I remember that, even as a sixteen-year-old in 1965 when TSR-2 was cancelled, I was aware of the anger, disappointment and almost a sense of betrayal felt by so many in the UK over this superb aircraft.

Hello from Canada. The parallels of the TSR2 account to the history of the Avro Arrow in Canada are uncanny. I got the feeling I was watching the same story with different actors, carried out a decade later in a different part of the world. - The Arrow was developed in Canada in the 1950s. The characteristics of the aircraft were remarkably similar to the TSR2 which came in the 1960s. Even certain similarities in the appearance of the aircraft are notable. - test flown above mach 1, with anticipated Mach 2 capability. - Capabilities instantly admired by the test pilots who flew it. - anticipated sales opportunity to other nations, even to the USA whose aircraft development at that time was somewhat behind the capabilities exhibited by the Arrow. - project suddenly cancelled after a change in the party governing. - in the case of the Arrow the reason given was that missile development had made interceptors superfluous. This was later to be proven a premature notion. - The few prototypes destroyed, attempting to erase it from history, as it were. - People involved in the development who lost their occupations drifted off to positions in the US aerospace industry. - Royal Canadian Air Force, instead of being able to purchase a home-grown product, later purchased aircraft from the US which had similar capabilities to the Arrow. - Lost opportunity for Canadian aerospace industry to lead the world in many aspects. - And, even to the present day, an aircraft fondly remembered and whose demise was lamented by many who were involved in the project or who were alive at the time.

there is no enemy more effective at destroying aircraft in large numbers than ones own government.

TSR2 is a cool looking bird. The TSR2 is to many Brits what the Avro Arrow is to many Canucks. What a shameful ending for both.

The TSR 2 was the root platform for Concorde.. it was THE most advanced aircraft we had ever produced. Harold Wilson’s government totally did it in.. we swallowed promises from the Americans of the F4 Phantom and later the F1-11. The Rolls Royce engines took year to engineer into the F4 airframes and the F1-11 took years to develop.. this was the end of our OWN aircraft industry.. thank you Harold Wilson and Dennis Healey.. we could have had such a fantastic aircraft that could have flown well into Eastern Block airspace without ever breaking a sweat..What gets me is Healey trying to justify his actions in this!! This documentary is excellent... many thanks

I was an RAF Apprentice in 1970 at RAF Halton, They used a few items from the TSR2 as training aids, I remember the Canopy with a very thin layer of gold embedded, gave it a opaque look. Hydraulic and undercarriage items were also used.

My Dad worked on the TSR2, I quote 'Best Plane I ever worked on'. Hated the cancellation to the end of his life.

I joined the aviation industry in 1966. The industry was still reeling from the TSR2 cancellation and its destruction. Unlike other aircraft there were no drawing office records. The comments from engineers at the time were: “They destroyed TSR2 but they haven’t destroyed what is in our heads!” I learned more in the next two years than the whole of my degree course (except drinking beer!) Harold Wilson went on about “ The white heat of technology” but he cut the British aviation, avionics and electronics industry off at the knees. I like many at the time joined the “Brain Drain” and emigrated.

I was working on a building site on the outskirts of Andover Hampshire in around 1964 when it flew over with its lightning escort very impressive

My late brother in law worked on this at Boscombe Down in the sixties. He was a man of huge experience on many aircraft, from being in the fleet arm arm right through to Boscombe. He thought that it was a world beater right from the word go. He would never stop talking about how incredible it was. He and the plane both sadly gone now, like many others consigned to the scrap heap. Sold out to the Americans for it's technical ability by a bunch of traitorous politicians.

The same Government Ministers that did for Handley Page where my father was Chief Test Pilot-he spoke to us often about the tragedy of the TSR-2 and the UK Gov selling out to the Americans who were terrified of our advances in this field of aviation. He took me to see the shell of one at Cranfield and next to his own beloved Victor, it remains my next favourite plane. Tragedy.

Very interesting documentary, you can find far better stuff on KZfaq than on the history channel nowadays!

Dennis Healey lied when he said he did not order it scrapped. See his eyes turn away from who he was speaking to when he said that, then shift back to looking at him after the lie. He was definitely involved as were Jenkins, Wilson and main protagonist Mountbatten.

Yakuta Go • I think you are confusing the roles here. Yes, the MIG 25 was unveiled in '67 & had Mach 3 performance in a dash - ( but not in sustained flight ) because it was an Interceptor. TSR -2 was designed as a Strike / Reconnaissance platform with excellent flight characteristics at high altitude down to low level. The clue was in the name: TACTICAL STRIKE RECONNAISSANCE. And the only reason it did not achieve all of its performance objectives was because of project cancellation. Even today, it is clearly obvious that the aircraft would have met -- AND exceeded these goals because of superior design.

Wilson was the one who told the Warton work force-your jobs are safe,this was before the 1964 election.After winning he then cancelled the project! "It was like flying a giant lightning" Test pilots description!

Just another reason why politicians should never be allowed to make decisions on Engineering matters.

interesting that the TSR2 and Canadian Swift were both shut down and their potential customers bought F111 . Similar tactics were employed by the starfighter sales

' only 1 engine in re-heat & he left behind a Lightning with BOTH engines in re-heat'.....WOW!

Any plane of that era which could drop a Lightning going full blast was something special. What a pity the project wasn't properly managed :-(

My dad was in avionics at the time and I still remember the talk and dismay over the TSR2. Went on to work on Concorde and the MRCA. He was never a fan of "Ya Darlin' Harold" though!

As Sir Sydney Camm said famously: "All aircraft have 4 dimensions, length, height, width, and politics, TSR-2 only got the first 3 right."

My grandad worked his whole life for B.A.C in Warton near Preston. He designed many parts for the TSR2. I had concept and later posters from the air on my bedroom wall.

The destruction of this wonderful aircraft made me very angry at the time, and it still does.

Really enjoyed this - thanks for posting. I have a good article somewhere I think by 'Classic Aircraft' Magazine on TSR2 & they did a what if? It showed versions in RAF & RAAF colours & if memory serves a full delta wing version was also planned. Incredible machine.

My late Father was in the design & production facility at what was English Electric, AKA British Aircraft Corporation, later to become British Aerospace & then BAE Systems in Stevenage in the early to mid 60's. He was so proud of this aircraft, even though I was only about 10 years old, I still recall how proud he was, & bitterly disappointed he & the rest of the staff were when it was cancelled by the Labour Government.

Delighted to have found this info. Was always excited when I saw TSR2 with it's escorts flying over our playground and , some nights realising what noise Air Tunnel testing could create. Didn't understand the Politics behind it's demise. .So sad.

Excellent documentary on a great aircraft that could have been but wasn't. Thanks for posting.

The older I get (and the longer in the tooth as a civil servant I become), the more sympathy I have with the politicians of the time - especially Jenkins and Healy. It is not difficult to see, not only how frustrating the massive inefficiencies of the process became (vide Beamont's anecdotes), but also what a gamble it really represented. This was all aided and abetted by the service rivalries and the machinations of people like Mountbatten.

You can still see one at Cosford air museum it's a beautiful plane

I was living at Wharton during the latter part of the TSR2 development and as a school leaver had a part time job at BAC in avery junior clerical capacityand remember clearly the mass redundancies and the burning of the airframes on the runway. I watched lightnings being built but nothing prepared me for the deep sadness of the workforce and the comparitive emptiness of the factory after the scrapping of TSR2. I have since seen a none flying one at Cosford Aircraft museum.

What happened to this plane was a disgrace. Every country around the world was jealous of it.

Typical politicians lying through their teeth

I remember looking at the hulk of a Short SC1 on the field at Wroughton back in '88. I was particularly struck by the use of bungee cords to tension the rudder pedal bar.

Dennis Healy - traitor.

good old Labour friends of the workers. The biggest crime was all that expertise lost,a good many workers went to work in America.

So decades later, have any documents from that era been declassified? I would love to hear the "official" story from UK and US government documents.

Same murderers of TSR2 ..are the same murderers of the Avro Arrow.

Cool looking aircraft and very impressive performance. I think it was just a victim of cost overrun and the wrong government in power. But the real disgrace is that they destroyed them.

And some years later the Blackburn buccaneer was adapted for use by the RAF. I remember this being carried out at RAF Honington around 1975

I was a little kid living in Warton at the time of this aircrafts development. Mainly because my Father was in the RAF and working on the development and fitting of the engines on that aircraft.

Wings of Fame was a short lived magazine back in the 1990's. One of there 20 issues was on the TSR-2. An aircraft that had it entered service would have still been in service when the Cold War ended. Would have been very capable and usable during the Falklands War.

Just like the Arrow in Canada.

Harold Wilson's Labour Government, elected in October 1964, did all in its power to undermined the TSR 2 by publicly denigrating the project, maintaining a critical stance adopted whilst in opposition. The official public announcement of the cancellation on 6 April 1965 was the final grevious act.

We were also ahead in the space race with a rocket ready to fly years before the US & Russia and our government cancelled that saying what do we need to go to space for obviously guided by the space between there ears.

I remember being on a beach in Sussex when it flew over. Had most people running for cover thinking it was a missile.

Thank you for an excellent, historically important and enlightening documentary. A very sad time for our country and all the exceedingly clever & gifted people involved. I remember how I felt back at that time.

the tsr2 had terrain following radar-should of been built in large numbers-brilliant airplane.

I wish I could fly one through the Grand Canyon at high speed and low altitude. To those who are interested in such things, my 3 favorite aviation/science fiction art books are: - Icon by Frank Frazetta - Great Fighter Jets of the Galaxy 1 by Tim Gibson - Beyond the Horizon by John Harris

Hi, I saw it fly over in 1964 -65 whilst working near Boscombe Down ,I was 16 years old , a jaw dropping sight never to be missed . then as said a Labour government killed it off , and an Aircraft Industry . Government kills every thing ? canals filled in railway lines ripped up ,we have failed so no one is going to prove us wrong and look what people did for them selves ,I rest my case .

I graduated in 1981, and my first job was in defence. The staff there were going on about the cancellation of TSR2 even then. A lot of hurt for sure.

Lets see if the Tempest survives

I vaguely remember seeing it once at Duxford. Before the IMP took over. Then the Duxford aviation society. The cockpit seat was made from Dexion. No idea what happened to it.

Politicians can be truly evil people.

Coolest plane ever

I knew a guy who was an apprentice working around the TSR2. He told me that as part of the US bailout of the UK economy various highly competitive technologies had the be destroyed and the TSR2 was one of them. He said they were towed outside and the apprentices cut them up whilst people in dark coats and suits stood on the other side of the airfield fence photographing... Who knows?

Involving politicians in anything technical is an automatic and immediate disaster.😢

A few years ago they had this outside at Cosford, awesome looking machine.

Has the look of a modern fighter like the F16 today. Brilliant

Around the same time the Canadian Avro Arrow project was cancelled and everything related destroyed

That says it all . "We wanted a tactical, strike, reconnaissance aircraft that could work at low-level and 60,000 feet." (And by the way, could it put the bins out at night)

Know a bit about this business/industry. A lot of very forward thinking and design is always underway on several fronts. Have had 4 close family members who were and are (McDonnell) aviation/aerospace engineers. One designed the F-101 and later headed up the F-15 program. Another was transferred to England to head-up successfully taking the Harrier supersonic. Along with problem solving on the F4, the other two were and the last is now involved in the commercial aviation side with Boeing. Both the General Dynamics F-111 and the Rockwell B-1A were on the advanced drawing boards when the TSR2 was being readied for testing. The Grumman F-14 was nearing flight testing. The F-15 was well into design and development. If one looks closely at these four aircraft designs in comparison to both the TSR2 and the XB-70, one can readily see the advancement from a very angular, high speed penetration design toward the smoothness and superior versatility of the profiles of the newer swing-wing and F-15 designs. Yes, at conception, the TSR2 was very highly advanced. But, by the time it got off the ground, it was already obsolete. Politics and available money and preservation/sustenance of design and development interests all play a significant role in government sponsored interdiction-defense programs, especially warfare and weapon design and delivery systems, programs. Cuts happen, generally for good, forward-looking reasons. But, those cuts are necessarily painful. Like the XB-70 design, the TSR2 had practically no "Stealth" capabilities. Yet, in the late 1960's "Stealth" with maneuverability and long range was already understood to be a critical design coupling. The TSR2 at Mach 2 was not particularly fast. Yes, it was fast at the time of concept. But the F-111 at Mach 2.5 and both the F-14 and the F-15 designed to be capable of Mach +2.8, all with a high degree of maneuverability, were clearly beyond the TSR2. Still in functional roles today, the B-1B and the F-15 will both be in service until or past Y2030 as penetrating fighter bombers with low and high altitude, high speed and long range semi-stealth capabilities. In some ways, the TSR2 was an important experiment that tested, demonstrated and heralded the imminent arrival of significant advancements in technology. But, in itself, just could not make the grade into a service role - much like the YF-23 Black Widow.

The same thing happened to the CF 105 Avro Arrow in the early sixties.

44:37 Just to clear up a myth here, this airframe being burnt was actually just a wooden mockup and NOT an actual production airframe. It burnt because it was wood, nothing to do with any magnesium. My source is the book TSR-2: Britain's Lost Bomber, it clarifies this myth.

So what is the aircraft that’s sitting in the Museum at RAF Cosford

They did the same "destroy the prototypes and burn the drawings" thing with the Miles M52. And Miles weren't allowed to tell their workforce then, either.

It reminds me of Concorde in the way they look.

Another hugely advanced aircraft shut down in the mid sixties was XB-70 Valkyrie. Times were changing and ICBM’s were showing progress. Governments thought that no matter how great an aircraft, it would never be able to out run a rocket or intercept one entering the atmosphere over the homeland.

While it is a shame that the only one that flew wasn't preserved, at least there are two complete aircraft and a nose section to view. Some of our innovative planes like the P6M Seamaster or XB-35/YB-49 and Canada's F-105 Arrow were completely wiped out with no airframes saved for a museum. (Although a full size replica of the Arrow now exists, it's not the real deal and that is a shame.)

Prior to the election labour had posters around Preston saying they would not cancel TSR2 . When he got in power he promptly scrapped it and went off to Moscow on a trip to get his medal.

I wonder what the butterfly effect of the TSR.2 being produced.

At the same time on the other side of the Atlantic, in Canada, the Avro Arrow programme was abandoned and destroyed with no explanation and no one admitting to the decision. The Americans then sold us their aicraft and scooped up our greatest aerospace designers and engineers thus effectively destroying our aircraft industry

Something that I see as troubling is the extreme angle-of-attack this bird carried while taking off and landing. This was with flap-blowing in operation? Try to picture taking off at maximum combat weight. What also does the landing look like if the bleed-air for the flap-blowing is inoperative? There is also the issue of side-area of fuselage with respects to the effects of crosswinds during landing/takeoff.

It was all about gaining information...and it ended up costing more than anticipated ...

Well, the Brits did succeed in aircraft design with the AV-8B Harrier VTOL.

TSR-2 has to be one of the most beautiful aircraft ever made.

Oh dear. How sad. Never mind. Out of the ashes came the SEPECAT Jaguar, which was in every way the same aircraft.The Australians developed a deep affection for their F-111s, flying them until 2010.

As an American, I love these old English GENTLEMAN, my guy said, the room is full of cigarette smoke and battered cups of tea. That's class.

Landing gear. I don't need any big program to see immediately that this layout is not a good idea. I can not understand that this was not discovered long before, in fact, when it was still on paper. And the whole thing could easily have been a lot shorter and with twin wheels side by side. See Jaguar, on the drawing board at the time.

Strange how the "cousins" across the water influence things. I worked with military aircaft both on maintenance and production. I did an MOD apprenticeship and we had a TSR2 nose wheel bogey sitting quietly in our apprentice school. When certain people found out what we had it just upped and disappeared one day. Another instance I worked on a project for the US Navy with a sea going version of the Hawker Siddeley Hawk later to become the BAe Hawk. The american drawings of this project that was designed and re-engineered (retro engineering) was all done here in Yorkshire however the drawings all said McDonnel Douglas/BAe Goshawk (probably says Boeing now).

Sounds like a repeat of the destruction of the Canadian supersonic AVRO Arrow interceptor project.

the person narrating this sounds like the star of the movie "the day the earth stood still" Michael Rennie

One of the best aircraft we never had

Governments keep getting in the way of fantastic designs. This can be seen with a lot of British military equipment

2:58 what is this aircraft with the wide nose-intake

The fact that politics and science do not mix seems to be the recurring theme in the comments section of many similar presentations.

Beautiful Buccaneer. Best looking ever built!

I could swear I've heard the narrator's voice before narrating a funny video... potentially using profanity... My memory of the video and narration is very hazy, but this specific bit triggered the memory: 37:14. Anybody know what video I'm talking about? It might be a synthesized voice that I'm recalling, if that helps.

An after the fact moot query. But, with the success of AVRO CANADA'S CF-100 and their skill at developing the CF-105 titanium airframe, advanced avionics, and ORENDA IROQUOIS engine, why didn't Britain and Canada meld the development and fabrication of the TSR-2 with the CF-105 ?

9:07 They had to be out of their minds or smoking something when they came up with the p-17 concept. Even today with modern avionics it would be impossible.

Last two minutes of this documentary is so sad... what a sad end

Such a sad and sorry story, but I can't help but wondering if it was those initial delays had sealed it's fate?

It's quite possible by then the Concorde was on the horizon and that was Roy Jenkins real baby .. it makes one wonder.

It looks like someone folded up a paper airplane and said let's build it

The F-111 had a fine record of service with the RAAF for over 40 years. By the 1960s the US had been Australia's most important ally for two decades. With Britain on the verge of withdrawal from East of Suez there was no value in buying a British aircraft. I suspect that some individuals in the Dept of Air in Canberra also remembered Britain's reluctance to provide modern aircraft in WWII too.

Did the TSR-2 ever visit the USA? Heard a story yonks ago about the Americans trying to track an inbound TSR-2. Apparently, the Americans, as they were asking the TSR-2 pilot where he was, heard windows blowing out as the TSR-2 transited the base at very low level. Could be an urban myth but could explain why the Americans wanted TSR-2 cancelled.

Charma is a _ itch ! What goes around comes around ! So sweet !

It's an absolute disgrace when politicians and money hungry people can put their hands in projects that are funded by the public tsr2 was highly advanced and should have been put into service I believe

THE tsr2 should be updated version and made today

This would probably still be in service today - in some role

You didn't need American connivance to kill the TSR2. Unlike the many fine aircraft produced in the UK before and since, the TSR2 project was badly out of focus from the get-go. The US did not sell many of the rival F-111s overseas; the UK has bought only a few US types that were clearly tops in their range; and the British aviation industry is still the fourth largest in the world. There may have been skulduggery in cancelling the Avro Arrow, but its demise did come when strategic planners were shifting from manned bombers to ballistic missiles, undercutting the need for a long-range interceptor. I'm not claiming that American industry is free of sin, but I'm not sure how much it had to do with these two programs.