This illustrated history covers in detail the design and development of the Hawker P.117, Kestrel and Harrier. The book examines how their designs came together, the flight testing undertaken by the manufacturer and then by the RAF, and also includes a section for some of the designs, showing alternative and rejected ways of performing the vertical take-off role for the RAF. It considers proposed developments and the Sea Harrier, focusing on the work done in the late 1950s, '60s and '70s. Consulting a wide range of primary source material, Tony Buttler presents the fullest account possible of the creation and refinement of the world's first successful vertical/short take- off vertical landing combat aircraft.
