WG34/ Merlin
Back to the WG34/Merlin debate & JD's comment:
"EHI as a company wasn't set up till 1980, there was massive delay as a new management tier took over, and then proceeded to cripple the design with excess weight
And don't forget that even when the design was finished they f'd up on the actual build. IBM (now part of Lockheed Martin) had to be called in to supervise system integration and eventually became the project leaders.
So you have a project designed by one company, redesigned and crippled by another, with the build split over two contractors (Westland and Agusta) and project managed by another. Its a wonder the thing ever flew"
I have no idea how close to flying the WG34 was when the 101 became a reality but I'd guess it was a little further off than implied or else we probably would have bought it in the first place! EHI did not cripple the design with excess weight on purpose, or on a whim, the excess weight came about because of the aforementioned gearbox/ RTM322 fuel consumption issues & because the rear fuselage structure, as designed, vibrated like hell in the prototypes & needed beafing up (note the prototypes initially flew with scaffolding poles cross bracing the rear fuselage!).
The project management was a mess. When isn't it with British military design/ procurements? But it was also partly the MoD's fault as at the time they were actually the system integrator by default. EHI built an airframe that flew (& that's what they were contracted to do); the various equipment manufacturers built radar, sonar, radios etc that worked (& that's what they were contracted to do) but no one was responsible for making them all work together in the flying airframe! Until L-M were contracted. You'd have though that the MoD would have learnt the lessons of TSR-2, Nimrod AEW etc & specified the procurement of a "system" rather than doing things seperately but NO!