Cancún International Airport
Cancún International Airport is located in Cancún, Quintana Roo, on the Caribbean coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. It is Latin America's fourth and Mexico's second busiest airport, after Mexico City International Airport. In 2018, Cancún airport handled 25,202,016 passengers, a 6.8% increase compared to 2017. It has two parallel operative runways; the airport was opened in 1974. The airport is operated by Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, it is a focus city for Aeroméxico, VivaAerobus and Volaris, offers flights to over 20 destinations in Mexico and to over 30 countries in North, South America and Europe. The airport has been expanding as it has become the second busiest point of entry by air to the country, after Mexico City International Airport. In 2005, ASUR invested US$150 million for the construction of Terminal 3, inaugurated in 2007, a new runway and a new control tower opened in October 2009; the new 2,800 meters long, 45 meters wide runway was built to the north of the current one.
Terminal 2 was expanded in 2014. A 76,000 m2 expansion in Terminal 3 was carried out, adding six gates and commercial areas, it was formally opened in March 2016; the expansion should contribute to increase annual capacity to 10 million from the existing 6 million. Terminal 4 was opened at the end of October 2017, much to the excitement from the local politicians as well as vacationers who were growing impatient with an overcrowded airport; the airport has four terminals, all of which are in use. Terminal 1 has 7 gates: 1-7A. After suffering damage by Hurricane Wilma, it was temporarily closed for remodeling in order to accommodate charter airlines operating into the airport, it re-opened in November 2013 to charter flights. Terminal 2 has 22 gates: A1-A11 and B12-B22. Most domestic airlines depart from here, along with all international flights to Central and South America and a few long-haul flights to Europe. There is a bank and food outlets in the check-in area, along with several restaurants and shops in the boarding area and immigration/customs services.
A VIP airport lounge operated by Global Lounge Network serves international travelers. Terminal 3 has 21 gates: C4-C24, it has been expanded. Most US carriers as well as some Canadian and European carriers use this terminal, it offers cafés and restaurants, as well as immigration/customs services. Terminal 4 has 12 gates and opened in October 2017; the terminal is able to handle 9 million passengers a year. Airlines flying to terminal 4 include Aeroméxico, Air France, Air Transat, WestJet, Southwest Airlines, Thomas Cook Airlines, Air Europa, Frontier Airlines and Sun Country Airlines. An on site hotel is planned to be opened around the same time frame as well as a parking structure; the addition of terminal 4 made Cancun International the first airport in Mexico to have four terminals. Notes^1 Turkish Airlines's flight from Istanbul to Cancún makes a stop in Mexico City, however the airline doesn't have local traffic rights from Mexico City to Cancún. Note On March 15, 1984, Aerocozumel Flight 261 crashed soon after takeoff.
No one died in crash but, one of the passengers died of a heart attack while moving through the swamp. On September 9, 2009, hijacked Aeroméxico Flight 576 landed at Mexico City International Airport from Cancun International Airport. On January 19, 2010, a Mexicana Airbus A318, flight MX-368 from Cancun to Mexico City, with 45 passengers suffered a mishap at takeoff. Both the outboard and inboard core cowling of the left hand engine separated, hitting the fuselage and the semi-left wing leaving residues on the runway. 2011 - Best Airport in Latin America - Caribbean of the Airport Service Quality Awards by Airports Council International and 2nd Best Airport by Size in the 5 to 15 million passenger category. List of the busiest airports in Mexico List of the busiest airports in Latin America Media related to Cancun Airport at Wikimedia Commons Cancun Airport Airport information for MMUN at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006. Source: DAFIF. Airport information for MMUN at Great Circle Mapper.
Source: DAFIF. Current weather for MMUN at NOAA/NWS Accident history for CUN at Aviation Safety Network Cancun airport travel data at Airportsdata.net
Ladyville
Ladyville is the largest village in the country of Belize, eight miles northwest of Belize City in the Belize District. The Philip Goldson Highway connects Ladyville to Belize City. Although a separate settlement, Ladyville has become a suburb of Belize City, with many of its residents commuting to the city on a daily basis. Ladyville recorded a population of 5458 in the 2010 national census; the total number of households are 1,227 with an average size of 3.6 persons. Ladyville is located on the north end of the Belize River and is next to the Caribbean Sea; the terrain is part of the Belize's lowland and part of a natural flood plain. The land consists of broadleaf lowland forests and marshlands with creeks and mangrove forest along the coast; the Phillip Goldson highway cuts through the village. It has several neighbourhoods: Vista Del Mar New/Old Site "Mitchelle Estate" Perez Estate Japan Lake Gardens Bainton's Bank Area "Los Lagos Community" National Government Ladyville is part of the Belize Rural Central Constituency.
The area representative for the Belize Rural Central Constituency, following the general elections on 5 November 2015, is Beverly Diane Castillo with 2560 votes who defeated incumbent representative Dolores Balderamos Garcia who had 2502 votes. 2015 National Election Summary Belize Rural Central 7513 5284 70.33% Beverly Diane Castillo UDP 2560 48.45% Dolores Balderamos Garcia PUP 2502 47.35% Javier Molina BPP 152 2.88% rejected 70 1.32% Local Government The Village Council is headed by Chairlady Dian Wite. 2016–2019 Village Council members List of political parties in Belize The Belize Telemedia Limited - Ladyville Branch is located on the Old Airport Road. The Belize Electricity Limited - Ladyville Branch, is located at 9 3/4mls Northern Highway; the Belize Water Services Ltd - Ladyville branch is located at Lord's Bank road. Butane Gas services are provided by Southern Choice Butane and Belize Western Energy Limited. Our Lady of The Way R. C. School Ladyville Evangelical School Seven Day Adventist Primary School.
Ladyville Technical High School Tubal Trade Institute St. Christopher's Clinic - Chemist/Pharmacy/General Practitioner Batsub/Price Barracks - Army Medics Ladyville Pharmacy - Chemist/Pharmacy Ladyville Seven Day Adventist Community Clinic Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport known as The Belize International Airport, is located in Ladyville and is operated by the Belize Airport Concession Company Ltd; the airport serves Belize City and is the nation of Belize's main airport. It has a runway length of 7100 ft and is served by 9 airlines. Transportation from the airport to the Philip Goldson Highway is only available by the Ladyville Airport Taxi union. Public transportation for Ladyville is serviced by several different bus companies that operate both locally and nationally. Headquarters of the Belize Brewing Company, brewers of Belikin beer and Lighthouse lager. Coca-Cola bottling plant Belize Defense Force along with BATSUB headquarters at Price Barracks. NAVCO National Association of Village Councils The Belize district office is located at the Ladyville Community Center on Poinsettia and Seagull Streets, Ladyville.
Manatee Lookout Belize River Lodge Phillip Goldson Int'l Airport Belize Defence Force National Association of Village Councils
Tocumen International Airport
Tocumen International Airport is the international airport of Panama City, the capital of Panama. The airport serves as the homebase for Copa Airlines and is a regional hub to and from The Caribbean, South and Central America and additionally features routes to some European and Asian cities. There is high terrain to the north of the airport; the Tocumen VOR-DME and non-directional beacon are located just south of the field. During World War II, Panamanian airports were leased by the U. S. military. The nearest airport to Tocumen was the Paitilla Point Airfield. Several airports were built to protect the Panama Canal from foreign aggression; the 37th Pursuit Group at Albrook Field replaced the P-40 Warhawks of the 28th Pursuit Squadron at the Paitilla Point airbase from 9 December 1941 though 26 March 1942 in the immediate aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack. Tocumen International Airport was inaugurated on June 1, 1947 by President Enrique A. Jiménez, airport operations began before the construction works were completed.
The administrative building/passenger terminal was inaugurated seven years during the administration of Colonel Jose Antonio Remon Cantera. The old airport building, being used as a cargo terminal, was built on an area of 720 ha and was 126 ft above sea level; as time passed, due to Panama's role as a country of transit, that terminal became too small to attend to the growing demand for air operations. These circumstances compelled the aeronautical authorities at the time to consider expanding the airport. Work on the new buildings began in 1971. In order to build the structure that houses the current passenger terminal, a lot of land had to be moved and the bed of the Tocumen river had to be diverted from its original site; the current passenger terminal was inaugurated on August 15, 1978 and operations began on September 5 of the same year. The Tocumen International Airport is one of the few airports in the region that has two landing runways able to serve the largest commercial aircraft operating today.
The name of the airport was changed in 1981 by the military government for Omar Torrijos International Airport, in honor to the Panamanian leader who died on July 31, 1981, at the age of 52 in a plane crash in Cerro Marta, Coclesito in bad conditions. After nine years, the original name was reestablished after the fall of the dictatorship of Panama by the U. S. invasion of 1989. The original runway is used for cargo and private flights, but as a supplement to the primary runway during peak traffic periods; the main runway is 3,050 m × 45 m and is used for commercial flights, the 03R direction is ILS Cat. I enabled; until May 31, 2003 Tocumen International Airport was managed by the Civil Aeronautics Directorate. On June 1 of that year, an innovative terminal management platform was created through Law No. 23 of January 29, 2003, which set out a regulatory framework for the management of airports and landing strips in Panama. This law allowed the creation of Aeropuerto Internacional de Tocumen, S.
A. referred to as Tocumen, S. A. which manages the terminal. This law is one of a number of laws that restructured the aeronautical sector in Panama to further its improvement and modernization. In August 2015, it was announced that Emirates would operate flights to Tocumen International Airport from Dubai starting February 2016, at which point it would have become the world's longest non-stop flight. In January 2016, the route was delayed due to a lack of economical opportunities for the flight, it has not yet been announced when the flight will begin scheduled operations. It was planned to make the route between Tocumen International Airport and Dubai the longest flight in the world, until Emirates started flying between Dubai and Auckland. During 2018, Tocumen International Airport will undergo the completion of the airport's new South Terminal. In 2006, Tocumen S. A. started a major renovation program. The main passenger terminal was expanded 20,830 m2 at a cost of US$21 million. New boarding gates were built to allow more flights to and from Panama, to facilitate the growth of commercial and internal circulation areas.
Tocumen airport administration acquired 22 new boarding bridges and replaced the oldest 14. This included the addition of 6 remote positions, hence allowing Tocumen Airport to have a total of 28 boarding gates; the new installations were opened in 2006. The airport has a VIP lounge, Copa Club, operated by the partnership between United Airlines and Copa Airlines that caters to Copa's partner airlines and Star Alliance members, it had an Admirals Club for American Airlines, which closed on June 30, 2012. The Lounge Panama, a VIP airport lounge operated by Global Lounge Network started operations at PTY on January 9, 2019; the next step of the modernization project was the purchasing of new equipment to provide service and support to the common areas of the airport. New equipment included: modern boarding gates and elevators, luggage conveyor belts, flight information system, revamping the air conditioning system; the renovation of the old Tocumen international airport to be used as a cargo terminal, was the last step of the modernization project of Tocumen international airport.
It included the redesign of the central building, the construction of new buildings for cargo companies among other improvements. The second expansion phase of Tocumen International airport is the Northern Terminal. At a cost of USD 60 million, a new term
American Airlines
American Airlines, Inc. is a major American airline headquartered in Fort Worth, within the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. It is the world's largest airline when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, scheduled passenger-kilometers flown, number of destinations served. American, together with its regional partners, operates an extensive international and domestic network with an average of nearly 6,700 flights per day to nearly 350 destinations in more than 50 countries. American Airlines is a founding member of Oneworld alliance, the third largest airline alliance in the world. Regional service is operated by independent and subsidiary carriers under the brand name American Eagle. American operates out with Dallas/Fort Worth being its largest. American operates its primary maintenance base in Tulsa in addition to the maintenance locations located at its hubs; as of 2017, the company employs over 122,000 people. Through the airline's parent company, American Airlines Group, it is publicly traded under NASDAQ: AAL with a market capitalization of about $25 billion as of 2017, included in the S&P 500 index.
American Airlines was started in 1930 via a union of more than eighty small airlines. The two organizations from which American Airlines was originated were Robertson Aircraft Corporation and Colonial Air Transport; the former was first created in Missouri in 1921, with both being merged in 1929 into holding company The Aviation Corporation. This in turn, was rebranded as American Airways. In 1934, when new laws and attrition of mail contracts forced many airlines to reorganize, the corporation redid its routes into a connected system, was renamed American Airlines. Between 1970 and 2000, the company grew into being an international carrier, purchasing Trans World Airlines in 2001. American had a direct role in the development of the DC-3, which resulted from a marathon telephone call from American Airlines CEO C. R. Smith to Donald Douglas, when Smith persuaded a reluctant Douglas to design a sleeper aircraft based on the DC-2 to replace American's Curtiss Condor II biplanes. Douglas agreed to go ahead with development only after Smith informed him of American's intention to purchase 20 aircraft.
The prototype DST first flew on December 17, 1935. Its cabin was 92 in wide, a version with 21 seats instead of the 14–16 sleeping berths of the DST was given the designation DC-3. There was no prototype DC-3. American Airlines inaugurated passenger service on June 26, 1936, with simultaneous flights from Newark, New Jersey and Chicago, Illinois. In 2011, due to a downturn in the airline industry, American Airlines' parent company AMR Corporation filed for bankruptcy protection. In 2013, American Airlines merged with US Airways but kept the American Airlines name, as it was the better recognized brand internationally; as of December 2018, American Airlines flies to 95 domestic destinations and 95 international destinations in 55 countries in five continents. American operates ten hubs. Charlotte – American's hub for the Southeast. About 42 million passengers fly through CLT on about 115,000 people per day. American has about 91% of the market share at CLT, making it the airport's largest airline.
Chicago–O'Hare – American's hub for the Midwest. About 28 million passengers fly on American through O'Hare every year, or about 77,000 people per day. American has about 35% of the market share at O'Hare making it the airport's second-largest airline after United. Dallas/Fort Worth – American's hub for the South. American has about 84% of the market share and flies 57 million passengers through DFW every year, about 156,000 people per day making it the busiest airline at the airport. American's corporate headquarters are in Fort Worth near the airport. DFW serves as American's primary gateway to Mexico, secondary gateway to Latin America. Los Angeles – American's hub for the West Coast and its transpacific gateway. About 16.5 million passengers fly through LAX on American every year, or about 45,000 people per day. American has about 19 % of the market share at LAX. Miami – American's primary Latin American hub. About 30 million passengers fly through MIA every year on American, about 79,000 people per day.
American has about 68% of the market share at Miami International, making it the largest airline at the airport. New York–JFK – American's secondary transatlantic hub. About 7 million passengers fly through JFK on American every year, or about 19,000 people per day. American has about 12% of the market share at JFK, making it the third-largest carrier at the airport behind Delta and JetBlue. Since 2017, American has been reducing its international operations at JFK, opting to expand its Philadelphia hub instead. JFK serves as a major connecting point for other Oneworld carriers. New York–LaGuardia – American's second New York hub. About 8.5 million passengers fly through LGA on about 23,000 people per day. The airport serves as a base for American Airlines Shuttle. American has about 27% of the market share at LGA, is the second-largest carrier behind Delta. Philadelphia – American's primary transatlantic hub. Americ
No. 1417 Flight RAF
No. 1417 Flight RAF was an independent flight of the British Royal Air Force which existed between 1941 and 1993 at various times in a variety of roles. This Flight had the most interesting incarnations of all the independent aircraft flights of the Royal Air Force, introducing new technologies and operating complex fast jet aircraft in challenging and austere conditions, from the Arabian Peninsula to Central America. No. 1417 Flight was first formed at RAF St. Athan, from No. 417 Flight, on 1 March 1941 as a General Reconnaissance unit, flying Avro Anson I aircraft on maritime patrols. The flight had a short life, being disbanded on 18 March 1941. No. 1417 Flight was a Royal Air Force flight established to carry out trials and develop tactics for the use of ASV Radar/Leigh Light equipped Vickers Wellington GR Mk VIII maritime reconnaissance-bombers. Formed on 8 January 1942 at RAF Chivenor 1417 Flt was re-formed as No. 172 Squadron from 4 April 1942 onwards. No. 1417 Flight was re-incarnated on 1 November 1953, as a communications unit in the Middle East, at RAF Muharraq, Bahrain with Avro Anson XIX and Percival Pembroke C.1 aircraft.
Once again formed the basis of a full squadron when No. 152 Squadron was formed at Bahrain on 1 October 1958 under the command of Flight Lieutenant F. Rimmer, flying Percival Pembroke C Mk.1 transport aircraft. From 1956 Gloster Meteor FR Mk.9 aircraft from No. 208 Squadron were deployed to Aden for operations against rebel tribesmen and Yemeni insurgents. This Squadron was withdrawn at the time of the Suez Crisis, but some aircraft returned from 1958 to 1960 operated by the Arabian Peninsular Reconnaissance Flight; the reconnaissance task at Aden was taken over by No. 8 Squadron from 1960, flying Hawker Hunter FGA Mk.9 and FR Mk.10 aircraft. Lack-lustre results from reconnaissance missions and difficulties maintaining the aircraft prompted the formation of a dedicated reconnaissance flight on 1 March 1963 as No. 1417 Flight, flying the five FR Mk.10 Hunters from No. 8 Squadron and a T Mk.7 two seat Hunter. The five aircraft were given tactical codes to represent the initials of the five pilots: RP for Roger Pyrah, JM for Johnny Morris, PL for Peter Lewis, JD for Jim Dymond and GT for Geoff Timms.
March 1965 was a busy month with the pilots, ground-crew and aircraft of No. 8 Squadron, plus two 1417 Flt FR.10s departing Khormaksar for a two-week detachment to RAF Masirah, an island in the Gulf of Oman, to undergo strike and photo reconnaissance training in an area not familiar to many pilots. The detachment left on 8 March 1965 and returned on 19 March 1965; the following table of flying hours, for Khormaksar aircraft in March 1965, illustrates that the Hunter FR Mk.10's of 1417 Flt were well utilised, with each aircraft averaging well over 20 hours flying for that month. A typical month saw 1417 Flt fly 63 reconnaissance missions in June 1964, quite an achievement considering there were only five pilots and five aircraft, with some on standby duty at up-country airfields and other normal flying and training being carried out simultaneously. 1417 Flt continued providing pre- and post-strike reconnaissance up to the draw-down of British forces in Aden. Missions were carried out on a daily basis until it was disbanded and re-absorbed into No. 8 Squadron on 8 September 1967, shortly after evacuating to RAF Muharraq at Bahrain.
In 1975, with Guatemala in the grip of a bloody civil war, there was a real fear that Guatemalan forces might invade Belize and at the least widen their Caribbean coastline. To bolster the resident British Army garrison, a detachment of six Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.1As from No. 1 Squadron was sent to Belize international airport at Ladyville in November 1975. There they set about discouraging Guatemalan aggression. After several months the threat was perceived to have subsided and the Harriers returned to the UK in April 1976, only to return on a more permanent basis in June 1977, as part of a complete package with the Queen's Regiment of the British Army. A Vickers VC10 C1 and six Harriers from No. 1 Squadron flew direct with support from ten Handley Page Victor tankers. Thus was born HarDet Belize. Alpha and Bravo hides were set up in the grounds of the Belikin brewery outside the gates to the garrison. Echo hide either never existed or formed the basis of the Tie-down engine running pan at the eastern end of the runway.
Foxy and Golf hides were set up around the airport fire station using some of the fire station buildings. Hotel and Juliet hides were arranged around the access taxiway to Williamson Hangar and the edge of the airport apron. After operating as a rotating roulement for two years, HarDet was put on an more permanent footing with the formation of No. 1417 Flight from 18 April 1980 until closure on 6 July 1993. Much flying was done, with plenty of flag-waving and sabre-rattling, the aircrew enjoying the post due to the lack of restrictions, challenging missions. Operations were confined to Charlie/Delta and Foxy/Golf hides which went through a slow metamorphosis to permanent semi-hardened hides with concrete surfaces and taxi-ways and block built buildin
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport known as Atlanta Airport, Hartsfield, or Hartsfield–Jackson, is an international airport 7 miles south of downtown Atlanta, Georgia. It is named after former Atlanta mayors William B. Maynard Jackson; the airport has 192 gates: 40 international. ATL has five parallel runways; the airport has international service within North America and to South America, Central America, Europe and Asia. As an international gateway to the United States, Hartsfield–Jackson ranks seventh. Many of the nearly one million flights are domestic flights. Atlanta has been the world's busiest airport by passenger traffic since 2000, by number of landings and take-offs every year since 2005 except 2014. Hartsfield–Jackson held its ranking as the world's busiest airport in 2012, both in passengers and number of flights, by accommodating 100 million passengers and 950,119 flights. In 2017, it remained the busiest airport in the world with 104 million passengers. Hartsfield–Jackson is the primary hub of Delta Air Lines, is a focus city for low-cost carriers Frontier Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines.
With just over 1,000 flights a day to 225 domestic and international destinations, the Delta hub is the world's largest hub. Delta Air Lines flew 75.4% of the airport's passengers in February 2016, Southwest flew 9.2%, American Airlines flew 2.5%. In addition to hosting Delta's corporate headquarters, Hartsfield–Jackson is the home of Delta's Technical Operations Center, the airline's primary maintenance and overhaul arm; the airport is in unincorporated areas of Fulton and Clayton counties, but it spills into the city limits of Atlanta, College Park, Hapeville. The airport's domestic terminal is served by MARTA's Red and Gold rail lines. Hartsfield–Jackson began with a five-year, rent-free lease on 287 acres, an abandoned auto racetrack named The Atlanta Speedway; the lease was signed on April 16, 1925, by Mayor Walter Sims, who committed the city to develop it into an airfield. As part of the agreement, the property was renamed Candler Field after its former owner, Coca-Cola tycoon and former Atlanta mayor Asa Candler.
The first flight into Candler Field was September 15, 1926, a Florida Airways mail plane flying from Jacksonville, Florida. In May 1928, Pitcairn Aviation began service followed in June 1930 by Delta Air Service; those two airlines, now known as Eastern Air Lines and Delta Air Lines would both use Atlanta as their chief hubs. The airport's weather station became the official location for Atlanta's weather observations September 1, 1928, records by the National Weather Service, it was a busy airport from its inception and at the end of 1930 it was third behind New York City and Chicago for regular daily flights with sixteen arriving and departing. Candler Field's first control tower opened March 1939; the March 1939 Official Aviation Guide shows fourteen weekday airline departures: ten Eastern and four Delta. In October 1940, the U. S. government declared it a military airfield and the United States Army Air Forces operated Atlanta Army Airfield jointly with Candler Field. The Air Force used the airport to service many types of transient combat aircraft.
During World War II the airport doubled in size and set a record of 1,700 takeoffs and landings in a single day, making it the nation's busiest in terms of flight operation. Atlanta Army Airfield closed after the war. In 1942 Candler Field was renamed Atlanta Municipal Airport and by 1948, more than one million passengers passed through a war surplus hangar that served as a terminal building. Delta and Eastern had extensive networks from ATL, though Atlanta had no nonstop flights beyond Texas, St Louis and Chicago until 1961. Southern Airways appeared at ATL after the war and had short-haul routes around the Southeast until 1979. In 1957 Atlanta saw its first jet airliner: a prototype Sud Aviation Caravelle, touring the country arrived from Washington D. C; the first scheduled turbine airliners were Capital Viscounts in June 1956. The first trans-Atlantic flight was the Delta/Pan Am interchange DC-8 to Europe via Washington starting in 1964. Nonstops to Europe started in 1978 and to Asia in 1992–93.
Atlanta claimed to be the country's busiest airport, with more than two million passengers passing through in 1957 and, between noon and 2 p.m. each day, it became the world's busiest airport. Chicago Midway had 414 weekday departures, including 48 between 12:00 and 2:00 PM. In 1957, Atlanta was the country's ninth-busiest airline airport by flight count and about the same by passenger count; that year work began on a $21 million terminal that opened May 3, 1961. It could handle over six million travelers a year. In March 1962 the longest runway was 7,860 feet. In 1971 the airport was named William B. Hartsfield Atlanta Airport after former Atlanta mayor William B. Hartsfield, who had died that year; the name change took effect on February 28. Later
Harrier Jump Jet
The Harrier, informally referred to as the Harrier Jump Jet, is a family of jet-powered attack aircraft capable of vertical/short takeoff and landing operations. Named after a bird of prey, it was developed by British manufacturer Hawker Siddeley in the 1960s; the Harrier emerged as the only successful V/STOL design of the many attempted during that era, despite being a subsonic aircraft, unlike most of its competitors. It was conceived to operate from improvised bases, such as car parks or forest clearings, without requiring large and vulnerable air bases; the design was adapted for use from aircraft carriers. There are two generations and four main variants of the Harrier family, developed by both UK and US manufacturers: The Hawker Siddeley Harrier is the first generation-version and is known as the AV-8A Harrier; the Sea Harrier is a naval strike/air defence fighter derived from the Hawker Siddeley Harrier. During the 1980s, a second generation Harrier emerged. By the start of the 21st century, the majority of the first generation Harriers had been withdrawn, many operators having chosen to procure the second generation as a replacement.
In the long term, several operators have announced their intention to supplement or replace their Harrier fleets with the STOVL variant of the F-35 Lightning II, designated as the F-35B. Throughout the 1950s in the years following the Korean War, a number of aircraft companies in both Europe and America separately decided to investigate the prospective capabilities and viability of vertical take-off and landing aircraft, which would eliminate the requirement for vulnerable runways by taking off and landing vertically as opposed to the conventional horizontal approach. In addition to military applications, the prospect of applying such technology to commercial airliners was viewed with considerable interest by the mid 1950s, thus the value of developing viable vertical take-off systems was judged to be substantial. However, during this era, few companies envisioned that a VTOL aircraft could be compatible with the characteristics of high performance military aircraft. During 1957, following an approach by the British aero engine manufacturer Bristol Engine Company, who were designing an innovative vectored thrust engine, British aviation conglomerate Hawker Aircraft developed their design for an aeroplane that could meet an existing NATO specification calling for a "Light Tactical Support Fighter".
Bristol's projected vectored thrust engine, which received the name Pegasus, harnessed rotatable cold jets which were positioned on either side of the compressor along with a'hot' jet, directed via a conventional central tailpipe. Throughout much of the early development work, there was no financial support for the project from HM Treasury. Senior project engineer Ralph Hooper at Hawker promptly set about establishing an initial layout for a theoretical aircraft to take advantage of the Pegasus engine, using data provided by Bristol. During March 1959, the newly merged Hawker Siddeley decided to fund a pair of prototypes of the design, which had received the internal company designation of P.1127, to demonstrate the design's capabilities. During the 1960s, the P.1127 attracted the attention of the RAF. During late 1965, the RAF placed an order for six pre-production P.1127 aircraft. Around the same time as the RAF's interest in the concept, NATO proceeded to develop their own specification, NBMR-3, which called for a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
Specifications called for a supersonic V/STOL strike fighter with a combat radius of 460 kilometres, a cruise speed of Mach 0.92, a dash speed of Mach 1.5. During the early 1960s, Hawker commenced work upon developing a supersonic version of the P.1127, designated as the P.1150, culminating in the abortive Hawker P.1154. NBMR.3 attracted ten other contenders, among, P.1154's principal competitor, the Dassault Mirage IIIV. The P.1154 was selected to meet NBMR-3. On 6 December 1961, prior to the design being submitted to NATO, it was decided that the P.1154 would be developed with the requirements for use by both the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. Following the cancellation of the NBMR-3 requirement, HSA focused all its attention on the British joint requirement. Accordingly, development of the type continued for some time. On 2 February 1965, work on the P.1154 was cancelled by the new British government on grounds of cost at the point of prototype construction. Irrespective of work on the P.1154 programme, development had continued on the subsonic P.1127 evaluation aircraft.
A total of nine aircraft, known as the Hawker Siddeley Kestrel, was ordered and manufa
Media related to Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport at Wikimedia Commons
