First flying in September 1964, the TSR.2 was designed as a tactical strike and reconnaissance aircraft capable of speeds up to Mach 2, and was one of the most technologically advanced aircraft of the time.
Competing to Build a Speedster
One look at the sleek design of the TSR.2 (Tactical Strike and Reconnaissance, Mach 2) aircraft and it is abundantly clear it was built for speed. The product of a requirement for the replacement of the English Electric Canberra was initiated by GOR.339 (General Operational Requirement) in 1956. Submissions from several manufacturers were considered for the RAF’s (Royal Air Force) new high performance Cold War aircraft.
The Canberra had been and still was a capable aircraft, however the procurement of faster interceptor aircraft by the Soviet Union as well as developments in SAM (Surface to Air Missile) technology was making the Canberra and other high-flying aircraft vulnerable, meaning new tactics would be needed to deliver both nuclear and conventional bombs. Those new tactics would also demand new aircraft models to perform them.
GOR.339 requirements for the new aircraft included very high low altitude speeds, very high speeds at high altitudes, ability to carry both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons and penetrate enemy defenses at low level and deliver them with accuracy, the ability to operate from shortened or damaged runways, and the ability to perform stand-off reconnaissance rolls from high altitudes. The aircraft would need to be supersonic and all-weather, operating at high altitudes above Mach 2 and low level altitudes above Mach 1. Range requirements were 1,200 miles or 1,900 km.
After a revised GOR.339 was released in 1957, several proposals from different paired aircraft firms were presented to the Air Ministry in 1958, with the model P.17A submitted by Shorts-English Electric, and the Vickers-Armstrong Type 571 being selected for further consideration. Hawker-Siddeley also submitted three similar designs: P.1123, P.1125, and P.1129.
And the Winner Is . . .
In January 1959, it was announced the contract for the aircraft would go to Vickers and English Electric. A name was also revealed at this time, and the project would be known as TSR.2. In 1960, under intense government pressure, the British Aircraft Corporation or BAC was created.
BAC would consist of several British aircraft manufacturers merging and working together on the project. Those companies included English Electric, Vickers-Armstrong, Hunting, and Bristol Siddeley . Vickers-Armstrong would lead the project; Bristol Siddeley Engines provided the power plants. English Electric, the main designer of what would be the basis for the aircraft, was relegated to subcontractor status. The animosity being created with this arrangement as well as the forcing of several manufacturers to come together under government pressure sowed the seeds of disaster for the TSR.2.
They Built it Anyway
Despite constant political squabbling, inter-service rivalries, cost overruns, constant delays, animosity between the companies in the forced merger, and a steady stream of what appeared as lower cost alternative aircraft; a handful of prototypes of the TSR.2 did get built. The Royal Navy fought the project out of fear it would divert funding away from their new Blackburn Buccaneer carrier aircraft, the Treasury constantly harped about the cost overruns. The RAF continued to insist it needed to belong to the supersonic club and keep up with the likes of the United States and Soviet Union, and therefore needed the TSR.2.
The resulting aircraft was a large two-seat twin-engine affair, with heavy, rugged tandem main landing gear that retracted into the fuselage allowing for the small thin wings. The small delta wing, with a span of 37 ft (11.28 m), had down-turned wing tips, and was shoulder-mounted on an 89 ft (27.13 m) long fuselage containing an internal weapons bay and fuel tanks. The horizontal tail surfaces and fin all moved providing control, while the ailerons controlled both pitch and roll. Thrust bled from the engines was directed out holes on flying surfaces giving the aircraft full-span blown flaps, augmenting the small wing’s performance at lower speeds and take-offs. Height of the aircraft measured 23 ft 9 in (7.24 m).
The tandem cockpit housing the crew of two was placed close to the sharp nose of the aircraft, and contained advanced head-up (HUD) displays that projected the instruments directly on the windscreen. Equipped with terrain-following radar and side-looking radar, the aircraft could hug the ground below, flying as low as an altitude of 200 ft (61 m). Much of the highly advanced avionics technology was housed in a large bay just aft of the rear cockpit with a large access doors on the side of the fuselage.
Designed to elude Soviet SAM batteries as well as escape interceptors, the TSR.2 was to carry tactical nuclear weapons or conventional bombs in the internal weapons bay. Up to 6,000 lb (2722 kg) of ordnance could be carried by the aircraft with a full take-off weight of over forty-three tons. External mounted ordinance could also be carried, although the heat generated by the high speed of the aircraft and the effect on the ordinance narrowed the choices considerably.
Tactics to be employed by the TSR.2 were to fly supersonic at Mach 2 towards the target area, drop down to a very low level, fly at around Mach 1, do precision drops in all kinds of weather, rapidly accelerate back to high altitude and back to Mach 2. This process saved fuel and increased range over flying at treetop level the entire mission, as well as prevented SAMs from tracking the aircraft easily while at such low altitudes on attack runs.
More from The Aviationist
In the reconnaissance roll, the aircraft would perform high-speed, high-altitude intelligence gathering using side-looking radar, signals intelligence (SIGINT) and photo imagery. Highly advanced technology was integrated into the aircraft to perform these functions. The weapons bay would accommodate a reconnaissance pack of cameras and other equipment.
Power to move this remarkable aircraft at the required high speeds was provided by the Bristol Siddeley Olympus 320 engines with afterburners, each producing up to 33,070 lb (147.11kN) of thrust and a maximum speed of 1,485 mph or 2390 km/h. The operating ceiling was 54,000 ft (16460 km), while the rate of climb was 49,212 feet per minute or 15000 m/min. The engines would prove to be troublesome, adding to delays as well as rising costs with the project.
Finally, on Sept. 27, 1964, a prototype TSR.2, designated aircraft XR219, would make its first test flight, with test pilot Roland Beamont at the controls and Don Bowen as an observer, after significant delays with landing gear retraction issues and engine problems. The flight took place at Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, with the initial tests being done with the undercarriage down and the engine power strictly controlled. An English Electric BAC Lightning in all natural metal finish and a Gloster Meteor painted in bright yellow flew as chase planes for the large white TSR.2. Beamont gave the aircraft a good report, his main complaint being that upon main gear touchdown a violent oscillation occurred rendering him temporarily vision impaired. Strangely on the second test flight, vibration from a fuel pump that was the resonant frequency of the human eye also caused vision impairment.
Eventually the landing gear retraction problems were resolved, although the vibrations upon landing seemed to persist. The aircraft flew 24 test flights, all by XR219, and at one point it flew within 50 ft of hillsides while flying up valleys in the Pennines. The troublesome engines were replaced with new ones, again giving fuel to those concerned with cost overruns and those supporting the purchase of American General Dynamics F-111s instead. A new government had also come to power in 1964 and was looking to cut spending.
Shot Down by Politics
On Apr. 1, 1965, the Cabinet met and suddenly cancelled the TSR.2 project. Chancellor James Callaghan announced the immediate cancellation on the day the second prototype was to fly, Apr. 6, with the test pilots learning of the cancellation over a news broadcast while having lunch at a local pub. The pilots rushed back to base and attempted to get the second prototype airborne to prove the government was in error, but were prevented from taking off. The test flight of Mar. 31, 1965 would be the type’s last.
A total of £195 million in development costs was just written off, and the order went out to destroy all the jigs and TSR.2 prototypes immediately and 110 of the less capable General Dynamics F-111 aircraft would instead be ordered from the United States. After all, Australia was buying the F-111. Two TSR.2 airframes survived the scrapping, XR220 which is on display at the RAF Museum in Cosford, and a less complete example at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, number XR222. The only example to fly, XR219, was taken to Shoeburyness and used for target practice and munitions testing effects on modern airframes.
In a twist of irony that history often produces, the planned purchase of the F-111’s also fell through, as teething problems and constant upgrades had caused that aircraft to actually exceed the costs of just building the TSR.2 in the first place, and the F-111 was never purchased by the United Kingdom. The RAF was left without long-range strike and reconnaissance capabilities. The once troublesome Olympus engines that powered the TSR.2 would continue to be developed and improved, and would power the civilian SST (Supersonic Transport) Concorde. It wouldn’t be until the Panavia Tornado came online in the 1980s that the RAF would have anything close to capabilities the TSR.2.
The TSR.2 project seems an example of how not to procure an aircraft while at the same time resulting in a remarkable aircraft that would probably still be in use today in some form. “All modern aircraft have four dimensions: span, length, height, and politics. TSR.2 simply got the first three right.” — Sir Sydney Camm, aeronautical engineer.
