14 THE AVIATION HISTORIAN Issue No 21
Soviet bombers in years to come and interceptors
were declared obsolete (see Greg Baughen’s A
Brief History of the Future, TAH20). However,
there was an underground movement that saw a
need for a different type of interceptor.
The only game in fast-jet town was OR.339,
calling for a long-range under-the-radar strike/
reconnaissance aircraft that would ultimately
lead to the BAC TSR.2. For this requirement,
English Electric at Warton had drawn up the
P.17A, a sleek shoulder-winged tailed delta with
a weapons bay that incorporated a rotary bomb-
bay door. The P.17A offered high performance
and long range in the strike role, but these were
also applicable to a long-range interceptor.
Sandys had proscribed any development work
on fighters apart from the Lightning, which
survived by being too far down the line and the
SAGWs not being sufficiently developed.
As the ultimate interceptor, OR.329/F.
had been intended to react fast, climb hard
and intercept incoming Soviet bombers before
they came close enough to launch stand-off
weapons. The designers at Warton, innovative
as ever, considered this to be folly and drew on
the lessons learned from Exercise Hermes. This
exercise had shown that an attack supported by
heavy electronic jamming or using “powered
bombs” could not be countered by the scramble
tactics upon which F.155 was based. The key to
dealing with such attacks was to have standing
patrols with aircraft that could loiter at subsonic
speeds, but then quickly react to deal with the
jamming aircraft, or destroy those carrying
stand-off weapons.
For this the P.17A fitted the bill, able to match
the scramble interception performance of the
Lightning and the Fairey Delta 3, the type
selected for F.155. However, that was with a fuel
load of 1,000 Imp gal (4,545lit) but if the P.17A’s
full tankage of 4,286 Imp gal (19,485lit) was used,
the type became far more flexible and ideally
suited for the role envisaged in Exercise Hermes.THE BRAINS OF THE OPERATION
The P.17A was a tactical strike aircraft fitted with
a forward-looking collision-avoidance radar, a
sideways-looking radar and strike cameras, so
there was plenty of room in the airframe for the
airborne interception (AI) radar and datalink
needed for an interceptor. English Electric’s
experience with the Lightning and its Ferranti
AI.23/AIRPASS (Airborne Interception Radar
& Pilot Attack Sight System) placed Warton and
Ferranti in a good position to produce a system
suitable for a long-endurance fighter with a
longer-ranged targeting system to use against
Soviet aircraft carrying stand-off bombs.
Ferranti produced a report, IFC/DMM/71,
covering the work required to increase the
locating-range of the AI.23 radar. The P.17A’s
collision-avoidance radar and the AI.23 were
interchangeable and, as an alternative, GEC’sABOVE The Short Bros Britannic 3 (the Air Staff’s
least favourite choice for the strategic freighter/
transport role) was developed into the Rolls-Royce
Tyne-powered Belfast, which made its first flight on
January 5, 1964. The type, of which only ten were built.
entered RAF service in January 1966, this example,
XR364, named Pallus, joining No 53 Sqn that year.TAH ARCHIVE