In 1969 RAF Harriers took part in a transatlantic air race, sponsored by the Daily Mail, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Alcock and Brown’s first non-stop flight across the North Atlantic, flying a Vickers Vimy in 1919. The race took place between 4 and 11 May and was divided into a number of categories, including commercial flights, private aircraft – and military jets. The principal contenders in the last category were the Royal Air Force with Harriers and the Royal Navy with F-4 Phantoms, both types then relatively new in operational service.
The aim was to achieve the fastest time from the top of the Post Office Tower in London to the top of the Empire State Building in New York. It was planned that the RAF Harriers would lift vertically from a disused coal yard at St Pancras station, with the pilot being ferried to the aircraft from the Tower by an RAF Police motorcyclist. The aircraft then roughly followed the helicopter route from central London to near Heathrow, where it climbed to meet a Victor tanker. The aerial filling station accompanied the Harrier across the Atlantic, carrying out four air-to-air refuelling operations en route. This was the first time the Harrier had used air-to-air refuelling operationally, and the probe was a fixed fitting on the left-hand intake.
Two aircraft were prepared by the RAF for the race, both early production GR1s (XV741 and XV744). The two pilots were Sqn Ldr Lecky-Thompson and Sqn Ldr Graham Williams, both instructors from the Harrier Conversion Unit.
Prior to the race, they flew a ‘recce’ to find the coal yard at St Pancras, but had difficulty identifying the location of the yard and the exact route to follow. The Harriers had to fly at low level and were below the cover of any radar until they were very close to Heathrow or RAF Northolt. After a conference with the RAF air traffic controllers for the race, they bought a London road map from a local shop. This was cut up and successfully used as a ‘navigation aid’ during the race.
The best overall time for the London to New York leg was achieved by Lecky-Thompson, in 7 hr 6 min, with a flight time of 6 hr 11 min 57 sec. The return, eastbound flight was flown by Williams, in 5 hr 49 min 58 sec, but this was beaten by the RN Phantom with a flight time of 5 hr 11 min and an overall time of 6 hr 48 min. The only major problems encountered throughout the exercise for the Harriers was the storm of coal dust that was generated when operating from the redundant coal yard.