Britain's supersonic V/STOL story is a succession of attempts to make one aircraft satisfy very different Royal Navy and Royal Air Force needs. A fleet fighter optimized for interception and anti-ship missiles did not require the same compromises as a rough-field strike aircraft carrying a useful bomb load. The recurring attraction was institutional as much as technical: one common aircraft promised to solve several procurement problems, even when the available technology could not deliver every role well. That multirole ambition repeatedly reappeared from P.1154 to the F-35B despite earlier cancellations.
Chapter · 0:00-4:18
Why a supersonic V/STOL aircraft became so difficult
The opening traces Britain's supersonic Harrier ambition to the early 1960s and explains why combining naval interception, strike, carrier recovery, and rough-field operation overloaded one design.