I’ve loved flying from the very first time I had the chance to climb
into a military airplane. I knew right then and there that's all I wanted to do
for the rest of my life. It was extremely addictive.
I had the great fortune in the Marine Corps to fly Harriers.
It was not my first choice. I wanted to fly fighters, and the Harrier had
a very bad reputation at the time, but that's what I was assigned to do.
And after my first flight in a two-seater, I was hooked. It was just amazing
what the airplane could do, compared to the other airplanes
I had been flying, which was the A-4.
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For me the Harrier symbolizes an iconic Marine Corps airplane.
It's flown by a couple other countries, but the Marines recognized
the potential of this airplane back in the early ’70s.
It was the first foreign-built airplane in U.S. military inventory
since World War I. Our whole focus is on supporting that 19-year-old
rifleman on the ground and whatever he needs. That's the center
of the Marine Corps universe, is the infantry. Everything else is support.
After about three or four years in the squadron and making deployments
all over the world, I was selected to be the single Marine to attend
the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School. You name it, I flew it.
I retired from the military and became a real estate investor-slash-developer,
and I happened to hit it at the right time. I worked hard, I'm not denying that,
and I built up a pretty good company, but I realized that my real passion
was not unstopping toilets. That's not what drives me.
I went to an air show. I saw the airplanes and I got the bug
again. I had all these quals in the Marine Corps.
What would it take me to be a civilian pilot?
I started doing some investigation and I found that I could
in fact get qual’d [qualified] to fly these airplanes. And I ended up buying
a Russian Yak-3. It's kind of like a P-51 Mustang. It's a little bit smaller
than the P-51 with a little bit bigger engine, very, very hot World War II
fighter. Because of that Russian star on there, and a beginner
in the air show business, I had a tough time giving that airplane away
at the air shows. I would go to an air show just for a tankful of fuel,
just to have fun, just to get the experience, just to build the résumé.
That's not unusual: A lot of people do that. But I saw that the real
star of the air show was the Harrier. The audience reacts
differently to the Harrier than it does to any other act. Differently to the
Blue Angels, differently to the Thunderbirds. People just absolutely
stop what they're doing and they look at the airplane.
I never knew what I was gonna be doing at 61 years old,
but it certainly didn't include flying a Harrier at air shows.
Harrier Jump Jets have flown in active service for the last time.
After almost 40 years of service they've been scrapped as part of the
coalition spending cuts.
I read an article that the Brits were surplusing their C Harriers.
I thought, this is our opportunity to get one.
I had some feelers out. On a Monday morning I opened up my email.
It says, “Hey, we found one. It's complete, it's intact, it looks like it just
flew in the other day. There's another bidder for it. If you’re interested
you’d better get your money together and get over here.”
Before I actually bought the airplane, I called the FAA up. I said,
“What’s it take to get qualified in a unique, one-of-a-kind
jet airplane?” He says, “What is it?" I said, “Well, it's a Harrier.”
And he starts laughing. And he goes, "OK, what's your background?"
And I told him, "Well, I was in the Marine Corps, I’ve got about 400 carrier
landings. I was a test pilot, I did B-52s, C-141s, F-15s, F-16s, A-7s.”
And he goes, "OK. Hey, you're the right guy. I'm gonna let you fly
the airplane. But I’ll tell you right now, you're operating a very hot airplane
in close proximity to Washington, D.C. We're gonna be watching you like a
hawk. And I've got no problems at all, if you're hot-rodding around
the country and breaking some of the regulations, I'll shut you down."
And I said, "I understand loud and clear."
Went over to England. It was in a big hangar,
an abandoned military base, and walk in and there's
this Harrier with one light bulb hanging right over top of it.
Gosh, it's gorgeous. It's beautiful. I said, there's no reason why this
airplane can't fly. The FAA is gonna let me do it.
So we worked the deal, wrote a one-page contract in Sharpie
because we only had one piece of paper and we only had a Sharpie.
We shook hands on it. I went back to the hotel and
this all took, this was four hours. I can't believe I just bought a Harrier.
Now the real hard work starts.
We've had our share of critics. There were a lot of people that thought
this would never happen. A very few people said it to my face.
And it didn't matter what they thought anyway, it only mattered what
we thought, and we knew we could do this.
There's only one time since getting the airplane, getting it over here,
putting it together, one time that I had the least little bit of doubt
as to if this is what we want to do, and that's just prior to the
first flight. I hadn't flown a Harrier in over 18 years —
an entire Marine Corps career in some instances.
We're on a short runway, it's only 4,100 feet.
So I've got limited options. Once I push the throttle in the corner
and once I accelerate past 100, 120 knots, I've got to go flying.
It's kind of like the launch of the space shuttle:
Once the solids go, you're gone.
This is the first time that anybody had ever flown an airplane
with this kind of performance in the civilian world,
and I knew that the issue was not gonna be whether the airplane
was gonna fly, the issue was gonna be: Am I able to fly it?
Are my reflexes still good enough? Or is my eyesight still good enough?
What is gonna happen when I jam this throttle into the corner?
Do I really wanna do this?
This is the point of no return, and in that 10 seconds, I realized:
I've spent multiple hours in this cockpit. I know this airplane.
I know where every switch is. I can find them blindfolded.
I know what it's gonna do when I put the nozzles down.
I know what it's gonna do when I put the throttle in the corner.
I know how it brakes. I know how to fly this airplane.
So 3, 2, 1, I slammed the throttle, the airplane jumped ahead,
and 3 or 4 seconds later I'm doing a hundred miles an hour
and I'm airborne.
I was euphoric. There is no way I could have done this by myself.
It's just like the military has a whole team and a squadron
to do things, and that's what it's taken to get this airplane up.
There are not many wives that would support their husband a hundred percent
on a project like this. But I wouldn't be here today if I didn't have
the complete support of my wife.
Today, we have three Harriers. One is fully operational and flying.
Very soon we'll have the two-seater operational and flying,
and in the future I suspect that we'll have a third Harrier flying.
I'm the temporary custodian. This is not the Art Nalls airplane,
this is the Harrier.
In five to 10 years, these will be the only Harriers flying anywhere.
With the supplies we have, with the manuals we have,
with the servicing equipment, this airplane will far outlast my ability
to be able to pass the flight physical and safely fly it. Eventually
my day is gonna come where I'm not gonna be able to fly
this airplane anymore. But hopefully I will have passed it on to
a younger generation who will be able to safely fly this airplane.
I am a small piece of preserving this valuable piece of history.