Hawker Siddeley Harrier variant
Hawker Siddeley Harrier TAV-8A Harrier
The two-seat Harrier trainer for the United States Marine Corps, designated Mk 54 by the manufacturer. Eight were built, added to the end of the AV-8A order and incorporating all the changes the Marines had requested for their single-seaters. Powered by the Rolls-Royce Pegasus Mk 103, it became the principal two-seat trainer for the first-generation Harrier in American service.
- 8
- Units built
History
Origin of the order
The American Harrier order totalled 110 aircraft: 102 AV-8A single-seat attack machines and eight TAV-8A two-seat trainers, known in company nomenclature as the Harrier Mk 54. The trainers were added at the end of the AV-8A production run, so they incorporated from the factory every modification the Marine Corps had requested for its single-seaters.
Configuration and deployment
The TAV-8A kept the stretched fuselage and tall fin of the British two-seaters and used the Pegasus Mk 103, the same higher-thrust engine as late AV-8As. The first aircraft went to Marine units at Cherry Point, North Carolina, where type training was concentrated.
Role in the fleet
With the AV-8A and AV-8C, the TAV-8A completed the Marine Corps trio of first-generation Harriers, serving with squadrons such as VMA-231, VMA-513, VMA-542 and VMA-203. It was the standard two-seat trainer of that era until the Harrier II arrived.