Quote from: SredniVashtar on November 03, 2022, 06:47:12 AMDid the Harrier use vertical take-off much or was it too much hassle usually? I always assumed it must have been generally easier to take off conventionally and the VTOL bit was there to be used just in case. I wonder if it was a case of getting all the boffins together to do something unusual, but actually not having much of a use for it, a bit like Concorde. I saw it bowing to the crowd at a few air shows when I was a youngster, and sometimes I wondered if that was about the extent of its usefulness.
It was designed as a close support ground attack aircraft in the 60's. It was unique in design, had the biggest turbine ever fitted in any aircraft so it could basically hide in the forests of West Germany durung the cold war at a moments notice go and bomb the crap out of advancing Soviet tanks.
It used vectored thrust so was highly maneuverable and could take off from unfinished flat areas or at a push vertically. I say at a push because as said before, doing that is very power/fuel hungry and rips up the surface.
So short take off and landing was more favourable compromise. Hence the ski jump on carriers-Hermes. Not an easy thing to fly and they had more than their share of accidents. But it proved its worth in the Falklands spat and was very effective because it was so agile.