On 09/06/2014 16:27, John Rumm wrote:
One of the most impressive (and in some ways scary) things I ever saw
was a harrier at one of the Southend air shows about 20 years ago. If
did a couple of fly pasts, and then did a third one slower and slower
until finally coming to a "stop" in front of the main crowd. It was
flying at about 50' and hence was below most of the audience standing on
the Westcliff "cliffs". It then did its normal side to side, nodding,
and backwards flying displays. Before finally starting to ascended with
the planes attitude level to start, but slowing rotating toward the nose
up vertical - all the time gaining vertical speed until it is on full
afterburner, flying straight up, until it vanished through the cloud
base. Awesome display of power and control.

Harriers don't have afterburners.

On another note...

I was at Farnborough one year. There were two things which particularly
stick: One was that they sat a Tornado on the end of the runway. lit
the afterburner, set the brakes on full, and gave it as much throttle as
they could without it moving. Everyone was watching it, and no-one saw
the other 4 coming the other way down the runway at 0.8...

And Brian Trubshaw, Concorde chief pilot IIRC, brought one empty over
from Heathrow, did a touch and go, then did his damnedest to to a
fighter full-afterburner-vertical-climb. He got quite steep!

Andy