Runaway Harrier Jump Jet 1971 

This channel teaches more in 6 minutes than History channel did in 6 years.

LMAO! I'd have loved to hear that phone call back to base, "Yah, I lost my Harrier--it flew off into the sunset"

Imagine being some german farmer when suddenly theres a knock at the door and youre face to face with some dude in full pilot gear dragging a parachute behind him asking you if he could use your telephone...

That could have been the Harrier that Pepsi promised to give away.

"Started making all sorts of interesting noises" God damn I love British humor

I was on duty when we recieved the pilots phone call. It was sureal. I remember it well

In the late 1970s, a pilot lost control of an F-106 and ejected. After the pilot ejected the plane righted itself, then flew on, slowly losing altitude until it landed on its' belly in a snow covered field in Northern California. The Air Force learned of its' condition and whereabouts when a county sheriff phoned their base asking how to shut off a jet engine. They advised him to let it run out of fuel. The F-106 was later loaded onto a flatbed rail car, repaired, and returned to service. Edit: It was Montana!!! Wiki "Cornfield Bomber" the story will pop right up. My mistake.

Right, So we can conclude this pilot suffered from premature ejection !

I remember being taken to a sodden Farnborough air show as a kid and a Harrier was used to dry off a very wet runway using its downward thrust jet nozzles,they also had a mock up of the "Ski ramp" system that was fitted to the Royal navy carriers and a Harrier used it to get airbourne off the runway.Such a unique aircraft,shame we no longer have them.

“The Harrier jump jet that blew its own nose,“ by Mark Felton.

This channel is criminally underrated for keeping the videos short and straight to the point.

Cool to see a Harrier taking off with a running jump 1:32

Pilot: "I'm leaving you. You can't fly with that birdstrike." Harrier: "Mate, hold me pint!"

Drastic way to restart a stalled compressor - eject. I bet they didn't put that one in the QRH (Quick Reference Handbook) 🤦‍♂️

My father and our family were based in RAF Wildenrath from 1971 to 1974 and although I was small and the youngest I vividly remember him talking about that incident as he was an air traffic controller. I can remember going on the base and seeing the aircraft and feeding Bruno the station goat mascot when my mom was busy and went to work with my dad, not sure you could go on base today with parents but it was cool back then. We went back to the UK with a couple of postings before finally going to Brize Norton Cotswold Radar before immigrating to Canada in 1980. Lots of good memories of travelling and seeing different places.

Taylor: "I got to get out it will crash!" Harrier Jet: "Sike lol."

Mark Felton videos = Amazing and factual military history. History Channel = Bigfoot and UFO's

Don’t feel bad... when I was 5, I lost my bike, with training wheels like your Harryers. Cool connection we have!

A truly amazing story...one I've never heard before. Thank you Mark!

I hear the bell, I click. The Felton Reflex.

I was at an airshow in Toronto in the early '70's. 2 Harriers came across Lake Ontario and met nose to nose, turned around and left. I knew about them , but most of the audience would not have known. A lot of gasps...and wonderment.

I can remember when a group of us saw this jet take off for the first time. We where on a work detail on a Mt top overlooking the runway. When this jet took off, we all looked at each other and said. Are we on drugs or what, did you just see that. You see we had seen A/ 4, F/4 , A/7, PV 2 and P3s E/6 prowlers. This was way back in 1971, before we had this jet.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is my favourite Harrier jump jet pilot

'The Pegasus engine started making all sorts of interesting noises' Only the British could come up with that.

Can you do a video about how Yugoslavia shot down a F 117 Great video👍

I marvel at where in the world you find this amazing history, episodes like this make my Patreon support feel very worthwhile.

I live in Denmark and in 1971 I was a very airplane-interested young boy - I am surprised I never heard about this before. I wonder if media reporting was toned down...it was the cold war days, after all. Thanks Mark, interesting as ever!

A fantastic story, and with lessons for today.

Imagine making that call back to base. "I'm alright. Had to abandon the aircraft. Collateral damage? Well it's the damndest thing...."

Why has every airforce had a plane that has flew into west Germany 😂

The irony is that he couldn't have stayed in the aircraft, but him getting out was the only thing that made it functional again!

So after a malfunction, the harrier tried to invade Germany. Oh shucks, that's nothing. The F-35B, the advanced and downright beautiful replacement for the Harrier, can accomplish an even more daring feat. If you apply sufficient currency to the system (it will accept any denomination except lira), it actually flies.

How good is this channel? F me. Never mind the old-school music with gravitas and old-fashioned, unpretentious voice. It's like someone made a RU-vid channel in the 70s and we only found it now.

I love this channel. Thank you for the great uploads and all the information.

Reminds me of that more tragic incident where a Harrier pilot was ejected without warning by (I think) a faulty seat. The pilot died but the plane carried on flying long enough to be filmed before it too ran out of fuel and crashed in the Atlantic

I love this channel everyday i go to youtube even tho its a short videi it has more k oledge than watching like 44mins of documentary thumbs up to mark felton i love you man. Please do post more on aviation ❤️

That intro music gets me going for some learning lol

this sounds like the story of the russian mig that also flew over the border after ejection.

Great video as always Mr. Felton! This reminds me of when a Mig 23 did the same thing when the pilot ejected. I didn't know a Harrier had also done this

One of two of my favourite planes when I was a child 👍

Done close AD for the field sites for these beasties on many occasions in Germany....great days, great bunch of guys the harrier ground crews and the rock ape detachments providing ground defence. Great video as ever.

That was an amazing story. Thanks for posting.

Strange but true! Somehow I can only see such a story happening with the Brits. RAF forever.

Cheers Interesting this is why I Subscribed No Hype/Bullshit just facts.

Very interesting videos, short and to the point, keep 'em coming!

All said and done we owe it to mark, his a good narrator

"I had to eject. I walked to a farmhouse to find a phone." "Where's the crash site." "Well, it hasn't actually crashed yet.

Back in the happy days when an aircraft with a mind of its own was just science fiction... good vid btw

Thanks Mark for another unknown history event.

That's a tough call to make. Hello, I lost my plane.....

That was where we were based in the early 80’s loved it at RAF Wildenrath

bet its a bit upsetting to watch your aircraft fly into the distance ,,,, without you in it.

Another AMAZING short story.........

Wow, something never known before !! Thanks A lOtz Mark!! And keeping doing such amazing vedios !!!

Thanks for that - I actually remember that.😀👍

I worked with flight testing the AV8B for the USMC in the 1980's. They were remarkable aircraft and once one hovered while McDonnel Douglas mechanics worked on the landing gear. Marine test pilots are remarkable as well.

Harrier jump jet kicks ass! It a very useful plan for ground support and apparently for taking out birds also. Nice work on the pilot for ejecting, no need to risk your live for a plan that Parliament can always squeeze another million pounds out of the public to purchase a replacement. Thanks for sharing, great story.

G'day Mark, Another amazing story from your seemingly inexhaustible sources of ripping yarns. The only case I know of where an ejection corrected an aircraft malfunction. Amazing! Pilots, of course, are far more valuable than any aircraft. It's great to see the loss of his Harrier didn't hurt his career promotion. Odd thing, naval captains who ground their ships or even scratch them up colliding with the dock almost invariably find career advancement stopped. Maybe it's because of the multiple lives a captain has in his hands, anyway, air forces seem much more forgiving. Thanks so much for this video. Cheers, BH

Awesome story. Great work!

The Harrier crashed in southern Denmark, huh? So, where did the two Starfighters crash?

That’s a weird one. Your videos are outstanding!

I don't know if you've been reading my comments but, your editing has hit a sweet spot with using video sounds. Keep it up, I'm loving the videos.

Very good vid my friend.. thanks for the share.. carry on.

Well that's a handy tip for an engine flame out restart. Eject.💥😂😂😂👍🚲

Nice subject Mark👍

Love the start up music and the video's.

My Harrier story is zzzz compared to this but very expensive. KCAE Columbia SC I was preflighting and heard approach working 2 Harriers up from Beaufort Marine base. F-16s are a dime a dozen but these insanely loud birds are rare here. They were given instructions NOT to hover but cleared for approach. Even tower said NO hovering... Well they hovered and not only fouled the runway but caught it on fire along with a acre grass fire. Never saw another Harrier in Columbia again.

what a cracking wee piece of history there

I was on a amphibious assault ship(Belleau Wood) when i was in the Navy and we flew AV-8B Harrier jets.

amazing as always

2:50 Well, first they were astounded that for once it their airplane did not crash. Then they were even more astounded that the harrier was keeping airborne without even having a pilot. When their planes could not do it on a sunny day with a Pilot. Honestly when I heard "they send 2 Starfighters" I just expected "but they both crashed before getting close".

There are many tales of aircraft “ runaway “ aircraft in aviation history, this one is interesting, but I never heard it in all my years of service. I also find it hard to believe that the ejector seat rockets would a) go anywhere near the compressor as the pack is on the underside of the seat and given the acceleration of the seat the rocket would only be in the vicinity of the aircraft for a fraction of a second let alone be close to the intakes b) the rocket motor flames would not be long enough or powerful enough to reach the compressor blades and burn through a bird carcass that would have to have been enormous to cover the compressor. And finally c) if the bird was blown through the engine then very little evidence would have been left for the investigation and likewise if it wasn’t the crash would have destroyed it, so I think this one is an explanation/conclusion put out by the RAF to cover the fact that a senior pilot abandoned his aircraft prematurely, maybe the loss of power was a compressor stall and the engine just needed to clear its throat before regaining some power that would have allowed the aircraft to be recovered to the nearest base. Don’t get me wrong, the pilot had a very small window of time to decide his actions and was the only person able to judge the situation, and based on that he made the decision that the aircraft was going down so ejected before he could become one of those who waited to long and died in the forlorn hope of saving his/her aircraft.

I can't imagine how often we've come close to unintentional conflict since the end of WWII without ever realising it.

Great Work! I’ve always loved your channel, but I must admit it has gotten even better when you started featuring submarine and aviation subjects and incidents! Could be a bit biased though....I served aboard a fleet ballistic missile submarine during the Cold War and I am a pilot😱

That is awesome...I had never heard that story.

Thank Mark. Very interesting

All I can think is what it was like to watch the jet fly off into the sunset, standing there helmet in hand with only one four lettered word repeated over and over...

that is quite a story... amazing outcome.

Very informative and interesting

WoW! A truly amazing story......

Loved the story, cheers

That last detail blew me away

Beautiful video mate

What a story from the past! Unknown to most of us...

As serious as this situation was...its still hilarious!

Pilot: "yo fam drop me off right here" Harrier: "I gotchu b"

Very very interesting✌

Excellent video.

Excellent channel

Fascinating story. I was stationed there in 81

What an amazing story!!

Well that must have been a very interesting report!

Here is the full story from the actual pilot: Ejection from a Harrier by Air Commodore Peter Taylor AFC "At about midday on May 4,1972, I ejected from Harrier GR1 XV794 in northern Germany. I was not hurt and, on the face of it, that could have been the whole story. Except that it wasn't. There was a bit more to it than that, and as this month's Today's Pilot features an article on ejection seats, Editor Dave Unwin thought you might like to read the whole story. Casting my mind back to the early 1970s, the Harrier had only recently been introduced into the RAF. In 1971, the Wildenrath Wing in RAF Germany had been formed with 3, 4 and 20 Squadrons and I was posted to 4 Squadron as a Flight Commander. The early Harrier was a tremendous aeroplane, albeit a bit of a handful. I think most of us had great respect for her and simply couldn't get airborne often enough. However, a combina_tion of a novel aircraft, demanding operational flying, and a general lack of experience resulted in occasional accidents and incidents. We had our share at Wildenrath, and the Station Commander, Gp Capt George Black, would 'encourage' us to the effect that while we could and should press on operationally, we should do so with care! Denmark, for a ten-day exchange visit On the morning of May 4,1 was tasked to lead a four-ship attack mission on several targets in the Flensburg area of Northern Germany. The formation was also to be attacked by two other Squadron Harriers which were acting as enemy defensive fighters armed with simulated air-to-air missiles and guns. The planning and briefing for this type of sortie was lengthy and very thorough. I remember filling at least two blackboards with administrative and operational detail. At the appointed hour, six aircraft were allocated to us and the four attack pilots and their two defensive counterparts gathered for the brief_ing. This lasted about an hour. However, as the briefing progressed, kept getting messages that first one aircraft, then another, then another had all become unserviceable. In the end, there was just one available: mine! There was no alternative but to go on the sortie by myself, converting the profile to a solo attack/ recce mis_sion. So much for planning! At about midday, I got airborne in XV 794, turned south and headed for my first target, flying at 420 knots and 250ft AGL. All went well until I was preparing to attack my second target. I had just looked into the cockpit to re-arrange my maps, when looking up I saw a formation of three large (they have got much larger over the years!) birds flying straight at me. Instinctively, I pushed forward. I missed two of the birds, but the third went straight into the intake. There followed an almighty bang, fol_lowed by some rather worrying mechanical noises from the normally robust Pegasus 100 engine. Clearly, it did not like what was going on. I noticed that the RPM was just below idle, the JPT in the middle of its range, height 200ft and speed about 400 knots, although rapidly declining. Generally, I was in open country, which was fairly flat with a few houses in my path. I opened and shut the throttle, but nothing much seemed to happen. I broadcast a quick 'MAYDAY' but since I was quite low, I had no great expectation that anyone would hear me. Since I had made up my mind that the engine had suffered what sound_ed like catastrophic damage, I turned my mind to what to do next. (In reali_ty, I said to myself: "I'd better jump out quite soon or I'm going in with the aeroplane!") Then, exactly as you read it in books and newspapers, I saw that I was still close re to houses, and steered the aircraft away from them towards open ground as best I could. Time was now getting short, and as I reached open ground, I saw a small hill ahead with trees at the summit. I pointed the aircraft at the hill, took one last look at the height and speed (100ft and 200 knots respectively) trimmed the aircraft straight and level, tightened my straps, and pulled the handle. I recall everything working perfectly in my Martin-Baker Mk9 seat. I was quickly in my parachute and heading for a field full of cows. Also in the field were some quite large concrete blocks, and remembering a parachuting tech_nique I had learned some 17 years pre_viously, I steered myself away from the blocks, and executed a hard, but per_fectly serviceable, 'side-right' landing. The whole event had taken less than 60 seconds. To my astonishment, I saw the air_craft continuing to fly beautifully in a slight climb away from me to the north. I cannot tell you the feelings I had as I watched what now seemed to be a perfectly serviceable aircraft leaving the scene of my ejection. Indeed, the aircraft eventually flew into cloud at about 7,000ft and disap_peared from sight. Except for the cows, I was now com_pletely alone in a field in Northern Germany with no means of communi_cation, a used parachute, the remains of an ejection seat and no method of transport. I had also forgotten in the heat of the moment that on ejection, a radio signal was initiated on the emergency broadcast frequency, so that the emergency services were becoming aware that there was an air_craft in distress. I gathered myself together and began to walk across fields until I could find a road. After about 20 minutes, I found a road, absolutely deserted, and eventually came upon a farm. My German wasn't too good at the best of times, and my attempts to explain to the farmer's wife what had happened to me took some time. Eventually, and mainly through a com_bination of sign language and the sight of my parachute, I managed to explain my predicament and persuade her to let me use her telephone to contact the Squadron at Skrydstrup. The resulting conversation with 4 Sqdn Ops, about an hour after my ejection was surreal. The phone was answered by Flying Officer Andy Bloxam. The conversation went something like this: "4 Sqn Ops, Fg Off Bloxham speaking." "Hello Andy, Pete Taylor here." "Oh! OK, aren't you still airborne? Anyway, I'll get Roger Austin." That was it. No questions, no 'How are you?', 'What's happened to the aircraft?', or 'Where are you?'. Andy just put the phone down and took about five minutes to find Roger. After that, things moved fast. Roger Austin established what had hap_pened and the rescue process was put into action. Apparently XV794 had climbed to over 20,000ft and contin_ued to broadcast on the emergency frequency. Because the aircraft was close to a Warsaw Pact border, a German F-104 was sent to intercept and was, I understand, mildly sur_prised to find a Harrier flying very nicely, but with no-one on board. Shortly after that, the aircraft ran out of fuel and glided into Southern Denmark, where it crashed in an open field, narrowly missing a farmhouse. The Harrier had stayed airborne for 38 minutes after my ejection. Apparently, the reason for XV794's 38-minute solo trip was that the bird which I hit had spread itself quite thin_ly across the engine's compressor. The flames and gases from the Martin-Baker ejection seat dislodged the bird as I left the aircraft. The engine heaved a sigh of relief, drew a deep breath and started working normally again. As it happens, I had trimmed the aircraft rather well and XV794 flew until she ran out of fuel! For my part, having given Roger an idea of where I was, the German Air Force sent an S-65 helicopter to pick me up. However, as I was apparently difficult to find, I had to use my SARBE beacon and flares to direct the S-65 to me. As far as I know, I was at that time the only person to have used my SARBE beacon on land, and the company very kindly presented me with a silver pot. At Skrydstrup I met up with the rest of the squadron, was given a brief, but thorough, examination by a lady doctor, and went back to the Officers Mess. Life was never dull at Wildenrath in those days. I have a SARBE silver mug, membership of the Caterpillar and Martin-Baker clubs, an ejection seat handle and my log book to prove it all"

In 1991 similiar thing happened in Finland. A Mig-21bis took off for a training mission, but the front landing gear did not retract correctly. Therefore they couldn't be sure that it would hold in landing. After trying everything to get it to lock without succes, pilot had to bail. Emergency landing was not an option, because of the Mig's long fuselage it would most likely lead into roll. Pilot decided to trim the nose of the aircraft to point down instead of the official procedure to shut down the engine. On later interview pilot said he did not want to shut down the engine, because with it off the Mig flies a little bit worse than a regular hot dog stand and if the ejection seat won't work it would be a rush to get engine back on. Ejection seat did work and the pilot landed safely with minor injuries. The aircraft didn't crash like it was planned but instead continued the flight for 150 kilometers and actually landed by itself and was relatively intact. is.mediadelivery.fi/img/1920/eb55013d2efb4f77941d20849231f681.jpg

cool footage, great vids

Thats why you should should have a co-pilot. If a bird clogs the engine he can eject and restore functionality. Then you land the plane.

I was waiting to hear this crashed close to the MiG spot

amazing story

Brilliant thanks.

Another great story!