Far from Swift, Hunter, Javelin, Venoms being buildable for UK and for various other NATO Members, fitted with engines, radar and weapons, UK industry was, ah, over-stretched. US Mutual Security Administration by mid-52 realised they had put too many Standard Type eggs in UK's basket. MoS was Manager - Gloster was not - of engine, AI, AAM, gun, ejection seat and.and. * 3/54: R&D ITP, Gloster P.364 Thin Wing Javelin. * 3/53: R&D ITP, V-A T.888 Red Dean AAM (for G.A.5, then TW Javelin): hiccup would be kind to describe the impact on a guns-only G.A.5 scheme of 7/52. * 7/7/52: G.A.5 won RAF FAW, 200 ordered with ADEN guns, and with a US Mutual Security Program contribution, $ and APQ43/AI.22. By 13/10/52 Super-Priority had been extended to more a/c, including 3 civil, thus negating the concept: so, supply hiccups. * 18/11/50: Ministers assign Highest Priority equally (!?) to (UK Bomb+Bombers and to) 5 GW Projects: (to be Bloodhound/Seaslug/Thunderbird SAMs, Blue Boar ASM and Fireflash AAM. This aero-grump, so ready to moan at UK industry, has some sympathy with Gloster's expiry caused by the Abysmal Dragmaster. The 'thin wing' Javelin was a joke too far. It did the job (and by the end with four 30mm and four Firestreak was potently armed) but it was torn between not being advanced enough (subsonic, fat wing) and too advanced (not as cheap as straight-wing Meteor or single-engine Venom which offered much the same performance). The Javelin was a delta but the most conservative of deltas and never had enough thrust to really get going. I share Zoo Tycoon's view on Gloster's abilities. Some good exports might have been made too, especially if MDAP funded a repeat of the NATO Venom deal (Fiat-built Vixens anyone? Belgian Vixens instead of CF-100). It might still have caused development delays with the Sea Vixen but the Admiralty would have had less excuse to dither if the RAF were buying them. Would there be enough Avons to go around or would DH put Sapphires into the Vixen? I assume a mix of British and US radars would still be likely (partially to get modern equipment and partially due to US MDAP funding).Ī Vixen NF.Mk.1 would probably mean fewer Meteor and Venom night fighters, especially the latter and maybe even less Venoms of all types as DH would be pretty heavily loaded. A missile-armed Vixen FAW.Mk.2 (4x Firestreak) should have been ready by 1956 or 1957 and escape the 1957 cuts by being an 'interim' all-weather defender until Bloodhound was ready. Had they stuck with DH.110 I could imagine a plausible in service date of 1954 (1955 might be more plausible given the inevitable delays) for a gun-armed Vixen NF.Mk.1. The Gutless really was Uncle Sam Javelin. Still you never know - Vought’s delivery of the abysmal Cutluss galvanised them into the superb Crusader. Having said that, had Javelin been a quick flop they would have only had enough for one more throw of the dice and I’m unconvinced they would have made an ambitious choice. So one could argue the presence of this funding was the reason the Javelin went into such a long production run which did Gloster’s more harm than good. Many of the Javelins were bought using US mutual assistance funding.

It was barely supersonic and would have flown at about the same date as the F4 Phantom. The Thin Wing Javelin was yet another example of Gloster’s timid management. Except when the RAF looked at the performance of the NF Meteor and Javelin there wasn’t much difference, it was available, cheap so they bought 200 Meteor NF11 and NF14. These were developed as a cheap export version assuming the top of the line Javelin wouldn’t be available for some time. The Javelin’s lack of performance step is best illustrated by the Meteor NF11-14 saga. The problem was Gloster’s weren’t very brave, indeed really complacent. The key enabler I.e the gas turbine was a fast moving technology and in these situations fortune favours the brave. The success of the Meteor was only partially due to their contribution. Gloster’s found themselves in what is now called a first movers dilemma.

Bircham newton weather