Now’s Your Chance to Snag Your Very Own Harrier Hover Plane

This 1976 Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR3 jump jet is going up for auction this month. Silverstone Auctions

If you’ve always wanted to own a hover plane but aren’t actually in the military, here’s your chance. A Harrier jump jet goes up for auction later this month, and it won’t take much to get it flying again.

The Harrier, developed by the British in the 1960s and later embraced by Marine Corps, is best known for its ability to hover like a helicopter. The jet’s engine pumps air through four nozzles, which rotate to propel the plane forward or straight up. That allows for very short takeoffs and vertical landings, so the plane doesn’t need a long runway to operate. It’s among the coolest, most ingenious aircraft ever designed. It’s also a bitch to fly.

The plane in question, serial number XZ132, was built in 1976 by Hawker Siddeley for the British Royal Air Force. It served in Germany during the Cold War and flew in Belize and the Falkland Islands. After 15 years, it was sent to the RAF College Cranwell, where it was used for training purposes. If that has you worried the plane was used and abused by n00bs, rest assured the plane experienced “nothing horrendous,” according to Silverstone Auctions. It was, they insist, “a mere training aid for trainee engineering officers to be taught about aerodynamics, flying controls, and documentation” and last flown in August 1990.

If you’re interested in buying the jet, you should know early Harriers were notoriously difficult to control and had an egregious safety record. So if you decide to make this plane fly again, check your life insurance before suiting up.

The current (unnamed) owner acquired Harrier XZ132 in November and has spent six months making it nearly as good as new. It wasn’t much trouble, since the jet was kept in a heated building. The paint hasn’t corroded or faded. The mechanical components “appear to be in tip top condition” and the sale includes more than 150 pounds of paperwork and documentation. It even has the original Mk9A Martin Baker ejection seat. Unfortunately for the action hero in all of us, it’s inert.

The old Harrier is, however, missing a few things:

• Weapons systems and armaments. This almost certainly is for your own good. You really don’t need to be messing around with weapons and armaments, especially the rockets and BL755 cluster bombs the Harrier is made to carry.


• A mounted engine. The Rolls Royce Pegasus Mk103 engine comes on a wheeled stand.


• A few minor internal components, including the water tank, some fuel pipes, and some avionics.

The jet is crossing the block at the Silverstone Classic Sale in England on July 26. Silverstone won’t speculate on what it might go for, saying “market value for an aircraft of this pedigree is nearly impossible to gauge.” There’s no reserve, so if there aren’t a lot of bidders, you might get a really good price. Silverstone suggests the Harrier would be great “as a museum exhibit, gate guardian or centerpiece to a private collection.” Obviously it would be more fun to put in the extra work and make it fly again. If you dare.

If that’s too much for you, check out the Harrier Jump Jet pilot dummy that’s also going on auction, complete with night vision compatible helmet, oxygen mask, flying boots, leather gloves, and everything you need to connect to an ejector seat. All for a relatively affordable £1,000 to £1,500 ($1,710 to $2,570).