Toryu 156 Posted May 15, 2016 Watch this - very interesting! Very cool channel for lots of other videos on either engineering or flying! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JimAttrill 24 Posted June 7, 2016 As someone who worked on Harrier engines in the RAF from 1970-73 I found this most interesting. The aircraft I worked on were the 'pretty' GR1's and 1A's, 2 and 2A's. (the only difference was that the A had a bit more engine power). Engine changes could be murder and take a long time because there are very few panels underneath so a dropped spanner could set you back to the beginning. All spanners were tied to us with string! I once wrote a rather tongue-in-cheek story about an engine change which was attempted outside in Germany. We had an exchange US Marine pilot on 4 Squadron even before the Marines bought the Harrier. http://www.harrier.org.uk/history/engine_change.htm Altogether a wonderful aircraft and some things were almost ridiculously simple like the nozzle actuation system which was rather like a 4wd car with drive shafts from the air motor. The final drive to the nozzles was by chains! (which never failed). And apart from the nozzle lever the normal controls were used even in the hover. Clever stuff! ps we had the water injection in those days but didn't use it because it took the engine life down to about 5 hours! The max engine life in those days was 200hrs but few engines made it that far - there was an electronic box that told you when to change the engine depending on how it had been used. One thing he doesn't mention is why the engine is called a Pegasus (Americans don't like names for things) but Pegasus was a flying horse with 4 legs and the Harrier flew on four columns of air! ps. The engine was developed from the Bristol Orpheus with American money via th MAP, something that many British people don't know or don't mention. 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fallenphoenix1986 603 Posted June 7, 2016 (edited) Never thought about it before but the name Pegasus now makes so much more sense, always bugged me since RR tend to use river names.Craig Edited June 7, 2016 by fallenphoenix1986 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Toryu 156 Posted June 8, 2016 The engine came from Bristol IIRC - they apparently had a thing with greek mythology-stuff. Like Concorde's "Olympus". Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fallenphoenix1986 603 Posted June 8, 2016 The engine came from Bristol IIRC - they apparently had a thing with greek mythology-stuff. Like Concorde's "Olympus". A very good point, RR had the rights to it long before I was born had forgotten they hadn't actually designed it. Craig Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
