The British Aircraft Corporation TSR.2 was one of Britain’s most promising, but also controversial aircraft projects. At the time of it’s development the TSR.2 promised to one of the most advanced aircraft ever built, and was to offer unrivalled flight performance. However technical problems and severe mis-management on the part of the UK Government would continually delay the project. The delays and cost overruns, along with a sizeable amount of politics, would eventually lead to the programme’s cancellation 1965, on the same day that the second prototype was due to fly.
@TerikG2014 Has written a detailed suggestion for the TSR.2 on the old forum. However as that has been passed to the developers so I thought I’d create a new thread to allow continued discussion of this awesome aircraft.
Weapons
The TSR.2 has an internal bomb bay and four wing pylons (two under each wing). While the prototype never flew with weapons the weapons it was planned to use are documented, and in some cases were mocked up on the prototypes. The following stores (or a combination there of) could be carried:
- 10 x 1000 lb bomb (six in the bomb bay + one on each wing pylon)
- 4 x WE.177 nuclear bomb (two in bomb bay + one on each inner wing pylon)
- 4 x Launcher No.7 36-shot 2" rocket launcher (one on each wing pylon)
- 2 x AS.37 Martel anti-radiation missile (one on each inner wing pylon)
- 2 x AJ 168 Martel TV guided missile (one on each inner wing pylon + datalink pod in bomb bay)
- 2 x 108 shot 2.25" countermeasures pod (one on each outer wing pylon)
Flight performance
The TSR.2 offered extremely good flight performance. These are the figures given in BAC’s 1962 TSR2 Weapons system brochure:
- Engines: 2 x Bristol-Siddeley Olympus 22R afterburning turbojet engines
- Static thrust (dry): 19,600 lb each
- Static thrust (wet): 30,610 lb each
- Max design speed (i.e. rip speed in game): 800 kts at sea level (just over Mach 1.2) / Mach 2.25 at altitude (with a plan to increase that to Mach 2.5 later in development)
- Rate of climb: In excess of 50,000 ft per minute at sea level
- Maximum G Limits: +6.6 g / -3.3g
The brochure also states that the that never exceed speed is in place due to skin heating. A graph is included showing that the TSR.2 should have been able to exceed it’s design speed in level flight at all altitudes; with the engines producing enough excess thrust that the aircraft could theoretically achieve just under Mach 1.5 at sea level, or just under Mach 3.0 at altitude (if it weren’t for the airframe limitation). This massive amount of excess thrust would oviously give the TSR.2 exception acceleration and climb performance.
General characteristics
- Length: 89 ft
- Height: 24 ft
- Wingspan: 37 ft
- Wing area: 700 sq. ft
Eye candy
Click Me
Sources
- TSR.2 Weapons System (BAC Brochure)
- TSR.2 Performance Data (BAC Report)
- TSR.2 Crew Notes
- TSR.2 Maintenance Manual
- TSR2 Britain’s Lost bomber by Damien Burke
