Posted on 03/31/2013 11:03:38 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
The British Aircraft Corporation TSR-2 was to have been a supersonic bomber that would have dashed in under the Soviet Union’s radar to deliver nuclear weapons. Taking off from Wiltshire, England, the TSR-2 eventually pushed past Mach 1 but had to fly its first nine tests gear down.
Ministry of Defense
I’d still happily exchange that for the HS2 high speed rail boondoggle.
You mean like the XB70?
Note that the general configuration of the EAP was pretty much copied by the Typhoon.
They built two Valkyries - One was rammed by a second plane during a photo-op fly-by for GE engines with a couple of the Century-series fighters.
I am surprised the remaining B-70 wasn’t used for boost-launching orbiting satellites usin its very large bomb bay: The SR-71 can go higher, go faster, but can’t do that with an external load such as a rocket or anti-satellite missile. The B-52 regularly boost-launched X-15’s, but can’t go as high a B-70, nor as fast. If you boost-launch, the satellite-carrying missile can be much smaller, cheaper. Or the same missile can carry the more weight with less fuel. The SR-71 did attempt drone launches over China and Russia, so the “theory” of very high speed separation worked “some” of the time, but only a very specialized geometry could be used for the drone to match the external shock waves above the SR-71. There were a lot of drone failures, and that program was dropped as well.
(F-15 can carry anti-satellite missiles, don’t recall when the last ASAT test was run. No way a plane can deploy high enough, fast enough into the right flight profile to intercept a ICBM though.)
Not quite. In 1973, Aviation writer Bill Gunston said if he had to pick two British jet aircraft progans that were a success, one would be the Valiant. To specificarions, on budjet, on time. From prototype contract to produvrion deliveries. six years, only one more than Boeing took for the B-47.
Where fatigue problems developed in the 60s was bringing it down from high alitude to low level strike which it wasn't designed for. But even here there was a solution, which Vickers had flown in 1953: The Vickers Type 673 Valiant B.2, where the only low altitude limitation was thrust available
In many ways that was symptomatic of the real problem with British Military aviation. They'd produce an aircraft, put it into production. Then develop an improved version, and do nothing with it.
How many B-52s would be flying today is the Pentagon froze the design at the B-52C?
Panavia was helped a lot because BAC had kept the plans for the Vickers-Supermarine 583 circa. 1962
OR.356 1962 planned in service date 1970 
MRCA agreemaent 1969 ISD 1979 
Consorting is nice, but maintaining a healthy industry ans the political will to use it is what really counts.
From the nation that gave the world the Spitfire - how far the mighty have fallen.
When the current generation of British Baby Boomers stumbles into it's early grave brought on by their lifetimes of juvenile behavior, all that will be left is a grim encampment of Muslims and Jamaicans regressing to the Stone Age.
It will be a place of no importance, sort of a comedy show.
Things like the aircraft and electronics that they used to be famous for will be just an asterisk in the Chinese history books that will dominate the future.
The destruction of English Electric, the makers of the incomparable Lightning, and the failure of the TSR-2 was one of aviation history’s great tragedies. It’s possible that no airplane, not even the Spitfire, was loved as devotedly by its pilots as the Lightning.
After English Electric was folded into BAC and the TSR-2 was cancelled, the UK never again made any truly great aircraft by themselves. Concorde, Jaguar, Tornado, and Eurofighter/Typhoon were all joint ventures with the perfidious Continentals.
Another great crime against the lady in blue was the cancellation of the Canadian Avro Arrow interceptor. Like the TSR-2, there are still angry conspiracy theorists who blame it all on American meddling in order to build up our own aviation industry.
The Avro Arrow was another great design that unfortunately would have turned out to have not much of a mission had it gone into production.
The Mach 2.5, 50,000 foot interceptor mission became obsolete pretty quickly. About all the Arrow could have done effectively would be to serve as a deterrent against the B-58 Hustler (which some Arrowphiles probably think would have been an OK role.....;-)
My mom called in an order to the Ascani grocery for later delivery (as small stores did in those days before supermarkets took over).
Some time later, the back door bell rang and I went to answer it. There, with boxes of mom's groceries, was none other than Gen. Fred Ascani! (The general was visiting his parents while on leave and was helping out with orders.) He and I got the groceries into the kitchen and he left.
Just after he left, mom came back to the kitchen and saw the groceries were on the table. “Mom, do you know who delivered the groceries? Fred Ascani; GENERAL Fred Ascani!” Mom acted as if generals delivered groceries to her every day — I don't think she really believed me. I could hardly wait to tell my friends.
The Harrier for one.
The only comedy is your ridiculous prattle about the UK.
Britain, from 1945 to the mid/late 60’s, built not only aircraft which matched and surpassed America and the Soviet Union, but built rockets and other advanced weapons which were the equal and in some caees, the superior of the US/USSR. All this with less resources than the US or USSR.
The tragedy is that unlike America and Russia, the UK govts, both Conservative and (esp) Labour, utterly failed to support these superb breakthroughs, and cancelled many of them.
By the time the Panavia Tornado was developed in the early 1970's, better quality aerospace materials made it possible to lighten the weight of a "swing wing" plane quite a bit, and that's why the Tornado came out to be a physically small plane.
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