0:00:33 > 0:00:35TYRES SCREECH
0:00:35 > 0:00:41The Harrier jump jet is one of the most unlikely war winners ever seen.
0:00:42 > 0:00:47Its ability to take off and land vertically was revolutionary,
0:00:47 > 0:00:51but it was unstable and hazardous at first.
0:01:02 > 0:01:09Having finally got hovering right, the Harrier would take 20 years to prove itself.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12But when it did, it would write history.
0:01:12 > 0:01:18"I counted them all out, and I counted them all back."
0:01:18 > 0:01:23The Harrier was fundamental to the Falklands.
0:01:23 > 0:01:31Without it, we would not have been able to set up a task force to sail south to do what was done.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37In April l982, it was make or break for the Harrier,
0:01:37 > 0:01:41as the British task force sailed to retake the Falklands.
0:01:41 > 0:01:48We couldn't have fought the Falklands campaign if we'd not had the Harrier.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52You're right in calling it a decisive weapon.
0:01:52 > 0:01:59Certainly, without the Harrier, we wouldn't have attempted to go back and reinvest the Falklands.
0:01:59 > 0:02:06The protection of the British fleet and troops was entrusted solely to the Harrier -
0:02:06 > 0:02:12a plane never before tested in war and never trusted by its critics.
0:02:12 > 0:02:17People did not believe it would do everything we said it would.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21It didn't matter how much you flew it.
0:02:21 > 0:02:27They didn't believe it until 1982, when the plane was used in the Falklands.
0:02:27 > 0:02:34Everybody was amazed. They said, "Golly, it does what you said it would!"
0:02:34 > 0:02:38The Harrier was the perfect weapon for that war.
0:02:38 > 0:02:43If the RAF and Royal Navy didn't have the Harrier and Sea Harrier,
0:02:43 > 0:02:50Margaret Thatcher would just have had to accept that we had lost the Falklands.
0:02:50 > 0:02:58The story of the Falklands War is the story of 20 Harriers against a 200-strong Argentinian Air Force:
0:02:58 > 0:03:01the unlikely victory of an unlikely aeroplane.
0:03:43 > 0:03:49To fight a war with aeroplanes, the first thing is to get there.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53In peacetime, you don't know where "there" is.
0:03:53 > 0:03:58"There" may be a road, a small clearing, a car park, a ship.
0:03:58 > 0:04:04The only aeroplane I know that can fly from any of them is a Harrier.
0:04:04 > 0:04:09The Harrier's purpose was to dispense with the need for runways.
0:04:09 > 0:04:17It is the only plane in the Western world to master vertical take-off. But it was not the first attempt.
0:04:20 > 0:04:27Vertical take-off propulsion became a worldwide aviation obsession after World War II.
0:04:27 > 0:04:35The British got in first with the "Flying Bedstead" - a hovering Rolls-Royce engine on legs.
0:04:37 > 0:04:42Incorporating the principle into a functioning aeroplane
0:04:42 > 0:04:46would take nearly a decade of stops and starts.
0:04:46 > 0:04:52Even those that got off the ground didn't get much further.
0:04:56 > 0:05:01Well, it certainly was a bit cranky in those early days.
0:05:01 > 0:05:09I started work on vertical take-off type aeroplanes in the mid-50s.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13I was sitting next to a guy called Ralph Hooper
0:05:13 > 0:05:19in the Hawker Aircraft Limited project office, in 1957,
0:05:19 > 0:05:27and Ralph Hooper did the first drawings of what eventually became the 1127,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30and subsequently the Harrier.
0:05:30 > 0:05:37We regarded it at the time more as an interesting engineering exercise.
0:05:37 > 0:05:42But it turned out to be an enormously important breakthrough.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46The principle behind it was simplicity itself -
0:05:46 > 0:05:53four rotating nozzles on a jet engine could direct thrust downwards.
0:05:53 > 0:06:00This is just a single engine, where the air comes out in four places instead of the normal one.
0:06:00 > 0:06:06Just splitting it in four places. On the end of each outlet is a rotating nozzle.
0:06:06 > 0:06:12In the cockpit, one lever enables me to swivel those nozzles together.
0:06:12 > 0:06:19That aside, it's just anybody else's jet fighter. What a wonderful achievement!
0:06:21 > 0:06:28By the mid-60s, the Harrier was the world's only high-performance vertical take-off plane.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31But no-one would buy it.
0:06:31 > 0:06:37Unable to match the speed of supersonic fighters, it was seen as a novelty -
0:06:37 > 0:06:45fine for doing tricks at airshows, but in combat, a jack of all trades, perhaps master of none -
0:06:45 > 0:06:53not able to carry as many bombs as a bomber; nimble in the air, but not as fast as a fighter.
0:06:53 > 0:07:00Initially, the Navy - the Fleet Air Arm - and the Royal Air Force were, frankly, a bit hostile.
0:07:00 > 0:07:07It wasn't supersonic, it didn't carry a big weapon load a long distance.
0:07:07 > 0:07:14The phrase of the day in the late '50s, early '60s was "Hah! That little thing?
0:07:14 > 0:07:18"Couldn't carry cigarettes across a football field!"
0:07:19 > 0:07:26In 1968, the US Marines broke with conventional wisdom and bought the Harrier.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29They were not concerned with speed.
0:07:29 > 0:07:36They were more interested in the Harrier's ability to operate away from runways.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39The purchase alerted NATO to the Harrier's value.
0:07:39 > 0:07:44NATO...became very conscious that,
0:07:44 > 0:07:48if there was a Warsaw Pact march west,
0:07:48 > 0:07:54there are very few runways, and they would be the first targets to be attacked.
0:07:54 > 0:07:59So there was a hankering after an aeroplane that didn't need runways.
0:08:02 > 0:08:10In 1969, finally convinced of the plane's unique abilities, the RAF formed its first Harrier squadron.
0:08:11 > 0:08:16However, it was still not recognized as a front-line fighter.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21Instead, the RAF adopted the Harrier as a ground-support plane
0:08:21 > 0:08:26which could operate close to enemy lines without conventional runways.
0:08:26 > 0:08:34But even in this limited role, the Harrier quickly won the enthusiasm of its new RAF pilots.
0:08:34 > 0:08:40We were attempting to put the aeroplane into a new context,
0:08:40 > 0:08:44taking it away from airfields based on concrete,
0:08:44 > 0:08:51and operating in the field in a way that helicopters had done, but fighters had not.
0:08:55 > 0:09:01We were Boy Scouts in the field with a high-performance jet. That was great fun!
0:09:01 > 0:09:09To fly a Harrier was the most exhilarating thing one could experience in the world.
0:09:11 > 0:09:18Now, at last, the Harrier would get its chance as a fighter - thanks, ironically, to defence cuts.
0:09:20 > 0:09:25In the 1970s, the Royal Navy lost its big aircraft carriers,
0:09:25 > 0:09:30and with them, the supersonic jets of the Fleet Air Arm.
0:09:30 > 0:09:36Taking their place were new, smaller carriers designed for helicopters.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39The Navy put up its hands in horror.
0:09:39 > 0:09:44How were they supposed to have air defence at sea,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47once outside the range of RAF aircraft?
0:09:47 > 0:09:51The Navy came up with helicopter carriers.
0:09:51 > 0:09:56But, surprise, surprise, you could operate Harriers from these,
0:09:56 > 0:10:00and now you had the possibility of naval air cover.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04They weren't happy. But it was all they were going to get.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07This was the Harrier's big chance.
0:10:07 > 0:10:13Having been shunned for years, the Harrier was to be the Royal Navy's salvation.
0:10:13 > 0:10:21To make it suitable for operation at sea, changes were made to the Harrier's navigational system.
0:10:21 > 0:10:26The Navy would be the first service to use the Harrier as a fighter.
0:10:26 > 0:10:31The new plane, in service from 1980, was called the Sea Harrier.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35It fell to the Fleet Air Arm to prove what it could do.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38The first squadron was 800 Squadron.
0:10:38 > 0:10:45I was chosen to head the trials unit, and then the headquarters squadron.
0:10:45 > 0:10:51A very exciting episode, generating the aeroplane from paperwork into reality.
0:10:51 > 0:10:56Having gone into military service despite setbacks,
0:10:56 > 0:11:00the Harrier was now ready for its ultimate test.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04Just 18 months later, that test arrived.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07For years and years we'd said,
0:11:07 > 0:11:14"We want a small war, where the Harrier can show itself to advantage.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17"Not many people killed, that's cruel."
0:11:17 > 0:11:20We had one. The Falklands.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24OFFICER SHOUTS ORDERS IN SPANISH
0:11:24 > 0:11:32MARGARET THATCHER: 'British sovereign territory has been invaded by a foreign power.
0:11:32 > 0:11:37'After several days of rising tension in our relations with Argentina,
0:11:37 > 0:11:43'that country's armed forces attacked the Falkland Islands yesterday,
0:11:43 > 0:11:48'and established military control of the islands.'
0:11:48 > 0:11:53As the British task force set off, victory was far from certain.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56The Falklands lay 8,000 miles away,
0:11:56 > 0:11:59beyond the range of any friendly airfield.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01With no aircraft carriers,
0:12:01 > 0:12:08the best that Britain could do was to load two helicopter carriers with Sea Harriers.
0:12:08 > 0:12:13There were 20 of them to meet all the needs of combat -
0:12:13 > 0:12:17drop bombs, do reconnaissance, provide ground support.
0:12:17 > 0:12:23And take on an Argentinian air force and navy of over 200 aircraft.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28On the way down, it was clear we were short of air defence.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31The air force couldn't provide it.
0:12:31 > 0:12:37We had 20 aircraft against 200 Argentine aircraft who would attack the fleet.
0:12:37 > 0:12:43Our admiral in Somerset told our wives, while we were on the way down,
0:12:43 > 0:12:48that 75% of us would not return, which was a very silly thing to do.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51Some of my guys thought the same.
0:12:51 > 0:12:57We were looked upon like being given the Last Supper by some of the crew,
0:12:57 > 0:13:01until they realised how confident we were.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05We had a ten-to-one disadvantage in the air.
0:13:05 > 0:13:12Conventional wisdom says that you are up against heavy odds.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16To a fighter pilot, it's a target-rich environment.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19Fighting began on the 1st of May.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23Port Stanley airfield was a crucial target -
0:13:23 > 0:13:29used by Argentina for delivering supplies and basing aircraft.
0:13:29 > 0:13:35The first test for the Sea Harriers was to bomb Port Stanley.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38MACHINE-GUN FIRE
0:13:42 > 0:13:46I came round the side of the airfield,
0:13:46 > 0:13:49and I saw a tracer start to come towards me.
0:13:49 > 0:13:54Someone was trying to shoot down my mum's little boy.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58There was a bloody great BANG,
0:13:58 > 0:14:02and the whole aircraft started vibrating. I'd been hit.
0:14:02 > 0:14:08I discovered, in fact, a 20mm shell had gone through my tail.
0:14:08 > 0:14:15It made a small entry hole on the left, and a hole the size of my head on the right.
0:14:15 > 0:14:20I couldn't read the instruments, the vibration was so severe,
0:14:20 > 0:14:25but we got it back on board, and it was flying the next morning.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28That was my first taste of action.
0:14:31 > 0:14:36That was the famous sortie Brian Hanrahan described in his dispatch.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40"I'm not allowed to say how many planes joined the raid,
0:14:40 > 0:14:45"but I counted them all out, and I counted them all back."
0:14:47 > 0:14:51Although the raid failed to put the airfield out of action,
0:14:51 > 0:14:57it deterred the Argentines from basing important aircraft there.
0:14:57 > 0:15:02The bulk of missions would have to be flown from mainland Argentina -
0:15:02 > 0:15:07leaving their aircraft with little fuel over the Falklands.
0:15:07 > 0:15:14Having acquitted themselves as bombers, the Harriers would now be tested as fighters.
0:15:14 > 0:15:19They were up against a great military jet - the French Mirage.
0:15:19 > 0:15:27It was the kind of supersonic, specialist fighter the Harrier was thought to be no match for.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30Now would come the telling contest.
0:15:30 > 0:15:36The Mirage was a fairly formidable aircraft. It had twice our speed.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39That was a problem.
0:15:40 > 0:15:48Faster doesn't necessarily mean better in terms of fighting.
0:15:48 > 0:15:54We had an adage that the quicker they got there, the quicker they'd die.
0:15:54 > 0:16:02For our tactics of fighting against the enemy, we used a manoeuvre called the hook manoeuvre -
0:16:02 > 0:16:09sending one aircraft in from ahead, one from behind, and putting them in a sandwich.
0:16:09 > 0:16:15Like the army pincer movement. It's good strategy. It worked.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18On day one we shot down two aircraft.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22The first two aircraft destroyed in the war were Mirages.
0:16:22 > 0:16:30Britain's pilots had been proved right, and the Harrier had laid to rest the myth of its inferiority.
0:16:30 > 0:16:39On the first day of air combat, Harriers shot down four Argentinian jets. No Harriers were lost.
0:16:39 > 0:16:44Even more of a problem than the enemy was the appalling weather.
0:16:44 > 0:16:49Early on 6th May, two Harriers collided in thick fog.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53Both pilots were killed. There were just 18 planes left.
0:16:53 > 0:17:0018 aircraft would keep the RAF going for two-thirds of a day
0:17:00 > 0:17:03in the Battle of Britain.
0:17:03 > 0:17:10Fortunately, the RAF brought in its squadron, No. 1 Squadron, with six Harriers,
0:17:10 > 0:17:15and No. 1 Squadron did have reinforcements during the conflict.
0:17:16 > 0:17:22We flew direct from the UK to Ascension Island - a 9½ hour flight.
0:17:22 > 0:17:27We then transferred them onto Atlantic Conveyor.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30Once we got down to the carriers,
0:17:30 > 0:17:35the Royal Navy concentrated on the air-to-air portion of the war,
0:17:35 > 0:17:40and we covered air-to-ground, which was our specialisation.
0:17:40 > 0:17:48The RAF Harriers arrived just before British troops landed, and gave vital ground support.
0:17:48 > 0:17:55The Sea Harriers were now able to concentrate on protecting the fleet from air attack.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59On the 21st of May alone, nine Argentine attackers were shot down.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03Sharkey Ward got one of them in the morning.
0:18:03 > 0:18:08In the afternoon, he spotted a bomber flown by Carlos Tomba.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12HE SPEAKS IN SPANISH:
0:18:32 > 0:18:35It was a no-hope situation for the Pucara.
0:18:35 > 0:18:42I was firing from his six o'clock, from behind him, on three runs,
0:18:42 > 0:18:45hitting him each time.
0:18:45 > 0:18:50IN SPANISH:
0:18:57 > 0:19:03He stayed with it until he had no engine, no fuselage, no wing.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06Then he got out at the last minute.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09A very brave man.
0:19:09 > 0:19:16IN SPANISH:
0:19:32 > 0:19:37He represented everything good about the Argentinian air force.
0:19:37 > 0:19:43Very brave and professional - he did all he could to save his aeroplane.
0:19:43 > 0:19:50While the courage of the Argentine pilots was never in doubt, their tactics were.
0:19:50 > 0:19:57I think the Argentinian pilots were very, very poorly briefed.
0:19:57 > 0:20:05Perhaps if they'd been briefed that there was a fighter threat, a great threat from the Harriers,
0:20:05 > 0:20:10perhaps they would have fought the war slightly differently.
0:20:10 > 0:20:15Argentina's commanders ordered the pilots to bomb the British fleet.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19They were to avoid the Harriers at all costs.
0:20:19 > 0:20:27With no fighter escort, and armed with bombs not missiles, they were easy prey for the Sea Harriers.
0:20:27 > 0:20:33Their command told them "Don't engage the Sea Harrier". Big mistake.
0:20:33 > 0:20:38They should have told them "Kill every Sea Harrier you come across.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42"Ditch your ground-attack weapons, use guns or missiles.
0:20:42 > 0:20:48"Take losses. Providing you kill one Sea Harrier for every five we lose,
0:20:48 > 0:20:53"by the end of the week the war will be over. No Sea Harriers left."
0:20:53 > 0:20:57IN SPANISH:
0:21:29 > 0:21:35On 5 June, four Argentine Skyhawks attacked British landing craft.
0:21:35 > 0:21:40As the first Skyhawk went in, David Morgan's Harrier intercepted.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45The first one dropped a bomb which hit the back of the landing craft,
0:21:45 > 0:21:52which made me very, very angry. More angry than I've ever been.
0:21:52 > 0:21:59From then on, there was none of this bullshit about shoot the plane, but don't kill the pilot.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02IN SPANISH:
0:22:11 > 0:22:16I fired a Sidewinder missile, which went straight up his jet pipe.
0:22:16 > 0:22:21A very large explosion, and almost nothing came out of it,
0:22:21 > 0:22:28no bits larger than a dinner plate. A huge ball of fire, and he went into the water.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32Morgan shot down two Skyhawks in the engagement.
0:22:32 > 0:22:37A third was destroyed by another Harrier. Only one attacker escaped.
0:22:37 > 0:22:43A couple of years ago, I met the Skyhawk pilot who got away.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46A guy called Hector Sanchez.
0:22:46 > 0:22:52I'd gone into the fight so quickly that I'd overtaken him in my dive.
0:22:52 > 0:22:59He was behind me, and might have been able to get a shot at me with his gun.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02IN SPANISH:
0:23:17 > 0:23:22The Harrier now dominated the skies over the Falklands.
0:23:22 > 0:23:29The biggest concern was the weather - force ten gales, 50ft waves, and unrelenting rain.
0:23:29 > 0:23:35The weather was very cold - it was the Southern Hemisphere's winter.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38We got three hours of light a day.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41Most operations were done in the dark.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47You had wind, snow, rain, waves coming over the deck.
0:23:47 > 0:23:53Even on the Hermes, with her ramp, you had waves coming over the top.
0:23:54 > 0:23:59IN SPANISH:
0:24:20 > 0:24:28With such a small force of Harriers, protecting the fleet meant keeping them in the air around the clock.
0:24:28 > 0:24:33We had eight aeroplanes on board, and we were asked to do
0:24:33 > 0:24:38at least half the night, alert, sitting in the cockpit on deck,
0:24:38 > 0:24:43with one pilot in the crew room ready to go, fully dressed.
0:24:43 > 0:24:49If you work it out mathematically, to do that all night with 11 pilots,
0:24:49 > 0:24:54it meant you were awake all night and then you were flying all day.
0:24:54 > 0:24:59We didn't really notice that it was hard at the time,
0:24:59 > 0:25:04but the stress was there - I'd have five minutes to myself in a day.
0:25:04 > 0:25:10I was in tears of frustration at times, when things didn't go right.
0:25:10 > 0:25:17The Harriers were taking off all the time. We had at least four Harriers in the air at all times.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21We launched nearly every Harrier we had,
0:25:21 > 0:25:26and by the time they got back, they rolled them into another operation.
0:25:26 > 0:25:33They took off straight away. They just went off onto a different role.
0:25:33 > 0:25:39We flew, in 801 Squadron, I think it was 695 sorties - missions.
0:25:39 > 0:25:45We only missed one aircraft mission through unserviceability,
0:25:45 > 0:25:53which by any measurement in the modern world of aeroplanes, or even racing cars, it's incredible.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56Which is why I love it so much.
0:25:56 > 0:26:03On the 14th of June, Argentinian forces surrendered. The Falklands War was over.
0:26:06 > 0:26:11The plane which few would have chosen had proved itself.
0:26:11 > 0:26:19The Sea Harrier had shot down 23 Argentinian aircraft without losing a single plane in air combat.
0:26:19 > 0:26:24A further nine Argentinian aircraft were destroyed in ground attacks.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27In its unparalleled versatility,
0:26:27 > 0:26:35the Harrier was established as more than a jack of all trades - it was the master of them.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39A lot of people were surprised at how well the Harrier did -
0:26:39 > 0:26:43they didn't know enough about the aeroplane.
0:26:43 > 0:26:49The people that knew it - that worked it, engineered it, flew it -
0:26:49 > 0:26:57they were RELIEVED that it did what they thought it could do in war, but they weren't surprised.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01I remember saying, years before the Falklands,
0:27:01 > 0:27:07that if I had to go to war, the aircraft I wanted was the Harrier.
0:27:07 > 0:27:13I was lucky. It happened that way, and the aircraft proved itself.
0:27:13 > 0:27:20The Harrier remains in front-line service today, in Britain and around the world.
0:27:20 > 0:27:26In the Gulf War and in Bosnia, it has maintained a combat presence.
0:27:26 > 0:27:33For those involved from the beginning, the Harrier has become all they had ever hoped.
0:27:40 > 0:27:47We had anxieties in the earlier days, the late 50s, early 60s,
0:27:47 > 0:27:53that the aeroplane wouldn't be officially recognized
0:27:53 > 0:27:56and put into squadron use.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01We were sustained and buoyed up
0:28:01 > 0:28:08by the hope that our essential belief in the rightness of the aeroplane
0:28:08 > 0:28:12would cause it to, er, to be adopted.
0:28:54 > 0:29:01Subtitles by Tom Shearer BBC Scotland - 1996