TSR-2 (Merged a few times)
Pilot Officer PPRuNe
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XR220 is indeed at Cosford and I was lucky enough to have a hand in its up keep several years ago before I joined up when I was a volunteer worker at the museum. The one that flew was XR219, now sadly gone forever.
There are several good books about the ac though the only one still in print is "TSR2 Phoenix or Folly" and it is a sad but interesting read.
Tonks
There are several good books about the ac though the only one still in print is "TSR2 Phoenix or Folly" and it is a sad but interesting read.
Tonks
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Wub,
I just knew someone would come up with all the detail !! Thanks.
I was sure it was complete with wings and tail when we moved it from the bottom hangar, which is why I thought it had flown it -was THAT complete.
We parked it on the apron in front of the hangar and left so I guess the RAF guys de-winged it to put on the trailer.
MME,
We were demonstrating the system for the RAF ( so I guess they got the move for free
)
The hover platforms on sat about 2 feet high ( except the one platform that had the power unit on - and that could be on any one of the platforms)
On top of the platform we then had the normal lifting air bags.
So we manoevered the platforms under the wings , and / or fuselage and inflated the air bags lifting the aircraft clear of the ground so it didnt matter if the aircraft was on its wheels or belly landed. Once the aircraft was clear we then started the hover units and the whole thing floated and was ready to move.
The units had no motive power so we then connected by cable to a couple of tractors and off you went. If you were where gound vehicles couldn't drive then you just ran a winch cable out from firm ground and reeled it in.
It worked as advertised on the ones I was with and of course completely air freightable.
It was of course expensive but the idea was to try and get the insurance companies to buy them and place them at key places. The sales pitch being that it cleared the airport quickly with no additional damage to the aircraft.
Must have been a good idea because no one took it up
I just knew someone would come up with all the detail !! Thanks.
I was sure it was complete with wings and tail when we moved it from the bottom hangar, which is why I thought it had flown it -was THAT complete.
We parked it on the apron in front of the hangar and left so I guess the RAF guys de-winged it to put on the trailer.
MME,
We were demonstrating the system for the RAF ( so I guess they got the move for free
)The hover platforms on sat about 2 feet high ( except the one platform that had the power unit on - and that could be on any one of the platforms)
On top of the platform we then had the normal lifting air bags.
So we manoevered the platforms under the wings , and / or fuselage and inflated the air bags lifting the aircraft clear of the ground so it didnt matter if the aircraft was on its wheels or belly landed. Once the aircraft was clear we then started the hover units and the whole thing floated and was ready to move.
The units had no motive power so we then connected by cable to a couple of tractors and off you went. If you were where gound vehicles couldn't drive then you just ran a winch cable out from firm ground and reeled it in.
It worked as advertised on the ones I was with and of course completely air freightable.
It was of course expensive but the idea was to try and get the insurance companies to buy them and place them at key places. The sales pitch being that it cleared the airport quickly with no additional damage to the aircraft.
Must have been a good idea because no one took it up
Last edited by GotTheTshirt; 25th Jan 2003 at 23:29.
DamienB:
I'll send you a private message
GTTS:
I remember seeing the aircraft intact in the morning and when I returned from work that afternoon it was on the trailer. By the time I got my camera the trailer with the wing on it had gone!
Incidentally, the building in the picture was called 'The Pickle Factory', now demolished, because it was said that it had been built back to front - the large doors are on the opposite side to the airfield! and as a result, the foreman in charge of the job was 'in a pickle'
Another interesting fact about Henlow was that the control tower was constructed from Hurricane packing cases, I believe aircraft were shipped to Henlow and assembled there, that was the story when I was there anyway.
http://www.pbase.com/image/11536845
http://www.pbase.com/image/11532330
http://www.pbase.com/image/11532343
http://www.pbase.com/image/11536712
http://www.pbase.com/image/11536722
http://www.pbase.com/image/11536972
I'll send you a private message
GTTS:
I remember seeing the aircraft intact in the morning and when I returned from work that afternoon it was on the trailer. By the time I got my camera the trailer with the wing on it had gone!
Incidentally, the building in the picture was called 'The Pickle Factory', now demolished, because it was said that it had been built back to front - the large doors are on the opposite side to the airfield! and as a result, the foreman in charge of the job was 'in a pickle'
Another interesting fact about Henlow was that the control tower was constructed from Hurricane packing cases, I believe aircraft were shipped to Henlow and assembled there, that was the story when I was there anyway.
http://www.pbase.com/image/11536845
http://www.pbase.com/image/11532330
http://www.pbase.com/image/11532343
http://www.pbase.com/image/11536712
http://www.pbase.com/image/11536722
http://www.pbase.com/image/11536972
Last edited by wub; 26th Jan 2003 at 12:41.
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Superb pix, wub.....there was certainly a Hurricane repair section at Henlow, because that's where father did his first stint of hands-on work as an apprentice, rebuilding battle-damaged aircraft. Would have been 1940 or thereabouts; by 1941/2 he was on Wimpeys.
NoPax,
Inside the tower at Henlow was unpainted in certain places and you could clearly see stencilled things like: 'Hurricane starboard wing', followed by a reference number.
Back to the TSR2 for a sec; the terrain following radar, designed by Ferranti in Edinburgh, originally took to the air in a Dakota, TS 423, which still flies today. The funny thing about using the Dak was that the terrain climbed faster than the aircraft could!
The radar was then tested in a succession of Canberras and ultimately in the second production Buccanneer, XK 487, which hurtled about the Scottish Highlands as low as 200 feet.
I have a pic but can't post it just now, because PBase, my photo repository is down. Check back later.
Inside the tower at Henlow was unpainted in certain places and you could clearly see stencilled things like: 'Hurricane starboard wing', followed by a reference number.
Back to the TSR2 for a sec; the terrain following radar, designed by Ferranti in Edinburgh, originally took to the air in a Dakota, TS 423, which still flies today. The funny thing about using the Dak was that the terrain climbed faster than the aircraft could!
The radar was then tested in a succession of Canberras and ultimately in the second production Buccanneer, XK 487, which hurtled about the Scottish Highlands as low as 200 feet.
I have a pic but can't post it just now, because PBase, my photo repository is down. Check back later.
"Trust Me"
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Just bought a DD video on TSR2. Excellent viewing, lots of info from Beamont. Happy to post it on in exchange for a contribution to the Pprune fund. Zat OK Don? E-mail me direct.
DOC
DOC
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Chris,
Just watched a documentary on the Avro Arrow. Yes it sure was a great aircraft that suffered the same fate as the TSR2 except the Canadians managed to hang on a bit longer
I saw Darryl Zanuck ??? doing aerobatics with the Arrow in Farnborough one year ( I am sure someone will tell me which - the memeries going!)
He did the tail slide which was considered impossible for Jet ( in those days)
Good documentary ( Discovery I think)
Just watched a documentary on the Avro Arrow. Yes it sure was a great aircraft that suffered the same fate as the TSR2 except the Canadians managed to hang on a bit longer
I saw Darryl Zanuck ??? doing aerobatics with the Arrow in Farnborough one year ( I am sure someone will tell me which - the memeries going!)
He did the tail slide which was considered impossible for Jet ( in those days)
Good documentary ( Discovery I think)
GTTS:
Pretty sure you are imagining this. The Arrow flying programme only lasted from March 1958 till Feb 1959, when it was cancelled.
Wasn't Darrl Zanuck a film producer?
The Arrow test pilot was Janusz Zurakowski.
While flying the CF-100, Jan demonstrated a new aerobatic maneuver called the "falling leaf". This involves the aircraft doing a succession of alternating sideslips, with the appearance of a falling leaf -- a light, graceful maneuver. One would never have thought that an aircraft as heavy as the CF-100 could do such a thing but in the hands of Jan Zurakowski, it could. Jan entertained the crowd at the 1955 Farnborough Air Show in England with this manoeuvre.
Pretty sure you are imagining this. The Arrow flying programme only lasted from March 1958 till Feb 1959, when it was cancelled.
Wasn't Darrl Zanuck a film producer?
The Arrow test pilot was Janusz Zurakowski.
While flying the CF-100, Jan demonstrated a new aerobatic maneuver called the "falling leaf". This involves the aircraft doing a succession of alternating sideslips, with the appearance of a falling leaf -- a light, graceful maneuver. One would never have thought that an aircraft as heavy as the CF-100 could do such a thing but in the hands of Jan Zurakowski, it could. Jan entertained the crowd at the 1955 Farnborough Air Show in England with this manoeuvre.
Last edited by wub; 1st Feb 2003 at 14:16.
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WUB,
OK you drove me to the attic !!!
A lot of it was correct.
It was Farnborough
It was Zurakowski ( well it did begin with Z )
It was doing aerobatics
It was an Avro Canada Fighter
The only error was it was the CF100
Sorry ! (Holding hand out for smack )
OK you drove me to the attic !!!
A lot of it was correct.
It was Farnborough
It was Zurakowski ( well it did begin with Z
)It was doing aerobatics
It was an Avro Canada Fighter
The only error was it was the CF100
Sorry ! (Holding hand out for smack
)
Senis Semper Fidelis
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My current Father-in-law was one of many skilled engineers to have nearly lost his job when that pipe smoking Gannex wearing jerk of our Prime minister chopped the TSR2, however he was then moved onto other A/c type with the then English Electric at Preston, however much later on he and about six others of his ilk were persuaded to go and lodge down at Duxford to carry out repairs to the cosmetics of the TSR 2 currently on view there, it seems seven very highly skilled engineers spent quite a lot of time making by hand without any plans or patterns parts to refit to this A/C, so younger folk could see what superb machinery we Brits can make, my FiL was a staunch Labourite! not now though!!
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Anyone know which TSR2 used to be part of the College of Aeronautics collection at Cranfield? I think it was used as an avionics training airframe by the students. Must have been sometime in the '70s - I saw it during a hangar visit with my uncle who was then a lecturer at the College.
I think that it was XR 222. When I was learning to fly Cessna 150s at the Bedfordshire Air Centre in 1968, we students used to nip off to the College hangar to have a look at the treasures therein. The biggest and best was the TSR2, but there were all sorts of other very interesting items in the hangar!
Wilson, Healey and Brown weren't the chief murderers. You can blame the late Earl Mountbottom for killing off the aircraft's export potential........
Wilson, Healey and Brown weren't the chief murderers. You can blame the late Earl Mountbottom for killing off the aircraft's export potential........
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BEagle,
Thanks for the info. There were indeed many aeronautical treasures in that hangar - the TSR2, a V2 rocket and the Morane-Saulnier Paris (G-APRU?) stick in my memory.
What a pity that the collection had to be dispersed to make room for more modern hardware. To coin a phrase - Where Are They Now?
Thanks for the info. There were indeed many aeronautical treasures in that hangar - the TSR2, a V2 rocket and the Morane-Saulnier Paris (G-APRU?) stick in my memory.
What a pity that the collection had to be dispersed to make room for more modern hardware. To coin a phrase - Where Are They Now?
TSR-2 (Merged)
This is probably a silly question, but does anyone know if the TSR2 was given a name (or if one was under consideration for it)?
I'd always assumed that the cancellation of the project meant that naming was never considered. However, I was re-reading notes I'd taken at the PRO about the RAF's intended procurement of the F-111 (which would've been called 'Merlin' in RAF service, BTW) and realised that policy at the time called for a name to be considered either at first flight or when the contract was placed. So did anyone ever consider naming the beast?
I'd always assumed that the cancellation of the project meant that naming was never considered. However, I was re-reading notes I'd taken at the PRO about the RAF's intended procurement of the F-111 (which would've been called 'Merlin' in RAF service, BTW) and realised that policy at the time called for a name to be considered either at first flight or when the contract was placed. So did anyone ever consider naming the beast?
Cool Mod
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Don't forget Jenkins and Callaghan. 
At the signing of the TSR2 prints I sell for the PPRuNe Fund, 'Bee' Beamont told me that although there would never have been any need for Tornado if the TSR2 had not been cancelled, Tornado might have been a appropriate name for it - but maybe tongue in cheek, it was hard to tell.
But he was very cynical about the above trio and very angry too!
At the signing of the TSR2 prints I sell for the PPRuNe Fund, 'Bee' Beamont told me that although there would never have been any need for Tornado if the TSR2 had not been cancelled, Tornado might have been a appropriate name for it - but maybe tongue in cheek, it was hard to tell.
But he was very cynical about the above trio and very angry too!