TSR-2

[mgxp]

It looks so modern, obviously before its time. What a shame it was killed.

[BigBeakedCrow]

3:43 looks more like a Lightning to me.

I was born many years after the development, but I still feel sad this beautiful plane was murdered.

[bolar500]

What a beautiful airplane. What it could have been is only all up to anybody's guess. I went to Duxford just to see and touch it. So sad....the number plate of my car is TSR 002, in remembrance of British engineering in excellence.

[taxus750]

Apart from its technical prowess it was a simply stunning looking plane and something I'd forgotten about till I saw this. Yet another very sad story of pioneering British design, ingenuity and skill screwed by the clowns we elect and the bureaucrats who serve them.

[Sirwankerful]

I saw a book written by someone close to the project "The Murder of the TSR2" back in the early 80's.

Anyone else heard of it?

Cheers,

Martin.

[Lex5576]

On it's first test flights, the TSR2 left the escorting Lightnings in it's dust!!....and the TSR-2 was only at two-thirds throttle. Lightnings aren't slow at top speed either(1500+mph), but they simply couldn't keep up with that TSR-2. That was ultra performance in those days, and still that way in today's standards.

[Giselle76502]

Just as beutiful as the Spitfire, Lancaster, Concord, Hunter and many more 

[Ram69Rod]

The person responsible for cancelling this project was Denis Healey who was the Secretary of State for Defense. It was his decsion to favour the American F1-11 project. But the cost overrun and a weak Pound made the American aircraft subsequently more expensive than if he had of carried on with our TSR2.

It was one of the worst ever decisions and it knifed in the back our own home grown technology and tecnological independance. A disgraceful episode of dodgy politics.

[05Rudey]

What a fantastic and modern looking aircraft, considering some of the design was done in the 50's.

[boudica75]

The images of the TSR-2 coming into land, with this music, just awesome. Thanks for posting, good job. Bad job to cancel this plane though.

[Cubcariboo]

The similarities of the overall program and the suspisions of those involved following cancellation are very similar to the Avro Arrow program that took place in Canada during the same era. Curiouser and curiouser.

[MrDazturismo]

this was the most technological aircraft for its time and the yanks hated it, so they forced the then labour government too scrap it, which they did. thats why there is no remains of this awesome aircraft left

[TSR1989RN]

@MrDazturismo "there is no remains of this awesome aircraft left"

Not quite, we still have TSR-2's XR-220 (the 2nd Prototype to be completed) & XR-222, at RAF Cosford & Duxford respectively.

BOTH of which are still 100% Structurally Intact (they were never flown thus have none of the wear & tear of most period Aircraft), & with enough time & money could be returned to Flying Condition (assuming unlike Restored Lightning's the Government wouldn't prevent them from being flown in GB).

[krenim786]

Fraance was a nothing compared to the UK in Aerospace tech.If the country hadn't gone collectively bokers in the 1960s and 70s Airbus,Arianspace etc etc would be British! Instead it chose to be an 'international financial centre'! A lot of good that did it!

[Giselle76502]

In fiction, this aircraft is used as a asteroid distroyer in the Japanese anima, Stratos 4, under the name TSR.2MS, I built the Airfix kit of it, parts were included to build the origonal aircraft

[kroberts9884]

What a beautiful bird! If looks could kill...

The frontal shot of it taxiing in at about the 3:00 mark. Wow!

[Giselle76502]

@kroberts9884 Looks can kill, when you think of the Spitfire anyway

[EinkOLED]

It probably had a very high stall speed due to it's short wing profile which wold require a longer takeoff run and landing speed.

It looks incredible.

[HopesfallTSY]

Is that Leuchars they were flying it from?

[SGH28N]

It was better watching this video muted... What an AWFUL song..

[youwillBsorry]

OK, I was wrong - just my opinion when watching the aircraft slewing about and coming in to land with its nose at an alarming angle.

[Whiteplane]

useless airplane,but cool looking.

[Buggsy61]

@Whiteplane "Useless aircraft" LOL either you are an idiot or you are on a windup. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume its the latter!..

[badvock71]

So sad this plane never flew :( The landing gear was always an issue as you can see at 2:34 - 2:50 and was a design flaw in many peoples eyes at the time. The destruction of airframes and blueprints is SOP especially during the cold war, wouldn't want the Russkis getting their hands on them would we? Sad looking back now of course, the greatest plane to never enter service :(

[SR71ABCD]

The American's got jealous because the BAC built a faster bomber, and they never used them so they gave us the money and we scraped them and burned the blueprints. God damn it I wanted to see the TSR 2 in flight but the only one on display without a engine is at RAF Duxford.

[badvock71]

@SR71ABCD not so, XR220 is the most complete airframe and is on display at Cosford, complete with engine & avionics. In fact a Bristol Olympus Engine (S/n 00001) has been on and off E-bay for the last 12 months or so, yours for a paltry 2 million.

[chitlika]

Cancel TSR2 we dont need piloted aircraft anymore we'll just have missiles.

Right Canceled it ..................How many Missiles have we got to replace it then ? Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr­rrrrrrrrrrrr None

[youwillBsorry]

After looking at your great video I think if the Government didn't murder the plane the plane would have murdered the pilots! A perfect example of how to make a brick fly.

[TSR1989FF]

@youwillBsorry Shows how little you know about this Aircraft then doesn't it?

If you had attually watched the interview with XR-219's Test Pilot (WWII Fighter Ace "Roland Beaumont") before making this ""Comment"" of yours, then you'd know Better.

Nothing Personal, just correcting a sweeping (& monumentally inaccurate) statement / assumation that was made without basis or any prior knowlege of the Aircraft in Question.

[youwillBsorry]

After looking at your great video I think if the Government didn't murder the plane the plane would have murdered the pilots! A perfect example of how to make a brick fly.

[nocturne1105]

It is a splendid airplane

If there is not Labour Party

[Callum9710]

in my opion ever since the country started letting pakis and foreigners in it went tits up it used to be the worlds most powerful country we won two wars and all for shit we fought the wars to keep our country ours im glad we won but there was no point tbh if the Germans won at least we wouldn't be surrounded and overwhelmed with foreigners they have runied our reputation and and spent all our tax money on benefits when they dont need them because they get shit loads of money from kebab shops :(

[123456789r2]

awhh!!! i been searching for this plane, its sooo beautiful...... i could stare at it for ages :-)

[TheMightOfTheEnglish]

not sure it was this plane ,but ,after scrapping its information were passed on to america , when the british project head asked how were they(americans)were getting on with their new project,, sorry its classified was the answer,great hey

[justforever96]

That's weird...this is the second video I've seen that plays "Mad World", but says "Scorpions- Rhythm of Love" down below. WTF is up with that?

[123456789r2]

@justforever96

youtube audio tracking, i have it on a couple of my videos.....

some times they even change my audio track so it fits the one at the bottom, annoying much....

[BalticaBeer]

TSR.2 красивейший самолет

[joluqa]

This was one of the best projects ever made but policy destroyed it its a pity.

[justforever96]

Wow, big plane! I guess they didn't plan on doing much actual dogfighting with it, huh?

I've read about the British Govn'ts dumb plan to ditch their whole military aircraft program..."because ballistic missiles made them obsolete". Yeah, sure...let's make sure that the only possible way to fight a war is to wipe out the planet. Sure, sounds great. All they did was just about ruin the entire industry...sad to say, military planes are generally more profitable than civilian ones.

[Dweng0]

@justforever96

Tactical Strike and Reconaissance aka a bomber/Recce plane (hence its designated TSR)

[MrOregona230]

its landing gear looks like roller skates

[mpearson58]

The Wilson government that cancelled the TSR2 was just the first in an unbroken line of treasonous governments, of which Cameron's is just the latest, that have driven this country into its present shambles.

[123BobaFett]

aircraft. british come up with the idea, cant afford it so then sell it to the americans

[norriealex]

Harold Wilson shoe horned into Government shortly after Gatskills death.

[norriealex]

GREAT FILM - The scrapping of the TSR2 had nothing to do with the Yanks. It had to do with the Harold Wilson Gov. and Labours friends the Russians. Harold was a Communist who fooled everyone, blamed the USA for pressure to buy their inferior aircraft but secretly was happy to cancel TSR2 for the Russians. Even MI5 couldn't catch him. Hugh Gateskill, Labour Party's legitimate leader died after he was invited to the Russian Embassy, had cups of tea and biscuits and 3 weeks later died mysteriously.

[VieuxMalcommode]

Hmmm... Sounds a lot like what happened to the Avro Arrow, even looks a bit like it!

[MrYoyi96]

Cool plane!!

[Firespectrum122]

Goddamn, what the fuck have they done to this country?

[XXRach1610XX]

@Firespectrum122 they have sold it to anyone with a couple  of quid in there pocket

[airweenie]

Ahhh! This was my heart throb in high school. One of the lovliest shapes to ever fly. I got to see the remaining example at the RAF museum at Hendon years ago. Great video. Thanks for posting it.

[MegaRaf2009]

how could they destroy such a beatiful aircraft im joining the r.a.f soon and i hope they design such a bird like this as im in service with the raf when i saw it scrapped at the end it broke my heart good video mate keep going /;

[SimonOcean]

Incredible video: great find. Amazing aircraft but 1 huge flaw: as a low level strike aircraft the TSR2 shares very similar basic design with the North American Vigilante. The Vigilante's performance was good, but notice the slab sided fueselage and cockpit mounted far forward of the COG. Vigilantes were retired early not because they were difficult to land (which they were) but because of rapid fatigue and control problems due to cockpit ocsilation. The TSR2 would have suffered the same flaw.

[Tconnolly2]

just out of interest, was this "huge flaw" you mentioned picked up during testing of the BAC TSR-2; sadly I'm far from an expert on this but I thought that Roland Beamont, the test pilot, was more than happy with the performance and handling qualities of the aircraft.

[skahoovey]

My Dad worked on this plane and did all the flight controls. He still has all the blue prints in his office. When the contract was dropped by our stupid PM, he left the MOD and never worked for them again.

[Tconnolly2]

great vid but I feel I should point out that the closing statement was said by Sydney Camm

[stratandteleman]

I'd forgotten just how beautiful TSR2 was. Another outstanding example of British flair and design, only to be sacrificed on the alter of British politics.

[mike6179]

My uncle was an Air Traffic Controller when TSR2 was flight testing. He was a Nav on Shackletons but had hearing probs on Jets so retrained as ATC. His words were just shear magic and delight watching the TSR2 fly.

[nazcasteve]

Really, really well done video. Love the editing, especially at the end. Perfect choice of music as well.

[PeterM245]

Nice video. 'Bee' Beaumont, the test pilot shown at the end of the clip. A great tragedy. I remember the axe falling in '65. Some friends of mine lost their father in a Vulcan during TFR (Terrain Following Radar) trials in Wales some six months later. The TFR would have presumably have come from the TSR 2 programme. The TSR 2 was a twin seat. The Vulcan had a crew of five.

[theredraven]

Great video but you forget to mention at the side that it wasn't just TSR 2 they murdered.

It was the ENTIRE British aircraft industry.

[lonelywolf1966]

just imagine the planes the RAF would have now if TSR2 had gone into service and been developed to her peak!!!!

[squadman33]

Kinda looks like a vigilante. Fast and agile.

[lonelywolf1966]

TSR2 was way ahead of her time.. was scrapped by a blind govenment who then decided to buy outside the uk.. and ended up with inferior planes

[viewson800]

They were FORCED to buy inferior planes like the F111. A piece of crap of its time. The TRS was too advanced for America not to own. The wanted the monopoly on aviation technology so Britains hands were forced to totally destroy the TSR-2, and the Canadians AVRO ARROW. It's still amazing to me that the English Electric Lightening eluded the Yanks!

[Karadauk]

A beautiful aircraft that fell foul of the Labour Party. Harold Wilson should be remembered as the man who destroyed the aircraft industry. He got the country in a financial mess hence the devaluation of the pound and the famous speech "The pound in your pocket is still worth a pound" but only bought ten shillings worth of goods. He had to go to the IMF to bail us out and as part of the deal the Yanks insisted that we had to hand over our aircraft industry. That is why it was destroyed

[alanstarkie2001]

I used to know an old guy who worked on this aircraft. He was telling me that it was years ahead of its time, especially in its electronics. I was a kid when it was talked about a lot on the TV news. I remember when they called it a day on this remarkable plane.

[hoplite1766]

TSR-2 Was a world beater, under funded it died a slow death, vastly superior to the F111

[buidseach]

how stable can it be flying nose up all the time ?

[226pya]

We have to remember that Lord Mountbatten contributed greatly to the demise of this project. We may have been able to sell TSR-2 to Australia had he not put a dampener on the whole thing.

There again he was a Navy man through and through - I always got the impression that he despised the Royal Air Force along with any future aviation projects from which the RAF (and Britain of course) would have benefitted.

Mountbatten and the Govt. of the time conspired to murder TSR-2 between them !

[theredraven]

Yeah but at least Mountbatten got us the Buccaneer which was another world beater.

Wilson on the other hand got us a watered down F-4 Phantom with British engines instead of just buying the normal US one which was faster than the one we got.

[mateuslcr]

Always the best plane.I love it.

[marty5371]

It looks very diffrent compared to any other fighter aircraft I have ever seen.

[beevers48]

With the probable exception of the SR 71 Blackbird this was the most advances aircraft in the world. Its destruction was a tragedy and typical of Wilsons gov't. Its cancellation pretty much finished off our aviation indusrty. How can you destroy the most advanced plane in the world. Beggars belief!

[tomothy32]

Politicians seem to do as they please when it comes to military funding, even nowadays i don't think they'll ever get it coz they're all public school boys who have now idea what war is

[theredraven]

All?

[tomothy32]

sorry public school boys AND girls, atleast the ones with any authority are, there may be a few back benchers from a state comprehensive

[theredraven]

Ummmmmmm...........Surely going to a public school is better than a state one?

I mean the government that ordered TSR-2 was made up entirely of old Etonians.

[tomothy32]

As was the government that gave into american pressure and cancelled it, im not saying rid parliament of toffs but the way it is now and then just isn't representative of britain because not everyone goes to a public school infact the vast majprity don't.

Also many of the "heroes" of science and various other intectual pastimes have come from very average backgrounds

[nutster9000]

Amazing aircraft, still looks right even today and makes the Tornado standing nearby at Duxford Airspace look mediocre - much like an enlarged Aermacchi M346. (average euro scooter) I still find that if anyone studying the cold war and british politics of the time, then this is the best place to come, as the comments and info here is inspiring and remarkable. Why doesn't Labour never seem to learn? I can't see Labour having much of a valid cause in the next ten years after what they've done.

[peepeevagi]

At least it's technology wasn't wasted.

Explaining why the Panavia Tornado is awesome.

[analog2014]

No-one else but a British Labour government would have thrown something this amazing away. What a bunch of soulless mo****f*****s...

BTW go Roland Beamont - a great test pilot.

[takedownroddy]

Such a beautiful aircraft.

I'd like to meet the man who cancelled this plane and kick him very hard in the balls.

[Dreaded88]

You mean: Give 'em a Toll-chock to the Yarbells! His name was Duncan Sandys.

[britshop]

@takedownroddy I would also not only kick im in the the balls ,But suspend him by them until ever jig ,fixture and drg is destroyed.But fortunately TsR2 remains.

[Bitsforboats]

@takedownroddy I believe it was Dennis "Eyebrows" Healey.

[TSR1989FF]

@takedownroddy Likewise ; )

Sadly Wilson's beat us to that by dropping dead many years ago, some of his fellow Crooks are still around though ("Tony Benn" being one).

[AntelopeUHA]

@TSR1989FF I ****ING HATE how people fawn over that mad old goat Tony Benn. They have no idea what he had a hand in and think he's some harmless pipe smoking codger. If they really knew what he'd been up to when he had the chance they'd string him up from Tower Bridge!

[TSR1989FF]

@AntelopeUHA Exactly right.

I once encountered the Old-Labourite Fart on "Didcot Parkway Tain Station" in Febuary 2009, & was all too tempted to give the Blaggard what he ruddy deserved (or worse ; ), only the fact that the Station was crowded at the time (& my own self restraint [which i wish i didn't have so much of sometimes]) prevented me doing just that to that unbeleiveably inept & Traitorus Labourite pig.

How Nouseless Crooks like him get away with such things is beyond me (& all logic).

[discoii004]

One of the true sad periods in aviation history. I am still mad about it. I am so glad that a few people ignored the order to destroy everything and preserve a couple of them in museums. Such short sighted left wing liberal politics interfering with a world beating aircraft. It's disgusting that we continue to elect these idiots.

[Dreaded88]

It wasn't just leftwing liberal politics. Britain had a real problem few want to acknowledge. There's some evidence to show that Duncan Sandy's and his horrendous White Paper of 1957 was drawn because he was on the take from Lockheed Exec's who'd convince him, and the rest to trash their projects in exchange for bribes to favored causes.

[discoii004]

Thank you for that, good information always helps mold our opinions. Duncan seemed to have his priorities upside down, don't you think? Who voted on that paper and passed the bill? I pick on the left because, in my opinion, they seem to look at addressing problems of today, not thinking of the long term impact. Very popular at the time, but problematic long term. Either way, the UK aircraft industry died that day and many of the folks went to the US - some stayed and worked on the Tornado etc.

[discoii004]

Do you know of any objective books on the TSR-2?

[Dreaded88]

Not very many at all I'm afraid, but after reading a good deal about both Duncan Sandy's, 'Super Mac', and the demise of the CF-105 Avro Arrow, and the Fairey Rotodyne I began to try to follow the money. Much like our country: your's has the same problem of greed disguised as do-gooding, and it has left us all in the lurch!

[ringworks]

Such potential.

[OjciecWalczy]

Real beauty and damn piece of great engineering!

I read recently that TSR-2 cancellation wasn't only Wilson's government decision, but continuation of Macmillan's policies.

[Dreaded88]

I agree with you, but I don;t think this was exactly McMillian's doing. the blame rests upon Duncan Sandys, with 'Super Mac' being an overworked fool who'd put his signature to anything put infront of him just to catch a break!

[delwatts]

erm! as the TSR2 was cancelled on 6th April 1965 then surely the descision rested with the Prime Minister of the time

and that would be Harold Wilson (64-70) tho' it was announced by Sunny Jim Callaghan in his budget speech as I recall neither were members of Tory party

[Dreaded88]

Yes, but the start of this mayhem was with the 1957 White Paper put fourth (or to use a Britisicm: Tabled) by Duncan Sandys.

[Gruntol5]

My tip to the world is as follows: Never, ever, vote for a socialist government. They are totally corrupt and have only one agenda - to keep power. They do this by "buying" votes. In UK today, it's by giving ridiculous benefits to lazy bastards who can't be bothered to work, to fat young, unmarried slags having children merely for the benefits and allowing millions of undesirable immigrants in. Immigrants all over the world see UK as the "Mecca" for benefits. Guess who they'll vote for?

[Dreaded88]

Yes, but Guess what!?! The corrupt fool who's most repsonsible for the demise of this aircraft was a Conservative! Seriously!

And a member of The Monday Club too!

Why he wasn't trounced and run out of the hall on a rail is beyond me!

Duncan Sandys: May your corpse be dug up, and Ass-rammed for all time!

[TheHarryMann]

The most beautiful of TSR-2 vids - Sonicbomb!

Elegaic, the perfect mood - it was indeed a mad (socialist) world then, and a sad, sad day for the UK a/c industry - the end of true innovation and excellence in the ultimate industry - up sticks and off to the States the best of brains went. The rest put their heads in their hands and muttered '... it's a mad, mad world'

Mountbatten, Zuckerman and McNamarra got their way - but where did that 'destroy everything' edict come from Will we ever know?

[columnsx]

this was an example of true british inovation, and shows the american desire to conquer the aeroplane market. it was such a shame for this magnificent aircraft to stop flying