British Aircraft Corporation TSR.2 XR220

The British Aircraft Corporation TSR2 strike and reconnaissance aircraft was one of the most exciting and controversial British combat aircraft designs of the late 1950s and early 60s. But due to rising costs and inter-service disagreements saw the programme cancelled entirely.

During the mid 1950s, the increasing sophistication of air defence systems led the RAF to consider the procurement of a high speed, low level strike and reconnaissance aircraft to replace the English Electric Canberra. In October 1957, the Ministry of Supply released the first specification for such an aircraft. On 1 January 1959 the Ministry of Supply announced a design had been selected for production. Christened the TSR2 (Tactical Strike and Reconnaissance Mach 2), this aircraft was developed by a joint design team. A contract for eleven TSR2 prototypes was concluded on 6 October 1960, the first (XR219) made its maiden flight from Boscombe Down on 27 September 1964. By 31 March 1965 XR219 had completed twenty-four flights, and a second, the aircraft you see here, was to join the programme. Initial reports indicated that the TSR2 was an outstanding technical success. To fill the gap left by the TSR-2 it was decided to order an adapted version of the General Dynamics F-111 instead, but that decision was likewise later rescinded as costs and development times increased. The eventual replacements included the Blackburn Buccaneer and McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, both of which had previously been considered and rejected early in the TSR-2 procurement process. Eventually, the smaller swing-wing Panavia Tornado was developed and adopted by a European consortium to fulfil broadly similar requirements to the TSR-2, and went on to serve for 40 years with the RAF.