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Surprisingly we have not had a thread devoted to how the RAF should have replaced its Canberras?
The Canberra was such a success that it was even bought by the USAF as the Martin B57.
With the benefit of hindsight it ought to have been simple. The Buccaneer S2 did the job for a while with 2 RAF Germany squadrons.
But Canberras also served in Cyprus and Singapore.
The main war role of Canberras was to deliver either conventional bombs or 1 nuke on to targets. At the end of its career two AS30 asms were added to its warload.
Canberras could only operate from vulnerable airfields.
A twin engined replacement could be
-supersonic
-able to operate from unprepared strips
-able to attack pinpoint targets in atrocious weather
Or did it? The US developed the Grumman A6 which could be the last one but not the other two.
This is not intended to be a thread about TSR2. We have plenty of those already.
In the early 1960s Vickers came up with an ambitious VG design to replace Buccaneer in the 1970s. But that would still have left Canberras struggling on through the 60s.
The presence of growing numbers of Soviet supplied Migs and Sams in the 60s made its replacement, especially in Germany, vital.
Buccaneer S1 was not a suitable Canberra replacement. It had to be replaced asap by the S2.
Two manufacturers were well placed to deliver a sensible Canberra replacement:
English Electric had developed the Lightning and could be relied on to do a good job as P17 shows.
Hawker Siddeley focussed on a non existent requirement with its beautiful 1121. But it could have delivered a design like 1129.
If US funds were available the Republic F105 Thunderchief might look good. Though only single engined it was deployed by the USAF in a similar role to nuclear Canberras.
France of course had its own Canberras to replace. The Sud Vautour would give way to the Mirage IV.
So there is plenty of choice (except for TSR2 of course).
The Canberra was such a success that it was even bought by the USAF as the Martin B57.
With the benefit of hindsight it ought to have been simple. The Buccaneer S2 did the job for a while with 2 RAF Germany squadrons.
But Canberras also served in Cyprus and Singapore.
The main war role of Canberras was to deliver either conventional bombs or 1 nuke on to targets. At the end of its career two AS30 asms were added to its warload.
Canberras could only operate from vulnerable airfields.
A twin engined replacement could be
-supersonic
-able to operate from unprepared strips
-able to attack pinpoint targets in atrocious weather
Or did it? The US developed the Grumman A6 which could be the last one but not the other two.
This is not intended to be a thread about TSR2. We have plenty of those already.
In the early 1960s Vickers came up with an ambitious VG design to replace Buccaneer in the 1970s. But that would still have left Canberras struggling on through the 60s.
The presence of growing numbers of Soviet supplied Migs and Sams in the 60s made its replacement, especially in Germany, vital.
Buccaneer S1 was not a suitable Canberra replacement. It had to be replaced asap by the S2.
Two manufacturers were well placed to deliver a sensible Canberra replacement:
English Electric had developed the Lightning and could be relied on to do a good job as P17 shows.
Hawker Siddeley focussed on a non existent requirement with its beautiful 1121. But it could have delivered a design like 1129.
If US funds were available the Republic F105 Thunderchief might look good. Though only single engined it was deployed by the USAF in a similar role to nuclear Canberras.
France of course had its own Canberras to replace. The Sud Vautour would give way to the Mirage IV.
So there is plenty of choice (except for TSR2 of course).