AV-8 Harrier ‘Jump Jet’ outfitted with experimental human-carrying pods

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SuDragon2k3@reddit

I think these were also usable on Apaches.

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syringistic@reddit

People would also ride shotgun on the side bulges on the sides of the Apache's cockpit lol.

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3PercentMoreInfinite@reddit

I think it was used in active combat in Afghanistan by British soldiers to recover a fallen soldier.

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syringistic@reddit

Look how chill that dude is. I'm surprised he doesn't have a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

Lol the pilot hears through his headset "yo can you turn the engine off for a second, you keep blowing out my lighter!"

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Leading-Mode-9633@reddit

I'm thinking it's good those missile racks are empty as you probably don't want your foot anywhere near the exhaust from a hellfire missile

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syringistic@reddit

Even those Hydra rockets would still probably cause burns if fired (though can't tell if that's loaded or not, I forgot whether they stick out of the pod or are completely inside).

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CrazyFalseBanNr5@reddit

unloaded, you'd know if they were loaded

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syringistic@reddit

Why didn't you read the comment thread above yours where another person and I already agreed on unloaded?...

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NotTheNormalPerson@reddit

They don't stick out, they're completely inside

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syringistic@reddit

Just double checked, they do in fact stick out.Pics

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NotTheNormalPerson@reddit

Interesting! Always thought they didn't

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syringistic@reddit

I don't know why I didn't just google for pics in the first place:P.

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BusUpstairs5573@reddit

And on the equipment bay doors of the AH-1 Cobra... blurry pics of a SpecFor trip on a USMC AH-1W equipment door:

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mz_groups@reddit

I was listening to the AH-64 episode of the Fighter Pilot Podcast, and the pilot they interviewed talked about this a little bit.

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Friend of mine was a medic in Iraq. He has a story about manually beating a wounded soldier's heart, and being extremely frustrated the first chopper he heard coming arrive was an Apache instead of a Black Hawk. This would've solved that problem!

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Drewski811@reddit

"Achsually..." A Harrier GR.7 of the RAF. Not an AV-8. Similar to the AV-8B, but not exactly the same.

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CrazyFalseBanNr5@reddit

potato tomato, same plane at its core

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RaXXu5@reddit

The cooler harrier.

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Thechlebek@reddit

Oh the engine was NOT cooler

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RaXXu5@reddit

Nosecone though.

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dingo1018@reddit

The one Arnie flew is the coolest Harrier, AV8B Harrier II in True Lies - but that's nothing compared to the real life radio controlled one while flying the other, helicopter come jet from the turn of the century documentary 'The 6th Day'.

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FrozenSeas@reddit

"You're fired."

Possibly the best worst one-liner in action movie history.

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SnooHedgehogs8765@reddit

Lies.

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I_m_p_r_e_z_a@reddit

Signature look of P.1127 Kestrel superiority

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Sixshot_@reddit

Wibault Autogyro supremacy.

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crucible@reddit

i see you know your prototypes well

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RaXXu5@reddit

The nosecone on the older harrier variant are so much better looking than the stung bee of the av8.

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Lironcareto@reddit

It's a Sea Harrier, not GR.7. Look at the bulged canopy.

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Dangerous-Salad-bowl@reddit

Per Wikipedia:

“Problems have been cited with using weapons pylon mounted pods to ferry personnel on fast jets in particular. Excessive engine noise (in the case of the Harrier, due to proximity to the rotating jet nozzles of the Rolls-Royce Pegasus engine), high g-forces during roll due to the distance of the pod from the aircraft's axis of roll, as well as the discomfort of travelling at fast-jet speeds have all been listed as limitations.”

No thanks.

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victory202@reddit

The MI6 used it to extract General Koskov.

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Adventurous-Line1014@reddit

Relatively smart bombs

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GnarlyNarwhalNoms@reddit

I mean, that's debatable.

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Adventurous-Line1014@reddit

I can't tell from that image, I wonder if that suicide pod had a window?

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Mouseturdsinmyhelmet@reddit

I don't care if I personally safety wired the releases, I'm not getting in one of those things.

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syringistic@reddit

This particular type doesn't even seem to have a window jn it? Like I'd be okay if i had a glass dome around my head, but I'm not getting into a coffin...

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Inspi@reddit

I'm pretty sure I'd require a poopchute or trap door old-timey-jammies style

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syringistic@reddit

It would be cool if these were used for poop bombing runs. Have the dude in the pod just stuff himself with chili the morning of, then pop a laxative when you're approaching target area :). Gives the S in CAS a whole new meaning.

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Inspi@reddit

Petition for new bomber, code name "Trebuchet". It's time to bring back flingin' feces over castle walls!

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syringistic@reddit

Imagine cluster bombing the enemy with 60-70 thousand pounds of shit lol.

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sadelnotsaddle@reddit

Oh god, please tell me they don't airburst. That would be diabolical.

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Spirit_jitser@reddit

I mean, I assume these are for medivac. You might not be in a position to object. Alternatively you know, actual coffin.

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Meal-Lonely@reddit

It has tiny oval windows around face level.

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syringistic@reddit

Still a nope for me. If we're crashing, I wanna see where I'll die.

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Raguleader@reddit

If you take a flashlight you'll be able to see the inside of the pod just fine.

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Merker6@reddit

It was designed for covert infiltration and medavac, iirc

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Otaraka@reddit

They say that, but I’m thinking new options for missile guidance

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CoastRegular@reddit

"New?" Yokosuka developed human missile guidance in 1944...

(Yes, I know you were joking.)

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Lusankya@reddit

Give it arm holes and tether an M4A1 to it. Bam, autonomous weapons pod.

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LeadingCheetah2990@reddit

Neural net powered, autonomous jam resistant missile? Where do throw my VC money

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Corvid187@reddit

Another big proposed use was rescuing downed aircrew at ranges/circumstances when rotary lift would be impractical.

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usmc_delete@reddit

nothing says covert like a freaking harrier, lmao.

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ctesibius@reddit

It could be worse. During WW II Sweden was neutral, but an important supplier to the UK of items such as ball bearings. The problem was that occupied Norway lay in the way. Can’t get a normal civilian aircraft through Norway, can’t land a military plane in Sweden. The solution was to designate unarmed Mosquitos as “airliners” and fly them over at dead of night. They carried passengers as well, such as diplomats, who would sit in the bomb bay.

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BCMM@reddit

This is what the "passenger cabin" in the bomb bay looked like.

Part of the reason they used Mosquitoes for this was that they could evade interceptors better than purpose-built airliners by flying at higher altitude. The mask in the photo is needed because the bomb bay is, of course, not pressurised.

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WarthogOsl@reddit

I'd assume nothing is pressurized in the Mosquito anyway?

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dagaboy@reddit

P-38s used converted drop tanks to ferry wounded.

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LordofNarwhals@reddit

Allied and axis military planes could technically land in Sweden (and many did), they just couldn't take off again.

And speaking of civilian conversions, Saab turned some B-17s (that had emergency landed in Sweden) into civilian F-17 "Felix" airliners, which started flying in 1944. One of them (SE-BAK) was apparently the first civilian airliner to fly from Europe to the US after the war.

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MacroMonster@reddit

One famous passenger was Nils Bohr who was evacuated to the UK along with his son. The passenger accommodations were very makeshift, and over Norway the oxygen mask slipped off Bohr's face and he passed out. They couldn't descend until safely past Norway, after which he slowly revived.

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BCMM@reddit

I read that he never heard heard the instruction to switch on his oxygen, because the helmet containing the intercom didn't fit.

It doesn't seem right that you'd pass out from it slipping off, because you should have around half a minute of "useful consciousness" in which to get it back on.

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xrelaht@reddit

I'm confused: how did designating them airliners help if normal civilian craft couldn't fly over Norway?

The real lesson here is that, as my Swedish friends insist, the dissolution of the Treaty of Kiel was a mistake.

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ctesibius@reddit

It didn't help with Norway: the Germans would still try to shoot them down. But since military planes couldn't land in a neutral country, it helped in Sweden.

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xrelaht@reddit

I see. So a military plane because it's more likely to survive the trip than an actual airliner?

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ctesibius@reddit

With two Merlin engines and a lightweight wooden body, if guns were fitted the Mosquito was much more predator than prey. As it was, it was probably the most survivable aircraft around for that trip.

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Harpies_Bro@reddit

That and Mosquitoes were just faster than pretty much any airliner BOAC had at the time. They usually flew big flying boats to points around the Empire, when they needed something fast, the RAF could modify some Mosquitoes — stick some extra seats and yank the cameras out of the recon variant — and zip in and out of mainland Europe.

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killer_marsupial@reddit

The thing with the Mosquito was it's speed, making it extremely hard to intercept. Airliners were much slower and would have been easy targets.

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snappy033@reddit

I mean if I see enemy forces speeding towards us to behead me and our rescue H-60 was already shot down, I guess I’m getting in.

I think the angle was for the pod and the exfil option of carrying people externally on an Apache were designed as last ditch efforts to save people rather than helplessly orbiting overhead.

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dagaboy@reddit

At least this was designed to stay on. P-38s used converted drop tanks.

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Stenthal@reddit

For the kind of people these pods were intended for, this was probably the safest part of their day.

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MakeChipsNotMeth@reddit

Don't worry it's only for carryingexperimental humans

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bemenaker@reddit

Special Meat delivery service

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RockApeGear@reddit

You rack discipline

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jakubkonecki@reddit

"human-carrying pods", or - as I like to call them - coffins.

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doradus1994@reddit

Always with the human carrying pods 😂

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LoupGarouHikaru56@reddit

Fox-1

Oh No

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Ian1231100@reddit

New SPW for Ace Combat 8 announced

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Madeline_Basset@reddit

More about it....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exint_pod

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WinterDice@reddit

From that Wikipedia article:

“During the Second World War, "body-bags" (fabric bags mounted on the upper inboard surfaces of Spitfire wings) were used to carry people. The Luftwaffe also experimented with people-carrying wing-mounted enclosures on the Stuka dive bomber and Bf 109 fighter. Modified versions of the P-38 Lightning were capable of carrying people in underwing, perspex fronted pods.”

That all sounds utterly terrifying. Does anyone know more about any of that?

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BusUpstairs5573@reddit

Lockheed F-5 (recon version of late-model P-38) with personnel pods.

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Madeline_Basset@reddit

This thing -

https://www.reddit.com/r/WWIIplanes/comments/1lp1aqk/a_fabric_bodybag_that_would_allow_a_spitfire_to/

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WinterDice@reddit

Fascinating! Thank you.

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BloodAndSand44@reddit

It was the “During the Second World War, "body-bags" (fabric bags mounted on the upper inboard surfaces of Spitfire wings) were used to carry people.” That had me thinking, Balls of Titanium.

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Regnasam@reddit

A cool story related to this is how Niels Bohr was extracted from Europe to come work on the Manhattan Project - he was flown out in the bomb bay of a Mosquito because it was fast enough to evade any German fighter pursuit

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pulstar13@reddit

Balls of Titanium

Oh yeah! Titanium is lighter than steel, so it makes sense they choose those guys to optimize the weight!

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FrostyShoulder6361@reddit

That article raised more questions than answers lol

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sidekickman@reddit

Maybe exfiltrating personnel when other means are unavailable

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zudnic@reddit

Inserting special ops with a harrier? Could you pick a louder way in?

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BlacksmithNZ@reddit

I am guessing not that much louder than most helicopters, but a whole lot faster.

A jet moving at near Mach 1, is going to reduce time spent over enemy territory significantly

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WarthogOsl@reddit

You aren't going Mach 1 in a Harrier, fwiw, except maybe in a dive.

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dr_buttcheeekz@reddit

Jets are wayyyy louder than helos. A helicopter flying nap of the earth is nearly silent until it’s right on top of the LZ, terrain dependent. When I was in, that’s how we would infil and it’s kinda crazy how much you can surprise people on the receiving end.

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Br0boc0p@reddit

Maybe it's for medevac?

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Cartoonjunkies@reddit

Harriers were good at flying low, especially at night. Sound wasn’t so much the issue, avoiding line of sight to radars was.

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Crag_r@reddit

The pod was also certified for use on Israeli AH-64 Apaches.

That's a bit of a waste, that famously has 2 perfectly good ad-hoc outrigger seats just waiting to be used,

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GIJoeVibin@reddit

AVPRO my beloved

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SirHenry8thEarlNorth@reddit

Hmm 🤔

…yeah, no.

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WelcomeKey2698@reddit

I mean… I wouldn’t. But I know enough blokes that would.

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John_Sobieski22@reddit

I wonder how sound proofed they are, harriers are loud enough while standing a good distance away Being that close would be painful

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BleaKrytE@reddit

To be honest, a modern version of this mounted on a stealth aircraft of some sort sounds very useful for spec ops insertions.

Fit it with GPS guidance and low chute deployment, and voilà.

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GnarlyNarwhalNoms@reddit

You aren't wrong, but given the fact that stealth aircraft often deploy from US bases and fly extremely long refueled missions to get to their targets, you'd better hope those pods are comfy and have good life-support systems.

(Apparently, the B2 Spirits that flew that mission against Iran were in the air for 37 hours)

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Lordhartley@reddit

Perhaps a space on B2 and you get in just before. Then how do get the troops out if things go wrong, which they always do.

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dmr11@reddit

Perhaps a space on B2 and you get in just before.

That kind of thing was done before. During FICON testing, the pilot of the RF-84 jet in inside a GRB-36 bomb bay were able to leave their cockpits and enter the carrier plane on the way to the target, which made long trips a lot more comfortable.

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BleaKrytE@reddit

True, but with the B-21 supposedly being less finicky about their hangars, one could probably have a few forward deployed.

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Lironcareto@reddit

That's a Sea Harrier, not an AV-8.

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Rescueodie@reddit

I’m sure some SAS or Delta bubba took a ride before they sunsetted the program.

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Lordhartley@reddit

Yeah, I think the SAS nutters came up with the idea, a quick way to get covert (with a jet engine!) units deep and quickly, i think they discovered anyone inside was not well after a ride. Great idea though.

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RainbowBier@reddit

You think it's an airstrike because 4 jets drop 8 of these things

Go into cover, hear a thud in the distance

Go out

Surprise SAS in front of you informing you about the extended warranty of your Hilux

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Hermitcraft7@reddit

The Su-25 engineers were planning the same thing too.

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dervlen22@reddit

https://blog.sandglasspatrol.com/transportar-personas-colgando-del-ala/

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TBearForever@reddit

First class

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Secundius@reddit

There was an RAF test program in early 2000’s using a GR.7 Harrier II outfitted with Cargo Pods, for rapid resupply of troops on the ground using the Harrier II! The AVPRO UK Ltd. program was called “EXINT” and later by McDonnell Douglas called “GRIER” ( Ground Resupply Insertion Extraction Rescue ) pods! The latter GRIER could also be used on the AH-64 “Apache” and the AH-1 “Cobra”! The only countries currently using the GRIER system is Israel! The GRIER system shown in the photograph above could carry two fully armed troopers each or equivalent cargo! The Fleet Air Arm toyed with the idea of using a similar system on Sea Harrier FA.2 as a means of COD ( Carrier Onboard Delivery )! As far as I know the system was never used or employed…

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zalurker@reddit

AVPRO. That's the name. It's been bugging me since I saw the photo. They had some wild concepts.

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Secundius@reddit

Minimal Acoustic Insulation is what killed the manned pods! The RR Pegasus 106 vectored thrust turbofan produced ~140-dB of sound which the manned pods with minimal acoustic insulation couldn’t filter out…

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