Trans-Atlantic Air Race Harrier XV741 Delivered to Brooklands Museum

A specialist team from Jet Art Aviation loaded XV741 onto 2 lorries at their HQ in Yorkshire on Monday 1st April, with one lorry taking the fuselage and the other taking the wing, tailplane, fin and external fuel tanks. On the Morning of Tuesday 2nd April the lorries began their 200 mile journey south, arriving at the museum late afternoon. The team immediately got to work unloading the fuselage and fitting the wing, working well into the evening. The day ended with the aircraft sitting back on its undercarriage for the first time in 7 years. The team were straight back on it Wednesday morning, fitting the tailplane and the fin in front of a curious and excited crowd of museum visitors and employees alike. With the majority of the panelling carried out on Wednesday, Thursday saw work reassembling the aircraft fully completed with the final touches of attaching the air to air refuel probe, drop tanks and belly strakes bringing the aircraft’s painstaking restoration journey to a very satisfying conclusion. The Harrier was then towed out of the hangar and placed next to Concorde for a photoshoot celebrating two incredible achievements of fast Trans-Atlantic crossings by air. The exhibition of XV741 alongside the Vickers Vimy portrays a fantastic juxtaposition between old and new, illustrating the rapid developments in aviation technology with just 50 years separating the Vimy and the Harrier.