Jump Jet

The Secret History of the Harrier

By: Michael Pryce

Narrated by: Finlay Robertson

THE FASCINATING AND UNEXPECTED STORY OF THE ICONIC HARRIER JUMP JET, AND THE BRITISH ENGINEER WHO BUILT IT

Victory in the Falklands War made the Harrier’s name as a world-beating British icon, as capable of giving the enemy a bloody nose as it was of thrilling the crowds at airshows with its thunderous aerial ballet. Its failure seemed inconceivable.

But that’s not the real story of the Harrier.

From its inception, it faced an uncertain future. Designed to survive a nuclear war, it barely survived government cuts. And in an era of big, supersonic, fighters, the little jump jet was too often dismissed as a novelty.

The Harrier’s designer, Ralph Hooper, knew that the naysayers were as wrong as the digital data that failed to produce a working rival to his little jump jet. He saw what the computers could not. Hooper’s masterpiece was born of instinct and feel. And, from day one, was nurtured by American confidence in his unique creation.

Rich with revelatory detail, Jump Jet tells the inspiring story of the Harrier’s unlikely triumph, but also reveals for the first time the inside story of Ralph Hooper’s revolutionary design for the Harrier’s successor. And uncovers how Hooper, discarded at home by the company whose reputation he helped cement, was called back to save the day when America’s own troubled jump jet was on life support.

This is the real story of a British flying legend, and of the man who made it.

© Michael Pryce 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Critic reviews

A fascinating, insightful and revealing history of this iconic British jet.

An engineering marvel, the Harrier is a flying machine that seems to defy logic. Through a rich cast of characters and page-turning narrative, Michael Pryce reveals how, while rival jump jet designers pinned their hopes on data and analysis, and failed, the brilliance of the Harrier was born of human ingenuity, creativity and intuition. A superb book

Rich in character, technical intrigue and moments of genuine wonder … Pryce has achieved something rare: a book about aerospace engineering that reads like a thriller … as exciting and bizarre as the Harrier itself

Hear from the Harrier pioneers

I’ve been involved in vertical flight aircraft developments since 1994 — including working in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program Office (1995-2000) with many who had been involved with or flown the Harrier Jump Jet. I was eager to see what this new book on the Harrier had to say.

The history of the development and service of the Harrier has been well documented, but this book is unique, providing insights through numerous vignettes, rather than a strictly chronological or technical review of nearly 75 years. “Jump Jet: The Secret History of the Harrier” gives an insightful review of the history of the UK and US engineers and leaders who made the P.1127/Kestrel/Harrier successful, with additional insights into solving some of the challenges of the F-35B Lightning II. The book also details the long history of the P.1154, P.1216 and many other attempts by Hawker/British Aerospace/BAE to create supersonic jump jets.

In both successful cases — the BAE Harrier and the Lockheed F-35B — it took a lot of exceptional talent in the companies and a lot of money from the US and UK governments to make them superb military aircraft.

This book publishes for the first time unique insights from many of the key individuals who made the Harrier a reality, as well as the innovations that would lead to the world's first successful supersonic jump jet. If you think you know the Harrier, read this book to learn the rest of the story.

The narration is generally very good (though maybe a bit overly dramatic) but he mispronounced several key words (including "ASTOVL") and spelled out all the project numbers (like "P-one-one-two-seven" instead of "P-eleven-twenty-seven") which made it harder to follow which dozens of design studies were being discussed. But overall the book was excellent.