British Aircraft Corporation TSR.2

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Contents

Type Description

• Type 571
• Type 571 was the TSR-2 (Tactical Strike and Reconnaissance, Mach 2) development batch type number. A high/low strike aircraft with mach 2 performance at altitude, it was designed to Specification RB.192D, to meet the requirements of OR.343, itself a successor to General Operational Requirement (GOR) 339.
  The fuselage was built in four sections – the forward fuselage with radome, crew and main avionics bay, a forward centre section embracing the semi-circular variable-geometry air intakes and some fuel, centre section with the wing sitting on top and having the engine and weapons bays beneath with more fuel, and the rear fuselage with petal airbrake panels. Most of the aircraft structure was produced from machined extrusions of L.65 Al/Cu alloy, with much of the aft fuselage built from RR.5B, a high temperature alloy originally devised for engine pistons. Titanium was applied in a number of areas. However, some components were made from imported US X2020 aluminium-lithium (Al-Li) alloy, which was lighter than duralumin and other traditional aluminium alloys used in aircraft construction, and offered high strength. On the TSR.2 was used for the skinning around the cockpit, lower fuselage bomb bay, rear fuselage and fin and tail. Using Al-Li saved a lot of weight, but the material’s weaknesses were fatigue sensitivity and crack propagation.
  The croped delta wings, swept to an angle of 58° 19’ at the leading edge, and with significant anhedral to the wingtips, were optimised for the high speed portion of the envelope. For low speed lift characteristics, the aircraft featured near full span blown flaps used high-pressure air bled from the Olympus compressors to increase lift at low airspeeds. The wing primary structure consisted of a multi-spar/rib torsion box; the seven spars, swept at an angle of 17 degrees, were machined from a single light alloy billet and attached to the fuselage through a flexible link arrangement, intended to prevent flexural distortions in the wing and fuselage travelling through the structure and producing structural fatigue. Interspar ribs were either machined from solid billets, in high stress areas, or formed from web and post construction. Built in separate halves and joined at the centre-line, the box was sealed to form a fuel tank on each side. Skinning of the torsion box, apexes and wingtips used tapered panels of Aluminium-Lithium, machined from planks with integral spar booms and spanwise stringers.
  The all-moving, cropped-delta tailplanes were operated differentially for roll control (the wing having no ailerons) and in unison for pitch control. Each tailplane comprised a multi-web box with stringer-stabilized skins and chordwise ribs. Both the upper and lower skins were taper-machined from a single Aluminium-Lithium billet, while the remainder of the tailplane was of light alloy, except the root and first outboard ribs, the pivot-bearing mounting ribs, which were made from steel. For additional pitch authority at low speeds, the tailplanes had trailing-edge flaps of light alloy honeycomb construction. The fin was an all-moving unit of similar construction to the tailplanes, though it was not fitted with any trailing-edge control surface.
  Most fuel was carried in the integral fuselage tanks which occupied the upper fuselage fore and aft of the wings. In addition, up to four 450 Imp.Gal drop tanks could be carried on wing stations. The fuel was automatically managed by a Lucas fuel system which maintained proper longitudinal trim by pumping fuel between the fuselage tanks. A retractable refuelling probe was to be embedded in the forward left fuselage on production aircraft.
  The undercarriage of the TSR.2, of vacuum smelted Ni/Cr/Mb/Vd alloyed steel, was complex, and specifically designed to allow operation at appreciable gross weights from poorly surfaced strips. To this effect large tubeless tyres were employed for the main gear, and the hydraulically steered nosewheel could be extended by no less than 42 inches to achieve a nose up take-off attitude. The design was created by Vickers, but largely manufactured by Electro-Hydraulics Ltd, although the wheels and disc brakes were supplied by Dunlop and the anti-skid system by Maxaret. To achieve minimal roll-out on a short field, a braking chute designed by Irving was to be used.
  The offensive avionic suite on the TSR.2 was to be a hybrid analogue-digital system. The complex nav-attack system employed a Smiths air-data computer, a Ferranti inertial platform and a Decca Doppler system for precision velocity updates. Precise navigation fixes were provided by the EMI Side Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR), which provided a high resolution ground map to the navigator. The SLAR employed a pair of 7.5 ft side looking antennas in the fuselage, below the forward cockpit. It was intended the SLAR be used every 100 NM or so, to provide an update only to the nav-attack computer.
  The TSR.2 employed a dual channel Ferranti monopulse Terrain Following Radar (TFR), which fed the dual channel Elliot Automation autopilot/TF computer with terrain profile measurements ahead of the aircraft. A pair of STC radar altimeters complemented the TFR. The terrain clearance data was also provided to the pilot as cues on his Rank-Cintel Head Up Display (HUD). Both crewmembers had moving map displays, in addition the navigator had a large radar scope. The aircraft was fitted with two forward looking and two lateral F.95 cameras which would be activated at the IP. The Elliot Weapon Aiming Computer (WAC) provided a range of visual and blind dive, level laydown and tossing modes for nuclear and conventional bombs. A fully automatic toss mode was included for nuclear delivery, during which a pitch up, automatic arming and release of the bomb and wing-over escape manoeuvre would be flown by the onboard computers.
  The nominal payload for the tactical nuclear mission was to be a single Red Beard lightweight tactical fission weapon, which was intended to be tossed. A level laydown weapon to be carried on the TSR.2 was the parachute retarded WE177A, two rounds of which could be carried. Conventional bombs could be carried internally, a typical payload being six of the standard UK 1,000 lb dumb bombs. The four wing pylons could also carry single or tandem pairs of one thousand pounders, or alternately AJ.168 Martel ASMs or rocket pods.
  A comprehensive package of reconnaissance equipment could be carried. An EMI K-band SLAR with Moving Target Indicator (MTI) modes could be fitted to the weapon bay, or the Hawker Siddeley Dynamics/Mullard thermal imaging linescanner, which was equipped with a radio datalink to relay pictures in real time to a ground station. Up to three FX.126 film cameras could also be fitted. Two Bristol Siddeley B.Ol.22R Olympus Mk.320 powerplants, 22,000 lb.st thrust each dry, 30,610 lb.st with afterburner

• Type 579
• Type number for pre-production batch aircraft.

• Type 594
• Type number for production aircraft.

Specification
Span	Length	Height	Wing Area	Empty Wt	Max AUW	Max Speed*	Max Speed**	Range***	Service Ceiling
37 ft 2 in	89 ft	23 ft 9 in	702.9 sq ft	54750 lb	103500 lb	850 mph/ 739 kn	1485 mph / 1290 kn	750 mi	40000 ft
11.33 m	27.13 m	7.24 m	65.3 m2	24834 kg	46947 kg	1368 kph/ M 1.1	2390 kph / M 2.35	1207 km	12192 m

* at 100 ft** at 40,000 ft.***Combat range, (hi-hi) with 2,000 lb bomb load

Projected Variants

• Type 595
• Trainer variant, identical to the strike aircraft but featuring a single pice glazed cockpit over both pupil and instructor.

• (none)
• STOL version, with significant redesign of the airframe. This entailed reducing the wing area from 675 sq.ft to 610 sq.ft, reducing the tailplane area from 144sq.ft to 124sq.ft, increasing the fuselage height and moving the wing up 4in to allow extra fuel capacity, reducing the nose length by 2.5ft and moving the engines 1ft aft. The two lifting engines themselves, located in the forward fuselage, were to be a developed version of the RB.108, the RB.153, which gave 4,000lb of thrust.

• (none)
• VTOL version. Various studies involving various powerplants.

• (none)
• Variable geometry. Various sudies involving a NASA designed vg wing, and the variable geometry wing proposed for the Vickers Type 583 naval strike fighter.

• (none)
• Strategic bomber. Various sudies involving the carriage of stand-off weapons, particularly developments of English Eletrics Blue Water.

• (none)
• Combat Air Patrol Interceptor Fighter.The main difference between a standard TSR2 and the fighter version would be in the radar fit. Ferranti proposed a design combining a sideways-looking X-band aerial for search within a 250nm range and a forward-looking 36in diameter dish for target illumination. As the larger SLR aerials would not fit in the space for the existing navigation SLR, the nose would be extended by 39in and the new SLR aerials installed as a shoulder fit, high up on the fuselage between the rear cockpit and the intakes. The equipment bay would be reduced in size as a result, but the deletion of navigation SLR. The weapons bay could carry a single missile of up to 36in span, with a cradle to lower it into launching position. An alternative fit was also proposed, with the SLR installed in a large under-fuselage fairing, the weapons bay carrying a 600gal fuel tank and missiles carried under the wings.

Production Details

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Production Summary

Notes

1. The Air Staff were most impressed with the English Electric P.17A and Vickers-Armstrong (Supermarine ) 571 proposals, the former for its aerodynamics, the latter for its integrated weapon system design. The government awarded the contract to a joint team comprising Vickers-Armstrong and English Electric, Vickers-Armstrong assuming responsibility for the forward and centre fuselage and systems, while English Electric built the wings, tail and aft fuselage. Vickers-Armstrong, English Electric, Bristol and Hunting merged in early 1960, to form the new British Aircraft Corporation (BAC).

Production References

1. BAC TSR2 - Britains Lost Bomber, Damien Burke (The Crowood Press, 2010)
2. TSR.2 - Aeroplane Icons (Kelsey Publishing, 2014)
3. X Planes #5 - TSR2, Britains Lost Cold War Strike Jet, Andew Brookes (Osprey Publishing, 2017)
4. http://www.airvectors.net/avtsr2.html