Hawker Siddeley P.1127 and Vertical Takeoff Flight

In 1960 the Hawker Siddeley company unveiled the P.1127, an experimental aircraft designed to combine vertical takeoff and landing capability with the performance of a jet fighter. The aircraft addressed a long-sought goal in aviation: freeing combat aircraft from dependence on long, vulnerable runways by allowing them to operate from small clearings, ships, or improvised sites.

The key to the P.1127 was its innovative vectored-thrust engine, built around the Bristol engine concept that became the Pegasus. The engine drove rotating nozzles that could be aimed straight down to generate lift for vertical takeoff and hovering, or swiveled rearward to produce forward thrust for conventional wing-borne flight. By transitioning the nozzles in between, the pilot could move smoothly from hover to high-speed flight.

The P.1127 and its evaluation derivative, the Kestrel, proved the concept and led directly to the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the world's first successful operational vertical/short takeoff and landing combat jet. The Harrier went on to serve the Royal Air Force, the Royal Navy, the U.S. Marine Corps, and others, and famously operated from small carriers during the 1982 Falklands War.