Yet again British politicians lack of foresight & ambition. Held back our fantastic aviation engineers. It's absolutely criminal the amount of times they've done this over the years. Never ever did it enter their heads, how much profit could be made from selling such a great platform. On many occasions I've wondered to myself, who do British politicians actually represent. It's obvious they never ever believe in investing in British creations & British citizens. Sorry for the political talk but I'm nearly 60 now & the amount of times I've witnessed these people destroy my once proud country. Makes me wonder what they do for the British public that is positive.
You’re not wrong just look at the huge number of amazing inventions and innovations by British companies and universities that get neglected till picked up by overseas companies
Those engines were outdated by the time the Korean war began. The engine RR Nene/ Klimov KM2 as Russian built version seen only a few supplied. They gained little from this technology transfer. the same transfer to the USA was far more important. All RAF post 40s designs used different type of turbojets. The build of the engine led to Mig-15 design causing performance issues due to its size and all Soviet turbojets afterwards were Axial flow designs derived from German technology. Indeed the Soviets had the first working turbofan engine all held back by Soviet "Red" tape and poor engineering and manufacturing experience in the field. The Mig-15 was not able to compare to the F-86 in the end as upgrades were limited compared to the F-86 and had a poor kill ratio to contemporary western fighters largely due to pilot training and ability after the VVS pilots left it to the PLAAF and its role was to destroy bombers hence its heavy armament.
Sadly Britain has a history of shooting itself in the foot when it comes to aviation. So many "if only ..." moments. Britain could be on top of the aviation world now.
And automotive and anything else worthwhile. Elitist and arrogant conservatives compete with socialist and bitter Labor to turn the UK into a 3rd world country. Those with talent are driven out. It was known as the brain drain when I was a kid. My parents joined the exodus in the 1960's. I'm glad they did.
The bitter truth is that ALL British Governments (regardless of party) regularly abandon world beating Engineering, Innovation and achievement in almost all sectors - unless it serves their short-term political needs. As a result, the best scientists, engineers, designers and creatives end up leaving Britian to obtain the funding and recognition they need. Post war British Aviation was almost killed off by this political failure. But most high technology sectors have suffered the same fate.
one day after the war ... why have the Americans denied Great Britain access to nuclear weapons they had more than 50% invested in mampower and know how ? !! oh yer .. they wanted to f**k the British Empire !!!
The UK made some amazing aircraft for its military during the 1950s and 60s. Strangely, they all got shitcanned before going into full-scale production (except for the Vulcan.) Same with missiles.
@@barrybarlowe5640OOOOrrrrrrrrr: it could be the result of some back handers to allow a certain failing American aircraft manufacturer to succeed - as history has now shown!!!
Not exactly true, the Hawker hunter for example served for decades in air forces around the world, the Harrier being another success, there are more I could mention
Britain hadn't *actually* lost it's edge when outclassed by the MiG15 ... it's just that Britain's State Of The Art aviation technology had - thanks to Government Intervention - ended up in the hands of the enemy.... ...in the form of the MiG15.
Canada made a similar delta wing interceptor, named the Avro Arrow CF105. It was cancelled by the government in 1959 for the same reasons the British cancelled their Delta 2. They were looking to save money by using a missle defence. But the Canadian government destroyed all the airframes and blueprints fearing the information would be leaked to the Soviets.
Britain never cancelled the FD2. It was always intended as a research vehicle to investigate the advantages of delta wings. It was never a "warplane" as this video keeps saying and was never intended as such. It was far too small and, as someone else pointed out, the Lightning was well on the way to becoming the the high speed aircraft. The airframe would go on to test the ogee delta used on Concorde in the 1960s, still working as a research vehicle as intended. The part that the references the FD2 in France is just wrong. The Mirage delta wing aircraft was already flying when the FD2 went there, the FD2 was not examined by French engineers, it was only in France for 3 months of testing and Dasault's comment is out of context.
The Delta-2 was a research prototype never intended to become a fighter, "a specialised aircraft for conducting investigations into flight and control at transonic and supersonic speeds".
There's a lot of hyperbole here. After WW2, UK, France and the USA all had access to Alexander Lippisch's work on deltas so the advantages of the layout were known. The FD2 was never intended to be a fighter...it was a research aircraft, like the X plane series in the USA. The FD2 had no space for radar or ammunition or missiles and had limited range and endurance. The Lightning, which was already flying in the form of the P1A was going to be that aircraft. Dassault developed the Mirage series entirely independently and they had prototypes flying before the FD2 went to France for its flight tests. Fairey proposed a next-generation development but the Lightning was already working well, so it remained a paper exercise. Even after the Sandys White paper, the Lightning development continued and it entered service successfully, alongside ground to air missiles for airfield defence, as envisaged by the Sandys Defence Review. The fact is that the FD2 was a good research aircraft and it the developed form of the BAC 221 did great work proving the layout of the Concorde wing, so it wasn't a wasted effort.
Not entirely correct re thr Mirage III. The FD2 was tested in France and the resulting data was shares. Dassault used the data as part of the Mirage III design process.
1956. Sounds like what the Canadian government did to another delta wing jet, the Avro Arrow, created in the same period. A good design, designed, built, and successfully tested. And then, burned, bashed, and buried for reasons still unknown. And then, the U.S. built the F-102, yet another delta wing fighter jet that miraculously succeeded where others had "failed". The Soviet equivalent, the MiG-21, also built in the '50's became the Soviet Union's standard clear-air interceptor. It was used by more than three dozen countries and over 6,000 MiG-21s were flown. Britain and Canada bailed and failed, but the Yanks and Russians did it. Weird.
no, it wasn't a fighter. it wasn't in service. but it was clearly planned as an interceptor. "it had no guns or radar" is true, because it was not in service, it was a PROTOtype. or do you seriously think it was designed for use WITHOUT radar and WITHOUT weapons?! like, just for speed fun? ...and "some of the features of the concorde" is the tilt-nose and the delta wings, that's quite it, isn't it.
It's neither a typo, nor a mistake. You misunderstand the meaning. It succeeded by 300mph over the F-100 Super Sabre. And it's speed was just over 1,000mph, NOT 1,300.
" Trailing behind the Soviets?" Did you mean trailing behind the captured German Engineers who had the plans on the walls when the Soviet soldiers came marching in?
@@MattyClivingthedreamI really don’t believe that one of the worlds leading entrepreneurs is going to destroy the economy of his largest ever endeavour.
In October and November 1956, a total of 47 low-level supersonic test flights were conducted from Cazaux Air Base, Bordeaux, France; a detachment of Dassault engineers closely observed these trials, learning a great deal about delta wing aircraft from the FD2. Dassault went on to produce the MD.550 Mystère-Delta design, that "bore a striking resemblance" to the FD2; the MD.550 design would proceed to be manufactured as the successful Dassault Mirage III.
Strange - I always thought that the FD2 - notice that the later model had the same ogive wing planform as Concord - was built primarily (as was the HP 115) to investigate the control and stability issues at both ends of the speed range of the Concord. The slow-speed issue was "Dutch roll"; the high-speed one was (presumably) the trans-sonic shift of the aerodynamic centre of the wing.
This was know sometimes as the English mirage ,just imagine if that stupid white paper wasn’t drafted the projects that we could have had here in the U.K. lots of jobs etc ,great videos all the best Mark 😊
This triggered some very old memories. I must have been about five years old in the 1950s when I saw this plane flying low over Cheshire. Number 777 rings a bell, I'm not sure, but I remember the white underside and clearly visible number. My grandmother told me "That's the Fairey Delta". I also remember later asking about some loud bangs, she said it was planes breaking the sound barrier over at nearby Woodford aerodrome. No doubt the same plane, I guess it was doing the public tolerance tests of sonic booms.
Society if Britain put guns on the sea vixen, an airbrake on the swift, a good rudder on the scimitar, and higher mounted guns on the lighting… They have a notorious tendency of getting so close to being absolute peak and then canning it or ruining it halfway
The mig-15 used a copy of a British jet engine. We knew that because we recovered a mig-15 that got shot down into the yellow sea. So why didn't the brits just copy the mig? They already had the engine and the research from the f-86 saber.
@@davidgibson5453 That may be. I don't have a protractor in my hip pocket, but it is _possible_ for a delta wing to have a 90 degree sweep from leading edge to leading edge. Would that be a good design for a delta wing? That's another question.
It seems a common comment amongst everyone here, that overall, Westminster has been the Acheilles heel for British Industry and Aviation in particular. The very strange story of TRS2 comes to mind.
I love the way the Russian jet engine was not mentioned it was a copy of a British Engine, The Sabre engine was developed from British Gifts to the US. The Brits had axial flow sorted in 1943 but exotic metals where needed. Whittle used Centrifugal compressors because they where more reliable at that time.
Rolls-Royce were given permission in September 1946 to sell 10 Nene engines to the USSR, and in March 1947 to sell a further 15. The price was fixed under a commercial contract. A total of 55 jet engines were sold to the Soviets in 1947. Seventeen Soviet engineers trained at the Rolls-Royce factory in Derby in 1947 to maintain and repair the engine. The Soviets reneged on the promise to not use it for military purposes, and reverse engineered the Nene to develop the Klimov RD-45, and a larger version, the Klimov VK-1, which soon appeared in various Soviet fighters including Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15.
@@billyray577 Given that there were quite a number of "Soviet sympathizers" in various places in the UK government and Secret Services, it would come as no surprise to me if much of the British failings were due to deliberate efforts to undermine the country.
Britton is an island, right? Why couldn't Fery wait 5 or 10 minutes takes to get over the Atlantic to break the sound barrier like we did at Langley AFB with the F15s in the 70's ?
I had the pleasure of seeing a Fairey Delta II in the sky over my birth country in my childhood, and was enamoured by jets ever since- the Vulcan being #1 .. ! Politicians have no business being involved in innovation in jet-aircraft design .. !
Fairey was backstabbed again by the UK government (and the USA) with the Rotodyne, which could have (and still could) revolutionized city to city transport over steadily increasing ranges and with the key factor of the rotor acting like a parachute. It was not a helicopter but a gyro plane with motive power coming from separate engines such that the lift and land rotor was only operational for a few minutes and acted as passive generator/'wing' in forward and rear flight. In the case of total turboprop failure the natural rotation of adjustable rotor would allow safe descent even if tip jets had also failed, albeit with a bit of a bump. One prototype meant for water use had a skirt type inflated bottom which would have mitigated shock in an emergency landing on dry land. On free rotor alone the Rotodyne could glide to safe put down places.
What? The MiG-15 wasn’t some amazing Soviet super plane. It used a stolen British engine, and the Brits very quickly developed a larger version that smoked the MiG. And the US adopted the engine to upgrade its fighters too.
So similar to the fate of Canada's Avro Arrow. Where would we be today if these airplanes had been allowed to mature. That the French borrowed the technology and matured it in the Mirage platform is telling of the potential future that the platform had.
In re sonic booms: look up Project Bongo on the Wikipedia. THe USAF flew B-58 Hustlers - much bigger aircraft but similar in plan to the Delta 2 - at supersonic speeds over inhabited territory to find out what people thought. It turned out that people didn't like it much.
Is this the same Fairey company which made the boats used in the chase scene in From Russia With Love? They were beautiful designs. Still look good today imho.
You do cover some interesting topics but, as others have commented, there are unfortunate errors. As well as those already mentioned, Duncan Sandys' surname is pronounced 'Sands', not 'Sadies'.
Logic, dear! You started with MiG-15, but you know that the project to 1949. By the way, Delta in the UK isn't news: DH Swallow was very close to that. And there were even earlier projects from other companies. It just took more time with the Avon for the Hunter. Drones have nothing to do with this either, because the Lightning was ordered. So history fans are easily confused. The history basis is the sequence of events and dates.
Marvelous engineering but it turned out that we didn't actually need it. Even if it was put into production none of them would have ever been used in combat.
Britain and her capabilities are very often ascertained by her choice of politicians. That's an extremely naive viewpoint considering the restrictions stemming from what we believe to be a democratic process.
But the Germans bought into the American Lockheed F104 'Starfighter' that succeeded in killing many pilots in constant crashes. Hence it became known as 'The Widow maker'.
Super cruise is sustained supersonic flight without continuous use of afterburner. FD2 required afterburner. First aircraft with Supercruise was the EE Lightning, then Concorde could do it too.
In other words, if the ruling Brits hadn't been full of themselves they could have been the ones making bank with the Mirage 3 instead of the French. One man's trash is another man's treasure. In sims and games I really like the Mirage 3, most Dassault planes are really fun to fly. SAAB are fun as well, with the Drakken at the top. I guess I am a huge fan of delta wings.
Britain... the masterminds of great aircraft like the Delta 2, TSR.2 and Concorde... but has a Government with a common sense below that of an average man... Britain would be in a far different place economically, and in terms of a war ready nation if the government didn't self destroy the industry But here we are in 2024 and soon to be 2025, the atleast 60% of the Royal Navy is in a single port at any one time, The RAF is being downscale and reduced without a replacement suitable enough and the marines are... well who knows
The biggest disasters in post war British Aviation was not the Aircraft but the stuffy British Politicians. Many brilliant designs died at the hands of the houses of Parliament.
Whats funny the soviet union wouldn't have many of their jets if it wasn't for Britain. The SU had such a terrible engine and Britain sold them Rolls Royce Nene engines as long as they were not going to be used in military aircraft which the SU promtly copied and made the mig 15.
is it only me, or is that the daddy of the mirage? did they sell the design to france? it looks a lot like the mirage IIIa (except the ridiculous tilt-nose)
The reality was that the British government banned supersonic flight over land or within sight of land, as a pure test aircraft the FD2 had limited fuel capacity, which meant that by the time they had flown the aircraft out to sea somewhere, there was limited fuel to continue testing. The French government far more accommodating and Dassault offered Fairey facilities to continue testing and of course totally ignored this revolutionary aircraft sitting in their hangars and flying from their base. Basically looked at FD2 then developed one of the most successful warplanes around.
The only successful delta design is the French Mirage, which was involved in many wars worldwide. If the British politicians didn't screw up the aircraft industry. UK would still be one of the best fighter jet manufacturer.
Indeed Ideology is what causes technology to be overlooked or banned. Watch it happen again soon by those who advocate a « simpler and virtuous » way of life… Except for themselves.
OF GUIDED ROCKETS AND UNGUIDED MEN: There have been many instances where proud nations with proven self reliant aerospace technology have been misguided by the Yanks to adopt their products and not their own. Canada had a brilliant plane, The Avro and now Britain with this iconic tech demonstrator - nipped in the bud because the Yanks wanted to sell and dominate their aircraft. Canadians and British had their leash in the hands of the American Aircraft Corporations. Still do. The F-35 is the living example of it.
When politics becomes the focus of decisions concerning military hardware, mediocrity (or worse) is the inevitable result. The Delta 2, as good as it was, could not overcome the political inertia keeping it from realizing its true potential. The Avro Arrow met a similar fate in Canada. Both are fine examples of what could have been.
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
Yet again British politicians lack of foresight & ambition. Held back our fantastic aviation engineers. It's absolutely criminal the amount of times they've done this over the years. Never ever did it enter their heads, how much profit could be made from selling such a great platform. On many occasions I've wondered to myself, who do British politicians actually represent. It's obvious they never ever believe in investing in British creations & British citizens. Sorry for the political talk but I'm nearly 60 now & the amount of times I've witnessed these people destroy my once proud country. Makes me wonder what they do for the British public that is positive.
I watch that all the time from TX and it appears that they are hell bent on erasing British identity.
You’re not wrong just look at the huge number of amazing inventions and innovations by British companies and universities that get neglected till picked up by overseas companies
Not sure why you're so upset with British politicians, you've voted for them and their policies. They represent you, so it's all your fault.
@@crazybluechicken That my friend is a statement that a Crazy Blue Chicken would make!
And what doesn't get cancelled, gets sold along with all patents to foreign owners.
We didn't lose our edge we bloody gave it away, gifting the Soviets the engine's to power those same Migs
Those engines were outdated by the time the Korean war began. The engine RR Nene/ Klimov KM2 as Russian built version seen only a few supplied. They gained little from this technology transfer. the same transfer to the USA was far more important. All RAF post 40s designs used different type of turbojets.
The build of the engine led to Mig-15 design causing performance issues due to its size and all Soviet turbojets afterwards were Axial flow designs derived from German technology. Indeed the Soviets had the first working turbofan engine all held back by Soviet "Red" tape and poor engineering and manufacturing experience in the field.
The Mig-15 was not able to compare to the F-86 in the end as upgrades were limited compared to the F-86 and had a poor kill ratio to contemporary western fighters largely due to pilot training and ability after the VVS pilots left it to the PLAAF and its role was to destroy bombers hence its heavy armament.
The biggest problem over the years was what we gave up to please our "special relationship" not what we let the Soviets have.
This channel is so crap it fails to mention this. I came here to write this but see you beat me to it
Sadly Britain has a history of shooting itself in the foot when it comes to aviation. So many "if only ..." moments. Britain could be on top of the aviation world now.
You mean as it used to be.
@@usernamesreprise4068 Yes, I meant *still* on top. Sad that it is not, so much brilliant innovation not capitalised on.
And automotive and anything else worthwhile. Elitist and arrogant conservatives compete with socialist and bitter Labor to turn the UK into a 3rd world country. Those with talent are driven out. It was known as the brain drain when I was a kid. My parents joined the exodus in the 1960's. I'm glad they did.
The bitter truth is that ALL British Governments (regardless of party) regularly abandon world beating Engineering, Innovation and achievement in almost all sectors - unless it serves their short-term political needs. As a result, the best scientists, engineers, designers and creatives end up leaving Britian to obtain the funding and recognition they need. Post war British Aviation was almost killed off by this political failure. But most high technology sectors have suffered the same fate.
Just as they have recently done with Reaction Engines.
one day over Korea.
"why does that Mig say "Rolls-Royce" on the engine cowling??"
oh , yeh , about that ...
Traitor Anthony Eden.
Labour government leaves chat.
one day after the war ... why have the Americans denied Great Britain access to nuclear weapons they had more than 50% invested in mampower and know how ? !! oh yer .. they wanted to f**k the British Empire !!!
@@snowflakemelter1172 Labour has a history of being an embarrassment!
@@snowflakemelter1172 Labour has a history of being an embarrassment.
The UK made some amazing aircraft for its military during the 1950s and 60s. Strangely, they all got shitcanned before going into full-scale production (except for the Vulcan.) Same with missiles.
That's what happens when you have Soviet turn coats in parliament.
@@barrybarlowe5640 Which we Americans are now experiencing the last four years. 😮
@@barrybarlowe5640OOOOrrrrrrrrr: it could be the result of some back handers to allow a certain failing American aircraft manufacturer to succeed - as history has now shown!!!
Rather corrupt oligarch puppets. Decisions made based on certain connectioms getting yheyrcof our and the politicians their cut. Sans as today.
Not exactly true, the Hawker hunter for example served for decades in air forces around the world, the Harrier being another success, there are more I could mention
Britain hadn't *actually* lost it's edge when outclassed by the MiG15 ... it's just that Britain's State Of The Art aviation technology had - thanks to Government Intervention - ended up in the hands of the enemy....
...in the form of the MiG15.
Canada made a similar delta wing interceptor, named the Avro Arrow CF105. It was cancelled by the government in 1959 for the same reasons the British cancelled their Delta 2. They were looking to save money by using a missle defence. But the Canadian government destroyed all the airframes and blueprints fearing the information would be leaked to the Soviets.
And yet, look at the Mig 25 Foxbat……..
Didn't want the Yanks to get it since Ike pushed the useless Bomarks on Dief and asked for all Arrow info. Actually saw a test flight at Malton.
Wow, no one here ever heard that story before🙄
" we made a fantastic aircraft"
" burn it to deny it to the Russians"
" you're a genius sir "
Britain never cancelled the FD2. It was always intended as a research vehicle to investigate the advantages of delta wings. It was never a "warplane" as this video keeps saying and was never intended as such. It was far too small and, as someone else pointed out, the Lightning was well on the way to becoming the the high speed aircraft. The airframe would go on to test the ogee delta used on Concorde in the 1960s, still working as a research vehicle as intended. The part that the references the FD2 in France is just wrong. The Mirage delta wing aircraft was already flying when the FD2 went there, the FD2 was not examined by French engineers, it was only in France for 3 months of testing and Dasault's comment is out of context.
Narrator keeps calling it a "warplane", which it never was. Strictly a test plane.
AI voice
Yep, built to ER103, an experimental requirement, 'not' an operational requirement
my great grandfather worked on this plane and was good friends with the test pilot Peter Twiss
Fairey Delta 2 is now on display at the RAF Museum at Cosford
The Delta-2 was a research prototype never intended to become a fighter, "a specialised aircraft for conducting investigations into flight and control at transonic and supersonic speeds".
There's a lot of hyperbole here. After WW2, UK, France and the USA all had access to Alexander Lippisch's work on deltas so the advantages of the layout were known. The FD2 was never intended to be a fighter...it was a research aircraft, like the X plane series in the USA. The FD2 had no space for radar or ammunition or missiles and had limited range and endurance. The Lightning, which was already flying in the form of the P1A was going to be that aircraft. Dassault developed the Mirage series entirely independently and they had prototypes flying before the FD2 went to France for its flight tests. Fairey proposed a next-generation development but the Lightning was already working well, so it remained a paper exercise. Even after the Sandys White paper, the Lightning development continued and it entered service successfully, alongside ground to air missiles for airfield defence, as envisaged by the Sandys Defence Review. The fact is that the FD2 was a good research aircraft and it the developed form of the BAC 221 did great work proving the layout of the Concorde wing, so it wasn't a wasted effort.
thanks for this..puts into perspective
Yep. Too much hyperbole in this video.
They continue to do the same to this day
Not entirely correct re thr Mirage III. The FD2 was tested in France and the resulting data was shares. Dassault used the data as part of the Mirage III design process.
Quite a few aircraft made it through those white paper times: the three V-bomber programs, the EE Lightning, the Hawker Kestrel as examples.
I remember that Delta 2 fighter well, I built an Airfix plastic model of this one in my younger days. I still have it!
No, you built a FROG model of it, so did I - four in fact over time.
1956. Sounds like what the Canadian government did to another delta wing jet, the Avro Arrow, created in the same period. A good design, designed, built, and successfully tested. And then, burned, bashed, and buried for reasons still unknown. And then, the U.S. built the F-102, yet another delta wing fighter jet that miraculously succeeded where others had "failed". The Soviet equivalent, the MiG-21, also built in the '50's became the Soviet Union's standard clear-air interceptor. It was used by more than three dozen countries and over 6,000 MiG-21s were flown. Britain and Canada bailed and failed, but the Yanks and Russians did it. Weird.
You must be joking. The FD2 was never a fighter. It prototyped some of (but not all of) the features of the Concorde. It had no guns or radar.
It also mirrors some features seen on the Convair F-106 Delta Dart.
You can't be that stupid? Re-watch the video...
no, it wasn't a fighter. it wasn't in service. but it was clearly planned as an interceptor. "it had no guns or radar" is true, because it was not in service, it was a PROTOtype. or do you seriously think it was designed for use WITHOUT radar and WITHOUT weapons?! like, just for speed fun? ...and "some of the features of the concorde" is the tilt-nose and the delta wings, that's quite it, isn't it.
@@christianlingurar7085 To both. It had *_no space_* for these items in its *_design._* I used the word PROTOTYPED in my post. Untwist your knickers.
@@christianlingurar7085 Noooo, not clearly an interceptor, it was a supersonic research aircraft built to experimental requirement ER103
Typo in the title. Should be "1300 MPH" not 300.
Didn't it beat the previous record by 300 mph ?
It's neither a typo, nor a mistake. You misunderstand the meaning. It succeeded by 300mph over the F-100 Super Sabre. And it's speed was just over 1,000mph, NOT 1,300.
The moron never gets it right.
Somebody didn’t watch the video lol. It explains literally in the opening
" Trailing behind the Soviets?" Did you mean trailing behind the captured German Engineers who had the plans on the walls when the Soviet soldiers came marching in?
"Clumsy" was a rather polite term to use, considering.
What a stunningly eye-catching design.
Practice run for British Leyland , Brexit and Faguar ?
Short sighted bureaucrats! From leading the world to limping behind!
Yes but these same bureaucrats get a nice little drink each out of it every time.... so the people can just shut up and do as they are told.
Easier to limp than to sprint.
Elon is about to try the same thing in the USA.
@@MattyClivingthedreamI really don’t believe that one of the worlds leading entrepreneurs is going to destroy the economy of his largest ever endeavour.
Exactly what we’ve come to expect, lots of errors.
Yep, many many errors, which is a shame, makes his other videos untrustworthy
It should not be forgotten that Mig-15's engine was British!
In October and November 1956, a total of 47 low-level supersonic test flights were conducted from Cazaux Air Base, Bordeaux, France; a detachment of Dassault engineers closely observed these trials, learning a great deal about delta wing aircraft from the FD2. Dassault went on to produce the MD.550 Mystère-Delta design, that "bore a striking resemblance" to the FD2; the MD.550 design would proceed to be manufactured as the successful Dassault Mirage III.
Strange - I always thought that the FD2 - notice that the later model had the same ogive wing planform as Concord - was built primarily (as was the HP 115) to investigate the control and stability issues at both ends of the speed range of the Concord. The slow-speed issue was "Dutch roll"; the high-speed one was (presumably) the trans-sonic shift of the aerodynamic centre of the wing.
This was know sometimes as the English mirage ,just imagine if that stupid white paper wasn’t drafted the projects that we could have had here in the U.K. lots of jobs etc ,great videos all the best
Mark 😊
3:03 your wish has been answered
This triggered some very old memories. I must have been about five years old in the 1950s when I saw this plane flying low over Cheshire. Number 777 rings a bell, I'm not sure, but I remember the white underside and clearly visible number. My grandmother told me "That's the Fairey Delta". I also remember later asking about some loud bangs, she said it was planes breaking the sound barrier over at nearby Woodford aerodrome. No doubt the same plane, I guess it was doing the public tolerance tests of sonic booms.
Society if Britain put guns on the sea vixen, an airbrake on the swift, a good rudder on the scimitar, and higher mounted guns on the lighting…
They have a notorious tendency of getting so close to being absolute peak and then canning it or ruining it halfway
In my opinion if the British took the Delta 2 program more seriously they could have produced the best jet fighter in the world at the time.
Politicians and committees always seem to scuttle innovative designs, it's annoying. CF-100 in Canada, the F-23 in the US come to mind.
This jet's story sounds somewhat similar to that of the Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow's fate.
The mig-15 used a copy of a British jet engine. We knew that because we recovered a mig-15 that got shot down into the yellow sea.
So why didn't the brits just copy the mig? They already had the engine and the research from the f-86 saber.
We sold the engine design to the Russians.
Politicians always seem to lag behind engineers.
Nice video filled with many technical and historical errors, not many 'facts' in this one
The company that designed and built this is unfortunately no more
At 7:18… how can a plane have “90 degree swept wings”? This channel covers a lot of interesting topics, but nearly always has some dumb mistakes.
Look at the angle formed by _both_ wings.
@@horusfalcon 60 degrees!
@@davidgibson5453 That may be. I don't have a protractor in my hip pocket, but it is _possible_ for a delta wing to have a 90 degree sweep from leading edge to leading edge. Would that be a good design for a delta wing? That's another question.
Beautiful!
It seems a common comment amongst everyone here, that overall, Westminster has been the Acheilles heel for British Industry and Aviation in particular. The very strange story of TRS2 comes to mind.
I have seen this aircraft, it's held at the air museum at Yeovil England and it's tiny !
WG777 is at RAF Cosford air museum, the Yeovilton example WG774 was converted into BAC221 to develop 'ogival' wings for Concorde
One is at RAF Cosford museum - it is very pointy and the wings are like a knife - it looks like it is made from stainless steel
The metallurgist in me approves. Steel is a good choice for high survivability and unknown wind heating.
I love the way the Russian jet engine was not mentioned it was a copy of a British Engine, The Sabre engine was developed from British Gifts to the US. The Brits had axial flow sorted in 1943 but exotic metals where needed. Whittle used Centrifugal compressors because they where more reliable at that time.
As a kid in Texas I remember sonic booms. We loved them.
You need to mention the BAC 221 which was a Fairy FD2 with an ogival delta wing that tested a version of the Concorde wing.
Rolls-Royce were given permission in September 1946 to sell 10 Nene engines to the USSR, and in March 1947 to sell a further 15. The price was fixed under a commercial contract. A total of 55 jet engines were sold to the Soviets in 1947. Seventeen Soviet engineers trained at the Rolls-Royce factory in Derby in 1947 to maintain and repair the engine. The Soviets reneged on the promise to not use it for military purposes, and reverse engineered the Nene to develop the Klimov RD-45, and a larger version, the Klimov VK-1, which soon appeared in various Soviet fighters including Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15.
It would be an understatement to say the Brits were naive in believing that the Soviets would stick to their word re the use of the engines.
@@billyray577 Given that there were quite a number of "Soviet sympathizers" in various places in the UK government and Secret Services, it would come as no surprise to me if much of the British failings were due to deliberate efforts to undermine the country.
Britton is an island, right? Why couldn't Fery wait 5 or 10 minutes takes to get over the Atlantic to break the sound barrier like we did at Langley AFB with the F15s in the 70's ?
Britain, not Britton
@@kevinedw2002 And it's Fairey.
3:21 Mr. Bean
3.27 Abraham Lincoln
I had the pleasure of seeing a Fairey Delta II in the sky over my birth country in my childhood, and was enamoured by jets ever since- the Vulcan being #1 .. !
Politicians have no business being involved in innovation in jet-aircraft design .. !
mig 15 had a british rolls royce engine
Wings "swept back at 90 degrees" interesting design.
actually it was 60 degrees, same with what became the Lightning built to the same experimental requirement
“ If not for the clumsy way you tackle things in Britain you could have...”’ insert thousands of topics here including many web tech inventions
Couldn’t Britain have just kept testing the plane offshore?
Fairey was backstabbed again by the UK government (and the USA) with the Rotodyne, which could have (and still could) revolutionized city to city transport over steadily increasing ranges and with the key factor of the rotor acting like a parachute.
It was not a helicopter but a gyro plane with motive power coming from separate engines such that the lift and land rotor was only operational for a few minutes and acted as passive generator/'wing' in forward and rear flight. In the case of total turboprop failure the natural rotation of adjustable rotor would allow safe descent even if tip jets had also failed, albeit with a bit of a bump. One prototype meant for water use had a skirt type inflated bottom which would have mitigated shock in an emergency landing on dry land.
On free rotor alone the Rotodyne could glide to safe put down places.
I’m hooked! A legendary ‘error’ that shaped history? Let’s chat about this-what’s your take on how a slip-up turned into such a legacy?
What? The MiG-15 wasn’t some amazing Soviet super plane. It used a stolen British engine, and the Brits very quickly developed a larger version that smoked the MiG. And the US adopted the engine to upgrade its fighters too.
So similar to the fate of Canada's Avro Arrow. Where would we be today if these airplanes had been allowed to mature.
That the French borrowed the technology and matured it in the Mirage platform is telling of the potential future that the platform had.
In re sonic booms: look up Project Bongo on the Wikipedia. THe USAF flew B-58 Hustlers - much bigger aircraft but similar in plan to the Delta 2 - at supersonic speeds over inhabited territory to find out what people thought. It turned out that people didn't like it much.
British aerospace after WWII had weird designs. Almost childish and toy like. Sad to see they completely went out of business.
British aerospace as a company didn't exist until 1977, which, to be fair, was after WWII
Was the Delta 2's "droop snoot" the basis for the Concorde's version?
If I had watched until 12:32 ... I'd have my answer
Yes, BAC had to buy back the rights from Fairey Aviation in Belgium.
No design, innovation or tech can out fly politics.
Those 37 mm cannons were meant against bombers not in dogfights.
Is this the same Fairey company which made the boats used in the chase scene in From Russia With Love? They were beautiful designs. Still look good today imho.
F-106.... Hold my beer.
You do cover some interesting topics but, as others have commented, there are unfortunate errors. As well as those already mentioned, Duncan Sandys' surname is pronounced 'Sands', not 'Sadies'.
The irony is the British Government gave the Russians the engine for the Mig 15.
Could you imagine the early days with no G suit! 😬
Isn't this the same company that built the plane that helped take down the Bismarck?
Logic, dear!
You started with MiG-15, but you know that the project to 1949.
By the way, Delta in the UK isn't news: DH Swallow was very close to that. And there were even earlier projects from other companies. It just took more time with the Avon for the Hunter.
Drones have nothing to do with this either, because the Lightning was ordered.
So history fans are easily confused. The history basis is the sequence of events and dates.
Marvelous engineering but it turned out that we didn't actually need it. Even if it was put into production none of them would have ever been used in combat.
Britain and her capabilities are very often ascertained by her choice of politicians.
That's an extremely naive viewpoint considering the restrictions stemming from what we believe to be a democratic process.
so the UK had their version of the Canadian Avro Arrow...
But the Germans bought into the American Lockheed F104 'Starfighter' that succeeded in killing many pilots in constant crashes. Hence it became known as 'The Widow maker'.
So was this the first airplane with super cruise ability?
Super cruise is sustained supersonic flight without continuous use of afterburner. FD2 required afterburner. First aircraft with Supercruise was the EE Lightning, then Concorde could do it too.
In other words, if the ruling Brits hadn't been full of themselves they could have been the ones making bank with the Mirage 3 instead of the French. One man's trash is another man's treasure.
In sims and games I really like the Mirage 3, most Dassault planes are really fun to fly. SAAB are fun as well, with the Drakken at the top. I guess I am a huge fan of delta wings.
Sounds like the same grounding story of the Canadian Avro Arrow.
The deal was give us the best aerospace tech to pay back SOME of the huge amount of money borrowed for WW2.
Looks just like a Delta Dart.
Then comes🇫🇷 France who made their mirages on delta wing configuration and then Indians 🇮🇳who made their Tejas on delta wing configuration.
A once world power concludes that money is the arbiter of policy. I wonder, America, who is going to fall into the same trap in the future?
No time to mention that the engine in the Mig 15 was British?
The Fairey Battle wasn't a seaborne plane!
I think the writer confused it with the Fulmar .
Britain... the masterminds of great aircraft like the Delta 2, TSR.2 and Concorde... but has a Government with a common sense below that of an average man...
Britain would be in a far different place economically, and in terms of a war ready nation if the government didn't self destroy the industry
But here we are in 2024 and soon to be 2025, the atleast 60% of the Royal Navy is in a single port at any one time, The RAF is being downscale and reduced without a replacement suitable enough and the marines are... well who knows
Wow, Britain's AVRO Arrow. An equally stupid move.
As usual politicians who no nothing about important things make the decisions about them
Beautiful plane ✈️
The biggest disasters in post war British Aviation was not the Aircraft but the stuffy British Politicians. Many brilliant designs died at the hands of the houses of Parliament.
Fairey Delta 2, the father of Concorde, and Mirage. The only difference is the snooped droop nose.
Whats funny the soviet union wouldn't have many of their jets if it wasn't for Britain. The SU had such a terrible engine and Britain sold them Rolls Royce Nene engines as long as they were not going to be used in military aircraft which the SU promtly copied and made the mig 15.
is it only me, or is that the daddy of the mirage? did they sell the design to france? it looks a lot like the mirage IIIa (except the ridiculous tilt-nose)
The reality was that the British government banned supersonic flight over land or within sight of land, as a pure test aircraft the FD2 had limited fuel capacity, which meant that by the time they had flown the aircraft out to sea somewhere, there was limited fuel to continue testing.
The French government far more accommodating and Dassault offered Fairey facilities to continue testing and of course totally ignored this revolutionary aircraft sitting in their hangars and flying from their base.
Basically looked at FD2 then developed one of the most successful warplanes around.
Soon , Lockheed would produce the F - 104 and hose all competition ! 😮😅
Deadly piece of junk !!
Wasn't it called "The Widowmaker" or am I thinking of a different US jet?
You mean would bribe all buyers to forget anything that Lockheed didn't produce.
@@Lazmanarus Robert Calver of Hawkwind fame made an album about it too it's hilarious check out Captain Lockheed and the starfighters.
Sandys was the McNamara of Briton.
Super saber wasnt a speed machine at all. Not surprising it broke the record
The only successful delta design is the French Mirage, which was involved in many wars worldwide. If the British politicians didn't screw up the aircraft industry. UK would still be one of the best fighter jet manufacturer.
Indeed Ideology is what causes technology to be overlooked or banned. Watch it happen again soon by those who advocate a « simpler and virtuous » way of life… Except for themselves.
Please don’t be the French, please don’t be the French, please don’t be the French, oh god damn it!
OF GUIDED ROCKETS AND UNGUIDED MEN: There have been many instances where proud nations with proven self reliant aerospace technology have been misguided by the Yanks to adopt their products and not their own. Canada had a brilliant plane, The Avro and now Britain with this iconic tech demonstrator - nipped in the bud because the Yanks wanted to sell and dominate their aircraft.
Canadians and British had their leash in the hands of the American Aircraft Corporations.
Still do. The F-35 is the living example of it.
When politics becomes the focus of decisions concerning military hardware, mediocrity (or worse) is the inevitable result. The Delta 2, as good as it was, could not overcome the political inertia keeping it from realizing its true potential. The Avro Arrow met a similar fate in Canada. Both are fine examples of what could have been.
Why the AI picture??
Looks like an avro arrow