TSR2: The Story of Britain’s Most Controversial Warplane

36 Pages·2014·66.906 MB·English

by  Collective

SPECIAL
TSR2
THE STORY OF BRITAIN'S MOST CONTROVERSIAL WARPLANE
£7.95
ICONS
ICONS
SUBSCRIBE TODAY
SPREAD THE COST AND PAY JUST
£19.99* EVERY SIX MONTHS
S
A
FREE DELIVERY DIRECT TO YOUR DOOR VE
NEVER MISS AN ISSUE 1
6
%*
*UK offer only. SPECIAL
TSR2
SPECIAL
SPECIAL
VAMPIRE LLLLLYYYYYSSSSSAAAAANNNNNDDDDDEEEEERRRRR
THE STORY OF BRITAIN'S MOST CONTROVERSIAL WARPLANE
DE HAVILLAND’S TWIN-BOOMED, THE RAF’S WORLD WAR 2 CLANDESTINE MAID OF ALL WORK
GROUND-ATTACK JET FIGHTER
£7.95
£7.95 £7.95
ICONS ICONS
ICONS
07/01/2014 10:13 001 Lysander Cover.indd 1
001 Vampire Cover v2.indd 1 13/09/2013 16:43
O0R01 TSR2 Cover.indd 1DER TOD1A2/03/2014 17:19 Y
ONLINE: kelseyshop.co.uk/aei/p100
CALL OUR SUBSCRIPTION TEAM 0845 872 7385

Hotline open: Mon–Fri 8am–9.30pm, Sat 9am–4pm. Please note that calls are charged at QUOTE OFFER CODE P100
your local rate,for further information please check with your service provider.
MOSQUITO BLENHEIM SWORDFISH HURRICANE SUNDERLAND LIGHTNING LANCASTER HALIFAX METEOR
BRITAIN'S WORLD WAR TWO 'WOODEN WONDER' BRITAIONU’ST FBARSETAEKS TO BF OWMOBRELRD A WT ATRH E2 THE FLEET ALIRE GAERNMD’ASR VYE R‘SSTARTIINLGEB, LAOGN’G SERVING, THE RAF’S LEGENDARY PROTECTOR OF THE SEA-LANES TSUHPEE ARLSLO-BNRIICT ISH BRITAIN’S ICONIC WAR-WINNING BOMBER FROM FRONT-LINE BOMBER TO POST-WAR TRANSPORT 'BRITAIN’S FIRST JET-POWERED COLD WAR WARRIOR'
COLD WAR
INTERCEPTOR
THE RAF’s
RENOWNED
WORLD WAR 2
£7.95 £7.95 £7.95 £7.95 WORKHORSE £7.95 £7.95 £7.95 £7.95 £7.95
ICONS ICONS ICONS ICONS ICONS ICONS ICONS ICONS ICONS
Blenheim test cover.indd 1 22/12/2011 15:40
HAVE YOU MISSED AN ISSUE? visit: kelseyshop.co.uk/aei
TSR2
THE RISE AND FALL OF A CLASSIC COMBAT AIRCRAFT
TSR2 is an infamous acronym that attack by Soviet aircraft and missiles, being spent. After a short test fl ight
has earned an important place in so that it would be sure of reaching its programme it was grounded for
Britain’s aviation history. It target. This was the basis for TSR2. modifi cations but then a new
describes a project that was fi rst Almost from the point of inception, government came into power, and the
established in the late 1950s, to create TSR2 quickly became embroiled in a troubled aircraft was fi nally
a new aircraft to replace the long saga of bad management, abandoned. The fi rst TSR2 aircraft
legendary Canberra jet bomber. The political indecision and confused never fl ew again. The project’s legacy
RAF was aware of how Soviet military strategic thinking. The Government was a superb engine that went on to
capability was rapidly improving, and backed the programme, but its power Concorde, together with other
a new bomber was needed to fl y projected cost was expected to be technical systems that were eventually
tactical strike missions, should a war astronomical. Designing and incorporated into new combat aircraft,
with the Soviet Union become likely. manufacturing an aircraft that could but the sheer cost of the abandoned
At the time it was believed that there fl y at tree top height at twice the project was undoubtedly a salutary
was a very real risk of East-West speed of sound would be a challenge illustration of how not to manage a
confl ict (this was just a few years even today, but in 1960 it was a major military procurement
before the Cuban Missile Crisis) and challenge that would call upon the programme. TSR2 was a catalyst that
Britain had already developed a latest advances in technological infl uenced the way in which the
tactical atomic bomb for possible use prowess. The Government’s handling Government procured its military
in any European war. Although only a of the project was inept. Study groups, aircraft, and it was a project that
tactical weapon, the bomb was in fact committees and management ultimately changed Britain’s aircraft
much more powerful than the two structures were set-up, designed to industry forever, in some fundamental
weapons dropped on Japan more steer the project and to keep down the and far-reaching ways. Without TSR2’s
than a decade earlier. Initially, this cost of the project, but instead of troubled history the RAF would never
bomb was to be carried by the expediting progress, the Government’s have acquired Tornado, and it may
Canberra, but the RAF wanted to interference simply hampered well be that even the Eurofi ghter
marry the weapon to a new aircraft development, and encouraged the Typhoon would never have been
that could fl y at low level, hiding from projected cost of the project to climb designed in its present form. On the
Soviet radar defences, acting as both even further. The fi rst TSR2 aircraft was other hand, if TSR2 had survived, the
a nuclear bomber and also as a eventually manufactured and fl own, RAF’s future would inevitably have
reconnaissance platform for cameras but it had been completed in haste so been very diff erent too.
and other sensors. The RAF also that the Government (and media)
wanted to have a tremendously fast could see a tangible result for the Tim McLelland
aircraft that would be invulnerable to huge amounts of money that were Series Editor
Acknowledgements
BAE Systems Heritage Centre
Brooklands Museum
SPECIAL
TSR2
THE STORY OF BRITAIN'S MOST CONTROVERSIAL WARPLANE
For more than a century of aviation history and for further titles in this series, visit
£7.95
ICONS
001 TSR2 Cover.indd 1 12/03/2014 15:42
KELSEY media Published by Kelsey Media. Printed at William Gibbons & Sons Ltd on behalf of Kelsey Publishing Ltd, Cudham Tithe Barn, Berry's Hill, Cudham, Kent
TN16 3AG. Tel: [phone]. Fax: [phone]. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.kelsey.co.uk. ©2013 ISBN: 978-1-907426-69-8
Contents TSR2
5
Chapter 1 Chapter 3
6 CANBERRA CONNECTIONS 32 BOMBS AND MISSILES
RAF Bomber Command re-equips with the Designed to deliver a tactical atomic bomb,
Canberra and looks towards a new jet bomber TSR2 became part of wider changes to Britain’s
for the future. nuclear deterrent policy for the 1960s.

Chapter 2 Chapter 4
18 WHITE PAPERS AND POLICIES 42 FIRST FLIGHT
From the very conception of the TSR2 project, Despite endless delays and huge cost
politics played a major part in the development increases, TSR2 eventually reached fl ight
and eventual demise of the whole programme. status in 1965.
4
Contents TSR2
Chapter 5 Chapter 7
58 TESTING TIMES 98 ANTIPODEAN AMBIVALENCE
Following the measured success of early test fl ights, Australia was expected to be the fi rst and perhaps
the TSR2 programme continued, although its future only export customer for TSR2. But politics
was already in jeopardy. intervened and Australia looked to America.

Chapter 6 Chapter 8
78 THE END GAME 100 THE AFTERMATH
A new Labour Government fi nally TSR2 was abandoned. The British Government
signalled the end for the troubled reconsidered its global position and the Royal Air
TSR2 programme. Force embraced the F-111… for a while.
BAC TSR2 | 5
Canberra
ConneCtions
The RAF finally embraces the jet age.
But a new tactical bomber is needed
for the 1960s.
6
BAC TSR2
An assortment of Canberra
versions lined up at English
Electric’s factory at Warton in
Lancashire. The Canberra
was Britain’s first jet bomber,
and it endowed the RAF with
a greatly increased offensive
capability. The Air Staff
hoped to eventually replace
Canberra with a new aircraft
that would give the RAF
another huge leap in
performance.
BAC TSR2 | 7
It wasn’t until 1951 that the RAF began to replace its
aged Lincolns with new Canberra jet bombers. It was
at this stage that the RAF first began to consider
potential replacements for the Canberra, ultimately
resulting in TSR2.
Despite being an iconic aircraft of the range V-Bombers were expected to soon be Requirement was eventually drawn-up
1960s, the long and troubled history entering service) and would be designed to around this aircraft, and plans were made to
of TSR2 began many years previously, carry one or more atomic bombs, although upgrade the Canberra’s capabilities so that it
when the Royal Air Force first looked at how the capability to carry a variety of would be able to continue in the tactical
the Canberra bomber could eventually be conventional weapons would also be bomber role until the new Javelin bomber
replaced by a more modern and necessary. The paper explored a number of was introduced. Sadly, the Gloster design
sophisticated design. English Electric’s possibilities and it enabled the Air Staff (the team soon discovered that despite the
Canberra had emerged during the late RAF element of the Air Ministry) to formulate promising nature of their proposed aircraft, it
1940s and it was anticipated that the a more formal Operational Requirement would require a huge amount of re-design
bomber would begin to enter into document that began to emerge a year later. work if it was to achieve the performance
operational service during 1951, enabling Within the new Operational Requirement figures that had been expected of it, and in
the RAF to begin withdrawing large paper, there were some interesting 1956 the Air Staff reluctantly accepted that
numbers of Mosquito, Lincoln and B-29 conclusions. It was proposed that the new the Javelin bomber was no longer worth
Washington aircraft that had been bomber should be able to strike up to pursuing.
employed as bombers since the end of 500nm inside enemy territory and that it The result of this was that a Canberra
World War Two. The Canberra promised to would rely on speed and manoeuvrability to replacement was no nearer than it had been
give the RAF a huge leap in capability, reach its target, rather than being in 1952, and the whole design and
thanks to its speed capabilities and encumbered by the weight and drag of any procurement process would in effect have to
astonishing manoeuvrability, but even as defensive armament. A maximum speed of start again from scratch. However, while the
the Canberra began to roll off the Mach 1.4 was proposed, although there was Air Staff had been distracted by the
production lines, the RAF was already no clear indication as to why this specific remarkable performance of the Canberra
looking towards the future. Advancements speed was necessary, whereas the stipulation and the promise of a new Javelin bomber,
in aerodynamics and engine performance in that the aircraft should be able to operate the Canberra’s manufacturer (English
the early post-war years meant that most from runways no longer than 6,000ft was Electric) had also been looking at the
military aircraft were arguably obsolescent simply a reflection of the standard size of the possibility of creating a follow-on design.
by the time that they entered service, RAF’s countless runways. It was anticipated English Electric’s Head of Aerodynamics (Ray
therefore it was necessary to examine that the new aircraft would enter into RAF Creasey) had privately been considering the
potential replacements for the Canberra service by 1959 and would probably be idea for some time and by the end of 1956
even before it had been declared regarded as a viable bomber for perhaps four he had approached both the Air Ministry and
operational. In July 1952 a paper was issued years, after which another new design would Ministry of Supply to seek some tentative
entitled “An Appreciation on the be required. While the new Operational support for the basic concept of developing
Requirement for a Future Light Bomber” and requirement was being drawn up, Gloster a replacement design. Following his
this document outlined the Canberra’s role Aircraft was working on a development of its discussions with Handel Davies (Scientific
and the attributes that would be necessary Javelin fighter that would be optimised for Advisor to the Air Ministry), on October 29
in any follow-on design. Primarily, the new the bomber role. This new design appeared 1956 he instructed Ollie Heath (English
bomber would be assigned to the (relatively) to offer the RAF everything that was needed Electric’s Chief Project Engineer) to produce
short-range “tactical” role (the new longer- and much more, so an Operational a series of conceptual design drawings based
8
BAC TSR2
… This sketch was drawn-up by English Electric’s Ollie
Heath. It shows the shapes and sizes of the various aircraft
designs that were in involved in the early years of the TSR2
programme, as compared to the company’s existing
designs – the Canberra and Lightning.
English Electric soon began to release speculative
drawings of their P.17 design, showing the aircraft in
various configurations and scenarios. It swiftly developed
into an aircraft that clearly shows the origins of the
finalized TSR2 design.
†
BAC TSR2 | 9
After World War Two, RAF Bomber Command was primarily equipped with the Avro Lincoln (top) together with B-29 Washington aircraft leased from the USA (bottom). The new
Canberra jet bomber was expected to give the RAF a significant improvement in offensive capability, but even before the Canberra entered RAF service, attention was slowly turning
towards this aircraft’s eventual successor, in the shape of what eventually became TSR2.
10