As I remember the F-111s were considered the primer strike aircraft of the first Gulf War. It took nearly 30 years to get there. The Arrow and the TSR would probably have taken some time to mature like the Aardvark.

The Tornado used the terrain following radar developed from the TSR2 system. Also the TSR2 had the first real HUD. Another fact is that on its last flight the TSR2 out run its Lightning chase plane using only one engine on reheat. The British Government ordered all the jigs at the factory to be melted down so it could never be built again. Ironically the engines were used in Concorde

Aircraft Interview has a series of interviews with Jeff Guinn on KZfaq. I was in the same squadron, 79TFS Tigers, as an FNG AC flying the -111E out of RAF Upper Heyford. Learned quite a bit about flying & employing the Vark from his instruction with me as a wingman. Flying night TFR in lousy weather thru the northern Scottish Highlands was quite sporty. Night TFR letdown 10 degrees nose low into the inky blackness until 5k AGL then the system pitches down another 2 degrees until leveling off at the above ground terrain setting. Approaching mountains she’d start climbing back up into the dark clouds, crest, descend and pop out into a dark valley, rinse & repeat, often. All below 1k’ AGL at 500KIAS with my WSO’s helmet in the “feedbag” watching the radar returns while I monitored the E-Scope. Usually Tain Range was our target. On time TOT with a radar delivery inside of 69’. Pop on over to RAF Lossiemouth for a practice PAR (the RAF controllers were outstanding), climb back up to medium altitude & RTB while listening to rock over the HF radio.

Another excellent portrayal of the dark side of global Aerospace at the height of the Cold War. Unlike the Arrow, at least the TSR.2 survived the scrapper's torches. Great job Max!

Great video Max! It's too bad politics gets into the aircraft industry. No telling how many aircraft got messed up because of politics. Anyway, as always God bless you and yours and thanks again for everything you do! Model On Captain! 👍👍🇺🇸😊

The purchase of the F111 was very controversial here in Australia . The delivery time and cost blew out considerably. Then when the RAAF got them operational they lost aircraft due to failure of the wing pivots. And after inspecting the entire fleet cracks were found in all of them . In the end after modifications they did go on to serve for about 40 years

I got to work with the F-111 in Nato after the bugs were worked out and it was a respectable bomber and went on to a role in electronic counter measures. Some friends in the RAAF liked them, I'm sure after all the bugs were out.

Another great video. Appreciate all your efforts on researching these things. When you come down to it, it's all about money. The companies are in business to make money, not planes. They are supposed to make money off of the planes but that's tough when client keeps changing specs and the design/marketing guys over promise and low ball budgets. Lockheed probably broke every law imaginable on an international scale to "sell" the F-104, especially after the US Air Force refused to buy it. The TFX program had Boeing as the other finalist in the competition but lost out because the design wasn't "common" enough. They basically built two different planes with somewhere between 40-60% commonality, one for the Air Force and one for the Navy. General Dynamics assured the Pentagon that they could build the F-111 as dual purpose plane with ~70% structural commonality (at least on paper). Didn't happen. While money is often cited as the reason to cancel projects it's often a secondary reason. The Raptor was cancelled because it was expensive but mainly because it didn't have a mission, much like the space shuttle. No one else has fielded and effective 5th gen fighter while the Raptors have been flying for ~24 years. It was decided that the money could be better spent elsewhere. I was less than impressed with the fly off as the Air Force seemed to be talking out of both sides of its mouth. We want a plane for the 21st Century but we don't want it to be too advanced? The YF-22 looked an awful lot like a custom/tricked out F-15 while the YF-23 looked like something out of a GI-Joe motion picture. At least with the F-35 some of the lessons were learned and a common well made airframe/engine could be tricked out to make effective air planes with disparate missions that were still acceptable to all three services. Most of the teething problems with the project are related to the software/avionics and they are being worked out. Plane is still very expensive but I don't see anything like a good alternative on the horizon. They don't call it bleeding edge technology for no reason.

Nothing is dirtier than politics.

The TSR-2 reminds me, designwise, of the RA-5C Vigilante. Without the poop chute bomb bay, of course.

The Jupiter 2 that never got built by aurora.....Great vid Max. The F-111 had alot of issues as well. Wing problems . I remember it was always in the news when it was in development.

Announcer: "Tonight on Max Models Sport™* we have the F111 vs the Arrow vs the TSR-2!" Max: "Yes it's going to be a great flight what do you think Ken?" Ken: "Yes, it's going to be one hell of a battle royal tonight!" Gluetroopers: "Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight......" (* Max Models Sport is part of the Max Models Media Empire Conglomerate and is used under license.)

Hi Max Just a few things about the F111, TSR2 and the RAAF. In 1962 the RAAF was looking for a Canberra replacement that had to meet 3 important criteria -- must be supersonic-- must be able to carry nuclear weapons (nuclear weapons and nuclear power have been a wet dream of the conservatives in Oz since the 50's) and it must be able fly from Darwin to Djakarta and back. The Air Staff and The Government Aircraft Factory were keen on the Mirage IV, they already had a relationship with Dassault as we were licence building the Mirage 3 and its Atar 9 engines so it would be ongoing work and a win for the Australian aircraft industry. Defence and Cabinet wanted the A5 Vigilante as it was available straight away as the US Navy had made them obsolete due to Polaris. so a purchasing Commission was sent to arrange a (cheap!) deal but it was greeted by Robert Macnamara who being a car guy told them they did'nt need the old model but needed the bright shiny new TFX. And being allies we did any thing the Yanks wanted. The TSR2 was really not the RAAF list it was thought to have too short a range, had issues with its radar and avionics, but would not be available till 1969 at the earliest (it was'nt somuch an aircraft but a weapons system) The only ones who wanted it were the Parlimentary back benches who were still believed we were British to our bootstraps, and kept up the fight for years, even after cancellation

Great follow up video Max, totally forgot about the TSR! 👍

The U.S. movie "The Volcano Monsters" that never got made. They apparently tried to rent the Gojir and Anguirus suits from TOHO.

Keyboard warrior chiming in. Would you marry the Arrow or TSR 2 if they were women? Exciting and cutting edge yes but could they go the distance? Secrets are secrets and money is power.

Hi Max. Yep. The politico's certainly murdered both types for their own agendas. Incidentally. My Grandad worked for BAC and on the TSR2. He wouldn't allow it to be mentioned in his house as it was too upsetting for him. Also I was born one year to the day after the TSR2's maiden flight, 27th September 65. (First flight in 64) And at least two F111k aircraft for the RAF were almost completed. The plug was no pulled and I read someplace that the aircraft were stripped and scrapped.

Robert STRANGE McNamara. One of the most despicable men to ever serve in U.S. government. Look into "McNamara's Morons" if you want to learn about one of the most depressing episodes in American history.

The idiocy and short-sightedness of politicians has more destructive potential than any or all of these aircraft combined. That,to me,is frightening.

At least the British had the decency to save an example. We tried to destroy every shred of evidence from a photograph to the entire assembly line and aircraft. The fallout of the cancellation just about destroyed the aviation industry. It never did shine like it once did.

I always dreamed of having a 1970s RAF ... Gnat - Jet trainer / point Defence Lightning / Tornado - Fighter / interceptor Arrow - QRA / Bomber Intercept TSR2 - Tactical Strike Reconnaissance Concorde! - High altitude supersonic bomber (3 bomb bays) / Rapid Troop / asset deployment Transport. Nimrod - Maritime Patrol/ EWR VC10 - Troop Transport / Tanker / Awacs / EWR

Model kit projects that have been cancelled and have disappeared into the ethereal nether regions of modeling: Kitty Hawk's 1/48 F6U Pirate, F7U Cutlass, F2H-3 Banshee, and 1/32 F11F Tiger, Trumpeter's 1/32 TBD Devastator that has been in their catalog as a "future release" for years, Hobbycraft's announced (but never released) 1/48 F9F Cougar family, AMTech's 1/48 Banshee and Black Widow series, and I think that Academy had announced around 1994/95 a 1/72 B-29 with the X-1. You have plenty of options as far as interesting, yet cancelled, model kit projects.

They're doing the same thing with the F-35, how it'll work out in the end, I don't know. I hope it is more successful than previous "1 plane for all services" attempts.

Check Soviet Sukhoi T-4 "100", Buran, Spiral etc projects and why they were cancelled. Any non-civilian-transport airplane is prone to military use by design and very idea of it, that means to gain political goals by war operation. If something is cancelled, it doesn't do what it's supposed to do OR there is no more need to do that OR other way of reaching goals was found. Today, in the sundown era, we see total cancellation of all military systems and zero development in so-called Western World. Except reccon and cyberspace, of course. Think where the power is. If you want new aircraft and tanks, cancel smartphones!

I agree that politics gets too involved in a lot of things .. it's too bad really.... It is what it is unfortunately....

MAX,AUSTRALIA SUPPORTED US IN NAM,BRITAIN DIDN'T.MCNAMARA WAS A WAR HAWK WHO PUSHED FOR THE WAR EXPANSION. EVERY THING IN THE 60S.WAS ABOUT THE WAR.IN 1969 I GOT THE DRAFT CALL 5 TIMES.BE SAFE MAX,GOD BLESS

Arrow - TSR2 (england) - Sky-Wale (australia)

F-23

Strangely the TSR2 and another aircraft the Nimrod AEW stand together as a metaphor for political incompetence. The TSR2 project had the potential to produce perhaps 250 or more aircraft but was duly cancelled. The AEW continued struggling through development (attracting the accompanying costs) to eventually produce a meager 11 aircraft before being axed. You couldn't get it more upside down. Perhaps a testament to why politicians should never be involved in any thing to do with money, industry or defence. Then to add insult to injury the idiots ended up buying 170 McDonald Douglas Phantoms and sometime later 7 Boeing AWACS. So next time you get a tax bill, draw the cash from the bank, pile it in your garden, set fire to it and warm yourself. At least you will have recovered its thermal value.