File talk:SeaHarrier FRS1 800 NAS after wheels up landing 1986.JPEG

I was there, and I'm pretty sure this gear up landing was unintentional. It happened at the annual NAS Pensacola air show, an extra big deal because that year was the 75th anniversary of Naval Aviation. The crowd was estimated at 75,000. The Brit took off and raised the gear, but stayed in a hover to put on a nice hover/maneuver demonstration at show-center. He took it once around the pattern and when he turned short final, I could see the gear was still up. The Brit announcer continued to narrate as if nothing was wrong, at least until the jet touched down on its belly. After a brief silence he said something British like "of course that's not the way we like to do it." The pilot's initial reaction was to start adding power but he quickly thought better of that and shut it down. The canopy came open and the Brit's last demo for the crowd was a 50 yard dash.