Sea Harrier ZE693.

BAE Sea Harrier ZE693 (718) construction No. B52 was delivered to the Royal Navy on January 5th 1988 as an FRS1, it was later converted to F/A2 status in 1995 at Ministry Of Defence BAE Dunsfold.

Since 1988 the harrier has had a varied role and been moved from squadron to squadron including its original unit at St. Athan, then to and from Royal Navy Squadrons 800 and 801 until 1994 when it was sent to BAE Dunsfold where a year later it was converted.

When the Harrier was actually built is not known as any history before 1998 has not been found.

The Harrier itself is a ground attack fighter but so far we have not been able to confirm if it has actually had any combat experience in its career.

We do know that it has attended various air shows around the world including Austria, Portugal and Gibralter and various RAF bases around the UK including RAF Leeming and RAF Farnham.

In 2000 the Harrier was to recieve its last transfer to Royal Navy 899 Squadron on ACMI attatchment duties and recieved the call sign Fist 3, as the Squadron`s emblem is a fist with wings, sadly though in 2005, RN 899 Squadron was disbanded.

Sometime in 2005 the Harrier was put up for sale and in September the same year was bought by a pub landlord in Tameside as and attraction to the beer garden.

GJD Services delivered and assembled the harrier in the beer garden of the pub on September 29th 2005, which is where it has remained ever since.

The landlord of the pub originally was going to have the Vulcan Bomber that was based at Blackpool airport displayed at his pub after buying it from ebay for 15k, sadly though the Vulcan was that badly corroded it was scrapped.

The Harrier is complete and still bares its original Royal Navy 899 Squadron markings which was the last Squadron it served with.

For reasons of national security certain pieces of the plane still deemed classified technology inc. the engines, ejector seat and certain control panels and instruments have been removed, prior to being delivered to its present resting place.

Apart from museums or air shows or live military sites your not really going to get to see one of these amazing aircraft, so it really is a nice surprise to have one not only sat on your doorstep but also in a beer garden too.