THE RAF HARRIER STORY

[Chris]

An excellent document THE RAF HARRIER STORY Royal Air Force Historical Society website...

https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/ ... -Story.pdf

Apologies if posted before. I found the early days in Germany where aircraft dispersion in woods and cities using small grass strips and car parks of particular interest.

A simplistic hack of DCS ME allows hot / cold starts of AV8BNA other than from FARP PADS, on the flat sides or roads etc... Using the side strip of a FARP gives 160' usable runway with full rearm / refuel / repair capabilities... add some imaginations and dispersal bases and some different mission styles could be created. Are there any other like minder souls for this era or would it be a waste of time if I made a few up.?

Whatever, the doc in opinion is a valuable read... you may be interested...

• EARLY HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES AND EMERGING
• STAFF TARGETS by Air Chf Mshl Sir Patrick Hine
• JET LIFT by Prof John F Coplin
• EVOLUTION OF THE PEGASUS VECTORED THRUST
• ENGINE by Dr Gordon Lewis
• THE ORIGINS OF JET-LIFT AT KINGSTON by Ralph Hooper
• FLYING THE OPTIONS – THE SC1 AND P1127 by John Farley
• THE KESTREL EVALUATION SQUADRON by Air Cdre D M Scrimgeour
• CONVERTING THE RAF TO THE HARRIER by AVM eter Dodworth
• THE COLD WAR CONCEPTS OF OPERATION FOR THE RAF HARRIER FORCE by Gp Capt Jock Heron
• MORNING DISCUSSION PERIOD
• LOGISTICS SUPPORT by AVM Pat O’Reilly
• SHAPING LATER MOD POLICY by Air Chf Mshl Sir Patrick Hine
• OPERATIONS – GR3 by Air Chf Mshl Sir Peter Squire
• OPERATIONS IN THE HARRIER GR7 by Gp Capt Andy NM Golledge
• THE JOINT FORCE HARRIER CONCEPT by Cdre Bill Covington
• AFTERNOON DISCUSSION PERIOD
• CHAIRMAN’S CLOSING REMARKS
• THE HARRIER AND THE MINISTRY OF TECHNOLOGY, 1967-1969 by AM Sir Reginald Harland
• A V/STOL FLIGHT CONTROL JOURNEY ENABLED BY RAE SCIENTISTS by John Farley
  /list]

[Speirs 11]

Thanks for posting.

There's some excellent stories in Harrier Boys 1 & 2 about all aspects of the Harrier, but there's a few you may especially like about the use of makeshift airstrips and the difficulties in using them.

If you've ever forgotten to adjust your nozzles correctly or put your flaps down, don't worry, real pilots have too.

[Matt]

Chris, great find!

I for one would be all for putting skills like this to practice!

[Chris]

A little bit of concept testing... you do need a good dose of imagination because DCS requires airframe to be touching a FARP. Used to be a MOD using marston tile panels by NAKED but now impossible to have flat due to DCS texture terrain mesh framework. You can of course spawn on a helo pad but T/O and LAND need to be VTO with associated penalties. Hacking the ME you can place any A/C hot or cold start on the ground anywhere just like a helo. Fine for road T/Os and Short landings but no rearm / refuel / repair unless you reverse the tail onto a single pad... a bit fiddly.

With the ME hack you can set the Harrier to spawn on a FARP but not on a PAD. A bit of thought will give you about a 600' flat strip for T/Os and LAND but also fully serviceable FARP facilities.. And you can put a FARP anywhere regardless of the DCS terrain mesh...

I knocked up a concept miz, stuck the FARP in the middle of a wood, and me and PLEXI had a play. Remember it is just a concept we were looking at... in RL a few trees would have some chainsaw love... The positioning is just to see what is possible. With about 24500GW taking off west is pretty tight and steep but doable for a 2 ship - taking off East if easier.

The mission assumed a 500' hard top inclusing the approach to the FOB although most iof the flight was around 150' - which was okay - here's a short video - the landing alternates between cockpit and F1 .... we'll take it bit further and see what happens...

Give me a shout if you want to try it...
https://youtu.be/l0NlNEWPWvU

[youtube]l0NlNEWPWvU[/youtube]

[Dutch]

Maybe this Harrier Farp mod is something better

[Chris]

Specter made that when we were was toying with joint helo / harrier ops and was loosely based on a FOB the Engineers threw up in the Falklands. Pilot skill level required to land when placed n a constricted environment is higher mainly suitcase of side drop offs... Just depends on how dispersed things are placed but yes it is in the toolbox... as is hiding half the DCS FARP under tree mesh and buildings... but variety would be the key..

[Plexi]

To be honest Dutch this type is a right pain in the butt. Have used this type before and if its just you its ok but with a few more Aircraft it becomes crowded real quick. Very little room to maneuver and no way to do duel take off's. Personally i prefer the type used in the Video, much better and more realistic in my opinion. Guess its just a matter of choice eh?

[Chris]

Can now arrange a complete serviceable FARP in hides and the road side. These pics show a basic miz dispersal hide with 4 spawn points under the camo net off road, taxi onto road and take / land in either direction. Fuel / Ammo / Repair etc available in the hides or on the road between the coned area...

Seems to work fine and of course max fuel and munitions can be loaded...

[Matt]

Chris, what mod pack is that using?

[Chris]

I'll fire over the miz file and mod pack used tomorrow morning and it will make sense... I'll put the mission on a spare server and leave it running tomorrow if anyone wants to experiment with it - 4 FOB types all with WP'ed routes - open map so check your own targets and put on suitable load - mostly cluster, WPs are a guide, use you head and eyes for best NOE low ingress the FOB are just bolted onto a knock up miz for personal training so also carrier groups running at 25 knots respectable , a2a etc... on respawning loops.