Havelock Tourist & Event Center Dedicates Harrier “T-Bird” Trainer for Permanent Display

HAVELOCK, N.C. – The Havelock Tourist & Event Center dedicated a TAV-8B Harrier trainer aircraft for permanent static display on Sept. 23. The aircraft is known throughout Marine aviation as the "T-Bird." The ceremony honored more than five decades of Harrier history at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, home of the East Coast Harriers, and brought together veterans, community leaders and partners from across Eastern North Carolina.

The two-seat TAV-8B served as the gateway to the Harrier community for generations of aviators. Twenty-three were produced between 1986 and 1992, and the trainer served the fleet from 1987 to 2026. More than 1,000 students completed their initial Harrier qualification training in the T-Bird, including aviators from Spain and Italy. Artisans from Fleet Readiness Center East spent countless hours restoring and painting the aircraft for its new mission.

Samuel Hotz, deputy program manager for PMA-257, traced the Harrier's path from a British concept in the 1950s to a proven Marine Corps weapon system. The Marine Corps saw its potential in the 1960s and stood up its first squadron in 1971 with the AV-8A. The AV-8B followed in the mid-1980s, then a night-attack variant with the more powerful Pegasus-408 engine, and finally the radar-equipped AV-8B Plus in the early 1990s.

"There is absolutely nothing like flying this airplane," Hotz said. "This airplane may have been designed by engineers and flown by pilots, but it was sustained by an entire community of Marines, civilians, families and businesses."

Hotz credited the Harrier with proving that fixed-wing air power could be truly expeditionary, an idea that paved the way for today's F-35B. Harriers flew close air support, strike, and reconnaissance missions in Desert Storm, Allied Force, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and Inherent Resolve, as well as operations in Libya, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Somalia, and the Red Sea.

Retired Col. Randy Myers, a former Harrier pilot who commanded a Harrier training squadron roughly 30 years ago, described the trainer's central role in that record. In the front seat sat a student learning a new form of aviation. Behind them sat an instructor, craning to see over the student's helmet.

"In the rear cockpit sat an instructor whose experience turned procedures into instinct, uncertainty into judgment and skill into readiness," Myers said. "The T-Bird's real legacy, however, lives in the Marines it trained and the communities they serve."

In 2023, FRC East delivered the final T-Bird from its Harrier depot-level maintenance program, a milestone in the Marine Corps' transition from the AV-8B to the F-35B.

Havelock Mayor Pro-Tem, Brenda Wilson, thanked the partners who made the dedication possible, including the National Naval Aviation Museum, MCAS Cherry Point, FRC East and the East Carolina Aviation Heritage Foundation.

Retired Maj. Gen. Tom Braaten closed the program by encouraging visitors to look past the aircraft to the people behind it. He pointed to the dreamers who imagined a jet that could hover, and the builders, maintainers and pilots who made it fly. He noted that children attending summer camps at the center are already learning to see the aircraft that way.

"We're not just preserving an airplane here," Hotz said. "We are preserving the history and the story. A story of innovation, service, sacrifice, and a community that supported the area for generations."

The T-Bird is now on permanent display at the Havelock Tourist & Event Center.