STOVL propulsion-onward and upward

Rolls-Royce's unique Pegasus engine has made possible a generation of vertical-landing military aircraft.

There is nothing like flying in a Harrier to demonstrate that the laws of physics can sometimes be well and truly bent, if not actually broken. As its powerful Rolls-Royce Pegasus engine spools up, the aircraft rises gently from the ground. Its swept, anhedral wings rock slightly with no visible means of support before the smooth, accelerating transition to conventional horizontal flight.

What follows is an hour of intensive flying with simulated attacks demonstrating the aircraft's role of close air support and interdiction. The sortie is completed by deceleration into the hover, a vertical landing and a short, sharp taxi beneath the cover of trees at a deployed site. The Harrier cannot fail to thoroughly impress.