Great job. The twin tail looks good on it. 

[kitnut617]

Great job Carl   

[zenrat]

Gouda job there mate.

[NARSES2]

Great job. The twin tail looks good on it. 

It really does, doesn't it.

Well done Carl