Damien Burke

The Penultimate Book on the TSR2
This is a long review as the book itself is far greater than the sum of its 340 pages of text suggest. While the book is a tad bit pricey it is worth every cent. The scope and depth of this book are breathtaking in its coverage from the beginnings at the Directorate of Operational Requirements in 1952 to the coverage of the proposed variants in chapter 12.
The first chapters cover conception through Flight Test and quite frankly do not print a complimentary picture of the processes and procedures that were used during design and construction and then discusses the bureaucratic intransigence by the British government and its impact on the program. Also covered are the little known issues like the impact of Li-Al alloy production in the United States that also conspired to hurt the program.
Four separate chapters cover the nuts and bolts of the aircraft, systems and weapons goes through about 100 pages and is very well illustrated with photographs, block diagrams, and detail drawings. The Olympus gets decent coverage including the loss of the testbed Vulcan.
The last few chapters cover the death of the program, the brief time it was flown by the RAF and finally 23 pages covering the proposed variants including a strategic bomber, a trainer, and par for the course in the era? The requisite VTOL version that required “minimal changes.” Like the other chapters? This final chapter is well illustrated.
The appendices are of interest as they republish the original General Operational Requirements and duplicate the pocket checklists including the boldface procedures.
The one other volume that can be recommend for readers on a budget? TSR2: Britain's lost Cold War strike jet by Andrew Brookes is an excellent, if brief introduction to the TSR2. Fairly well illustrated, there is a dearth of technical illustrations. The illustrations that do get pride of place are the TSR2 “what if” digital renderings by Adam Tooby and they are nice eye-candy. It’s a nice budget buy, but I cannot recommend it over this volume.
The other two volumes I’m aware of? TSR2: Britain's Lost Cold War Strike Aircraft by Tim McLelland and TSR-2: Phoenix or Folly? by Frank-Barnett Jones while okay, are lacking the overall in-depth comprehensive coverage and the politics of the airplane achieved by Mr. Burke. They are not recommended over this volume. (See my reviews elsewhere on Amazon.)

About the only nits? One major, one minor. The one major flaw is there is no footnoting or bibliography which is disappointing and for the interested reader kills the possibility of finding and reading the source material. Compared to TSR-2: Phoenix or Folly? by Frank-Barnett Jones the coverage of the contemporary British press and how it was hostile to the program lacks the same detail in this book.

This is the single go to volume on the TSR2 and the only one that need be on your shelf.
Unequivocally recommended for anyone with an interest in British Aviation, post war aircraft,… (lisätietoja)

While the TSR2 was for a long time depicted as an Excalibur that was mindlessly tossed away by an ignorant Labor government, the evidence provided by the author goes a long way towards bolstering the sober understanding that has set in since the 1990s. That is, here was a case of an advanced machine that was taking too long to develop to the point that the mission it was envisioned to carry out was no longer viable, particularly since this was such a tight design one has to wonder whether it could be seriously repurposed to any mission besides tactical nuclear strike and whether it could have been upgraded with the electronics needed to keep it relevant. Never mind whether the version of the Olympus engine it was saddled with by government order could ever have been made truly trustworthy. When the RAF lost faith in its own object of desire and the British government bungled its dealings with Australia the writing was on the wall. No one outside of BAC comes out of this story with much honor.… (lisätietoja)