The TSR2 the most advanced aircraft interceptor
Ranked #1,869 in Education, #43,738 overall
About Tactical Strike/Reconnaissance 2
The prototype was limited to 80% of its engine power, but an English Electric Lightning was used as the camera plane to film its flight tests, as the Mach 2 interceptor was the only thing that could keep up. It would have outperformed the majority of modern fighter and interceptor aircraft.
"All modern aircraft have four dimensions: span, length, height and politics.
TSR.2 simply got the first three right."
- Sir Sydney Camm
Contents
Quick links for this lens
T.R.2. Britain's New Nuclear Bomber
Buy This Allposters.com
The short lived TSR2 managed to win fans and supporters
despite its cancellation, in part because in flight
it was a truly beautiful sight.
- The TSR2 in flight
- The TSR2 Test flight - video
- The destruction of the TSR2
- The technical details for the TSR2
- The pilot's manual for the TSR2
- The Killing of the TSR2 - upcoming
- Survivors
- The murder of the TSR2 by Stephen Hastings
- Consequences of the project
- TSR2 Limited edition model
- Blog Posts about the TSR2
- A documentary about the TSR2
- Other Aviation Lenses
- Photographs of the TSR2
- Resurrection?
- Memorabilia
- TSR2 on Flight Simulator
- Leave your comments
- About the lensmaster
- Tirial's Bio and Featured Lenses
The TSR2 in flight
Here is the newsreel for the maiden flight of the TSR2. Sadly, the politics and thnking that destroyed it can be heard in the narration.
The TSR2 Test flight - video
Interviews with the people who were there
The destruction of the TSR2
Sometimes closing a project is not enough. The protoypes, the notes and the equipment to build it were destroyed in one of the most controversial episodes in British aviation history.
The technical details for the TSR2
A summary and a book recommend
The technical details of the TSR2 are obscured by the fact it was never allowed to reach its potential. The details we do have are for one prototype that was never allowed to fly at full speed and a limited number of test flights. With the notes and details destroyed we will never know how good this plane might have been.
Type:
interceptor
Crew:
2
Max Speed:
Flown at Mach 1.5*
Service Ceiling:
54,000 feet*
Range:
1800 miles+
Engines:
2 x Bristol Olympus
Length:
89 ft
Wingspan:
37 ft
Height:
23 ft 9 inch
Weight:
55,000lbs
*these were known from the test flights - the design specs were much higher
+assumed and never tested.
Not so much of interest for the history of the plane, the book below covers the avionics systems and technical details for the BAC TSR2. For the politics behind it, Stephen Hastings' hard-to-obtain "The murder of the TSR2" gives a full view of the project's cancellation.
TSR2
Amazon Price: $31.79 (as of 05/27/2012)
Rather than dealing with the politics behind the TSR2, this book is a technical manual.
To quote the review: "If you want to know about the state of the avionic arts in the late 1950's and early 60's, this is an excellent overview of how those incredibly complicated devices work, and work together."
The pilot's manual for the TSR2
How to fly a supersonic strike aircraft
**Update** The manuals have been withdrawn from Amazon However they are still available on CD:
The Killing of the TSR2 - upcoming
A BBC Radio play on the subject:
7th Jan 2010
Survivors
The TSR2 prototypes.
XR222 is at Duxford.
XR220 is at Cosford.
Classic British Jets: TSR2 covers the history of the TSR2. The DVD is only available from Amazon.co.uk, but is region-free so will play anywhere in the world.
The murder of the TSR2 by Stephen Hastings
The definitive book on the case
It is sometimes available through Amazon, see the spotlight below, or through Biblio, but if not, then bookfinder.com can give a list of all currently available copies: Click here
The Murder of TSR-2
Amazon Price: $159.34 (as of 05/27/2012)
Used Price: $159.34
The definitive history of the TSR2 and its cancellation.
Release Date: 12/31/1969
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Consequences of the project
The politics
One of the consequences was the merger, and effective destruction, of the British Aviation Industry forced by the government of the time when it cancelled TSR2. The other consequence was that future projects such as the Tornado ended up as multi-country projects, largely to ensure that the politics that killed TSR2 could not be repeated.
The technology that designed the TSR2 was destroyed, but the lessons learned went into Concorde. It is hard not to feel the destruction of this aircraft was a crying shame that set not just British but world aviation technology back to the stage where it is still recovering.
To the current date, no plane has been designed likely to out-perform the TSR2. It was an all-round aircraft capable of bombing, interception and reconaissance roles, and in each of those roles it excelled.
For more details: Thunder and Lightings: history of the TSR2
TSR2 Limited edition model
A scale model of the TSR2
Blog Posts about the TSR2
A documentary about the TSR2
from Metacafe
Other Aviation Lenses
More lenses by tirial
One of my lenses focuses on the English Electric Lightning, the legendary interceptor, which functioned as a cameraplane for the TSR2 tests - they didn't have anything else that could keep up!
Photographs of the TSR2
Resurrection?
The TSR2 project was nearly restarted in the early 80's, but the miner's strike and Falklands War resulted in this never being implemented.
Another petition was put in to 10 Downing Street on 15th December 2008.
Memorabilia
Items from eBay
TSR2 on Flight Simulator
Virtual flights
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Leave your comments
Memories about the TSR2? Any links or resources to share? Something I missed off the lens? Please let me know here!
(Any comments welcome, but if you aren't logged in your comment will go to a moderator.)
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jadehorseshoe
Dec 24, 2011 @ 11:18 pm | delete
- Excellent Lens!
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Derek Hindley
Nov 21, 2011 @ 1:47 pm | delete
- In the early 1960's I was responsible for designing the flight computer for miltary simulators, working for a General Precision Systems in Aylesbury, a derivative of the designers of the Link Trainer. After succesfully installing the Simulator for the Lightning Mk3 test rig at Warton, I moved onto the TSR2 project. Until then all flight simulators had used special prupose analogue computers, and valve technology. The TSR2 spurred us on to the development of a digital computer using a magnetic drum, for which I wrote machine code to reflect the flight test equations defining the TSR2's perormance envelop. The simulator was almost complete and under test when the TSr2 project was cancelled. I have no idea what happened to the simulator, but fortunately, the experience gained in its development was not lost; future simulators all use digital computers for which that for the TSR2 was the forerunner.
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TSR1989FF
Feb 28, 2011 @ 11:56 pm | delete
- Impressive (& detailed) Article, apart from a couple of Typo's ("Interdicter" being "Interdictor" ) i otherwise cannot fault it.
It's also the first time i've seen my Youtube "Tribute to a Areospace legend" video quoted on another website (not that i mind at all, quite the reverse ; )
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ruaria
Mar 20, 2009 @ 2:30 am | delete
- Such a shame the project was cancelled.
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About the lensmaster
Tirial&Error Lensography
Tirial's Bio and Featured Lenses
More about the lensmaster
My Bio
Aviation, IT, History, Gaming, I'm interested in just about anything! I made the Squidoo Top 100 Club in June 2009. My first novel, "Fire Season", is now out, and I have a new title, "The Docks", out in Nov 2011.
For a full list of my lenses, view my profile
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by tirial
Aviation, IT, History, Gaming, I'm interested in just about anything! I made the Squidoo Top 100 Club in June 2009. I have three fiction books in print... more »
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