Saturday 25 April 2009

TSR2 RIP



When we had a British Aircraft industry, betrayed and fucked over by the treacherous Harold Wilson and Tony Benn.

Old Labour, NuLiebore, same bastards.

The Penguin

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

How this heap of scrap paid for? For someone who is always complaing of government overspending allow me to tell you cost plus whatever it cost plus 10%. I worked in these plants at the time a bit like BLMC when Robbo ruled the roost too many people doing too little work. Still look on the bright side it must have made loads of soft drink cans when it was melted down.

Oldrightie said...

This would have still been flying today. Just think of the billions saved from that.

Catosays said...

Not forgetting Dennis Healey of course. Read this:

The House of Commons was in uproar over the cancellation; but no debate could take place during the budget speech so not only had the government treated BAC's workforce with contempt, they had tried to slip a major defence project cancellation past the opposition. A debate one week later in the house was a rough ride for Denis Healey (the new Defence Minister), who tried to justify the cancellation on the basis that the F-111 could be bought more cheaply, though he could not state a cost or exact timescale for the buy. Healey has since stated that getting American backing for an International Monetary Fund loan was not a reason behind the British order for the F-111 instead of continuing the TSR.2 programme. However, the TSR.2 was certainly a serious worry to the Americans, being vastly more capable than the F-111 and could have made a serious dent in the F-111's export prospects. A denial from a politician, as the TSR.2 programme showed on numerous individual occasions, is not worth the paper they refuse to write it on.

Hacked Off said...

@11.44 I don't disagree that management and the fucking unions were too busy pissing on each other, but the fact remains that we had a world leading aircraft industry then and we now just make parts of aeroplanes. Lightning, Vulcan, Harrier etc.

And the TSR2 as Oldrightie says would still be a class act today, and we'd have sold hundreds and hundred and hundreds of them to the Arabs, South Africa, maybe even the Yanks once they got over the embarrassment of not being able to compete with it.

And if you have nothing more to contribute, just fuck off.

microdave said...

I always thought the Lightning was pretty quick, yet this was able to pull away from it with just one afterburner working? - Ye gods!!

I can't help thinking they would have to re-design the undercarriage though. The "wobble" of the those tandem main wheels looks rather alarming.

"and we now just make parts of aeroplanes."

There is no longer any business in Britain capable of making large propellers, so the BBMF & others have to source from Germany....

It's not just the aviation industry that we have lost - virtually every "household" name is now under foreign ownership.

It's hard to feel any pride these days, but that, no doubt, is all part of the plan....

Anonymous said...

And the TSR2 as Oldrightie says would still be a class act today, and we'd have sold hundreds and hundred and hundreds of them to the Arabs,
How the fuck you can be so thick with just the one head is beyond me. Stick to what you know computers and middle class way of life and leave the engineering to people who know about it and by the way it might have slipped your notice but the government ate still selling planes to the fucking arabs but they had to bribe them to fuck and if you cant contribute anything worthwhile you fuck off

Hacked Off said...

Anonywanker,

I should think a lot of things are way beyond your comprehension.

Please don't bother us with your singular lack of wit or wisdom any further, I shouldn't think any one of us needs an extra arsehole.

Ted Bundy said...

They still have a TSR2 at Duxford.
Yes Labour cancelled it and dealt a savage blow to BAC but that was during yet another Labour economic crises. This time around its going to be the Royal Navies two aircraft carriers Labour have been promising since 1998. Ooops I forgot Labour also did that before in 1965 good old Denis Healy again. Also the RAF never did get any F-111 aircraft that order (for 50) was also subsequently cancelled. BTW the F-111 was a superb aircraft thats still in use today with some of the worlds air forces and I dont believe for a moment that the TSR2 had a hope in hell of outselling it. The TSR2 was good but not that good.

Hacked Off said...

The English ELectric Lightning was a phenomenal aeroplane, hardly matched today in speed, rate of climb, performance at extreme altitude, and had the cunts in charge spent a few million on updating the 1952 radar and other electronic stuff could have negated the need to buy the much slower Phantoms.

Check out some of the clips on Youtube, especially the ones of 10 Lightnings flying in close formation doing aerobatics. With no computer assistance!

Or the ones of the take-off and then the vertical climb - fantastic.

And the TSR2 was designed and built by much the same team, and was faster, for fuck's sake!

The way it was canned was an absolute disgrace.

Ted Bundy said...

The Lightening or Frightening as it became known was about the fastest fighter ever made and could reach 74,000 feet !!!
However its main drawback as an Interceptor was its poor range of only 900 miles.
This was a big problem re the intention of intercepting incoming Russian bombers out over the North Sea hence the Phantom. The Phantoms range was much better but it was slower (but fast enough for bopping Russian bombers). The British version using Rolls Royce engines was slightly slower then the US version as it required larger air intakes, however it had a longer range as they were more efficient. It was a great naval fighter (I used to be in the fleet air arm) but in my opinion the RAF should have had a British built fighter. I share your sadness at Britain’s demise from aviation, to walk around Duxford and see our world leading post war military aircraft in the knowledge that we simply don’t have the skill or technical knowledge anymore to build anything like that you just have to wonder what the hell went wrong. The TSR2 is like someone who dies young, you'll always wonder what it could have achieved. The great "What if?" The British aircraft industry also got a right Royal shafting on the Vickers VC10 but I suppose that’s another story.

Dr Evil said...

Cancelled for being too damn good and therefore annoying the American warplane manufacturers.