The Brooklands Museum might be located in the home of Vickers and include a lot of Vickers exhibits, but it also has some Hawker products too. I might be slightly exaggerating about the full history of Harriers, but they have three different examples of the Harrier lineage on display. The first is actually a Harrier but a P1127. The original demonstrator that led to the Kestrel and ultimately the Harrier. The design philosophy is clearly the same, but this was the beginning of the journey for the Kingston design team.

Then there is a Harrier GR1. Unusually it is fitted with the extended wingtips which provided a little extra fuel and a slight reduction in drag. The reason the plane is fitted with them is that it is one of the airframes that took place in the Transatlantic Air Race and won. It is surrounded by some displays of the race and the competitors it defeated – most importantly the Royal Navy!

Last but by no means least is a two-seater, G-VTOL/ZA250. This was a company funded demonstrator and was a regular sight at air shows throughout the 80s. It undertook sales campaigns with various countries and undertook trials of things like the ski jump take off and the Skyhook concept. It seemed to be in a different paint scheme every time I ever saw it on TV. Sure, no Sea Harrier or Harrier II but this is quite a collection to have in one place.