One of nine Kestrel development aircraft built in 1964/5 for evaluation, and used by the Tri-partite Kestrel Evaluation Squadron at RAF West Raynham in 1965. It was then used for trials at RAE Bedford and A&AEE Boscombe Down, where it was damaged beyond repair in a landing accident on 1 March 1967. It spent some time with RNEC Manadon for ground instruction, where the wings from XS696 were fitted. It moved to the School of Aircraft Handling at Culdrose in April 1978, and was eventually moved to the RAF Museum Cosford in November 2001, where it is now on display.

I first photographed this aircraft at the 1966 Farnborough Air Show

Photographed with a Kodak box camera, little did I know at that time that I would photograph this aircraft again nearly 50 years later in the RAF museum Cosford

One of nine Kestrel development aircraft built in 1964/5 for evaluation, and used by the Tri-partite Kestrel Evaluation Squadron at RAF West Raynham in 1965. It was then used for trials at RAE Bedford and A&AEE Boscombe Down, where it was damaged beyond repair in a landing accident on 1 March 1967. It spent some time with RNEC Manadon for ground instruction, where the wings from XS696 were fitted. It moved to the School of Aircraft Handling at Culdrose in April 1978, and was eventually moved to the RAF Museum Cosford in November 2001, where it is now on display.

Before its retirement to Museum status XS695 was used as a Deck-handling airframe at the Culdrose school while the Navy were working up to operational readiness with their Harriers

The Kestrel was a step between the straight-winged Hawker P.1127 prototypes and the operational Harrier. This aircraft wears the awkward markings of the Tripartite Evaluation Squadron, which consisted of British, US and West German personnel. In 1965 the projected Mach 2 Harrier was cancelled, and the Harrier ended up as just a straightforward development from the Kestrel.

Based on the pioneering Hawker P.1127 VTOL aircraft, the Kestrel was a development operated by the Tripartite Evaluation Squadron in 1965, based at RAF West Raynham and comprising crews from the UK, USA and West Germany, hence the unique markings seen here. They used nearby abandoned airfields for testing on unprepared runways and on grass. Nine were built before progress onto the fully-fledged Harrier GR.1. XS695 has been superbly restored and was placed on display at the start of 2014