Originally Posted by
TorqueOfTheDevil
Strictly speaking this is true, in the same way that the AEW Shackleton was a contemporary of the E-3 because we had one at the same time as the US had the other - but to suggest that these British aircraft were anything like as advanced or capable as the US equivalent is, to me, unsupportable.
The Lancaster was a contemporary of the B17. The B29 could be developed as the US had both need and capacity.
To compare Shackleton and E3 is a nonsense except so far so you might call it a blunder to even consider not getting the E3.
The Shack was, in its AEW guise, a development from the Sky Raider/Gannet, and as an airframe certainly contemporaneous.
From the 60s the UK produced too little, too late, and too costly.