Any AH here must select paths through 3 options in 1956/57:
1. the Bomb. UK chose in 1955 to fund owned H and A Bombs, multiple functions, so plus their delivery platforms.
So: priority for all tech-resources. 1st Team on Medium Bombers, also-rans on everything else: see Avro and Blue Steel;
all Regular, largely Officer Forces, £1,000-a-year men as standard when civilians were not. Defence cost onway to crippling.
2. Military Interdependence, intra-NATO, so attempts to build to Commonality (NBMRs); and to interplay, UK:US, in 2 senses:
- Basic Research: Hood noted Blackburn thinking of expanding Buccaneer's R&D team in 1956 by accessing Hunting's:
Q: why did Ministers in 1955 give RN's strike type to a modest team?
A: area rule, flap blowing, forming strong structure, clever avionics: all, UK and US Research Establishments in harmony, disseminating.
RAE and MoS thought they could, ah, mentor little Blackburn, the tin-basher.
- Role/Theatre Task sharing: e.g: in 1956 UK did much more East of Suez than did US.
UK chose to implement all that with domestic kit. New W.Germany and Japan bought much off-the-shelf, so liberating brain to destroy shoddy Brit mass-consumer products. May we use the word prestige, here? See Concorde, shocking misuse of scarce resources.
3. Civil: Exploitation of what was of interest to open-market Customers. Brabazon in 1943 saw that as turbines, but overlooked pressurisation. Customers do not want Engineering Excellence (VC10 over 707): they want profit. BEAC/BOAC were Instruments of State Policy ("flag carriers"), operating in (wicked) revenue cartels. So, when Big Fans offered lower seat-mile cost, 1965, BEAC (and Air France and Lufthansa) thought they might buy about 6 (to be A300) each for their few dense routes. Civil business outside US was about as desirable as spending a decade to deliver a trickle to RN. So, RR, instead of listening to Boeing, where Medway was 727 Design Case, accepted BEAC's money for a shrink Trident/Spey of no interest to folk who could fill more seats by reducing ticket prices.
Some of this was not Aero-specific: why are there no Vauxhall Veteran Car Clubs? Rotted away. Nor is Decline right: UK Never Ruled the Skies; BAES (precursors) has never been so profitable as it is today.
We can only surmise a virtuous circle if we select, then pursue our sector(s). So: BSEL was bigger than RR, 1960-66, but tried to do Legacy/Sustainment, plus small VTOL, plus large VTOL, plus supersonic dash, plus supersonic cruise, plus (in partnership) Big Civil Fan.
