What happened to the pilots who dared to try "viffing"?

The Harrier descended from the Hawker P.1127, whose formal design work began in 1957 with Sydney Camm, Ralph Hooper and Stanley Hooker. Its powerplant was the Pegasus, a vectored-thrust turbofan. The production Harrier GR.1 completed its first flight on 28 December 1967 and officially entered RAF service on 1 April 1969. Swivelling the vectored-thrust nozzles to a forward-facing position during normal flight is what is called vectoring in forward flight, or "VIFFing".

As a close-combat resource, the technique allowed sharper braking and higher turn rates. The US Marine Corps formally developed this combat technique for the Harrier in the early 1970s. Its pilots wondered what that curious lever could achieve and whether an unloaded wing could be immediately reloaded with greater effect.

One pilot described how the manoeuvre caused him more than one complete departure from controlled flight, something like being thrown through space inside an asymmetric washing machine. A serious accident ended with aircraft that were viffing crashed in eastern England. A Sea Harrier pilot of 800 Naval Air Squadron used the nozzles to brake his descent while trying to achieve a Sidewinder lock on an Argentine Pucará close-support aircraft, without it working out for him.