I remember years ago going to a Farnborough airshow in the late 70's. At the time the Harrier was being pushed for sale and all the manufacturers were trying to show that their aircraft could use the least runway to get over the Harriers obvious advantage.
Each aircraft must have started as far back as possible to show they were the best. In the end the Jaguar took a different approach and started from about a third of the way down the runway and took off from the grass. This was pretty impressive but was beaten by the Viggen, which lifted off from the runway at about the half way point, but downwind!!
At the same time they showed on TV the Jaguar operating from a stretch of motorway. Interesting times