I first saw the
Harrier in a calendar printed by McDonnell Douglas in the early 80's. I was
impressed by this unique flying machine. As a Marine Surveyor, I helped to
rebuild the airfield at Aliso Canyon on Camp Pendleton (June 1995), were
the Harriers would land to practice for the MEU deployments and also heard
and saw them fly directly over my building to land at MCAS Camp Pendleton.The Harrier design began in 1957 by the Hawker Aircraft Ltd. now British Aerospace (BAE). In 1959 Rolls-Royce developed the thrust-directing engines and in November of 1960, the first hovering flight was achieved. In 1968 the Marine Corps picked up there first Harriers for evaluation. The first Marine Squadron to receive the Harrier was not until April 1971. The Harrier has gone the provide close air support for the Marine in the Falklands War, Panama, and the Gulf War. Today the current Harrier is the AV-8B Harrier II.
There are markings for four different aircraft and decals to do only three aircraft. The color scheme is the same for all four aircraft: Dark Green (FS 34096) and Dark Sea Grey (FS 36173) on the top and Light Grey (FS 36440) on the bottom.
The first decals are for VMA-542 *Flying Tigers* 158949/ WH22. It has orangish triangles on a black background on the rudder. There is also a tiger design to be placed above the tail code. The aircraft number 22 in a flat white. The 542 was the second squadron to receive the Harrier.
The next one is for the VMA-231 158962/ CG3 (1977). The rudder design is five white spades on a black background. The CG tail code is black with white outline shading to the left.
The third decal is
for VMA-513 *Flying Nightmares* 158974/ WF1. The is a light blue/ dark blue
with a whit bird in the center on the rudder. The 513 the first squadron to
receive the Harrier.The last decal is for VMA-531 Det *A* 159249/ WF1. The rudder is a dark blue with five stars. There is also a white star on a dark blue background to be placed on the underside of the wing, next to the land gear.
This is a great sheet to spruce up your Hasegawa AV-8A and the only AV-8A decals I know of. Maybe Mr. Roof at Orion Model Accessories can make some to compliment the AV-8B.
One can only dream.