The Hawker P.1103 was a design by

Hawker Aircraft Hawker Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer that was responsible for some of the most famous products in British aviation history. History Hawker had its roots in the aftermath of the First World War, which resulted in the bank ...

to meet the British

Operational Requirement F.155 Operational Requirement F.155 was a specification issued by the British Ministry of Supply on 15 January 1955 for an interceptor aircraft to defend the United Kingdom from Soviet high-flying nuclear-armed supersonic bombers. Discussion about th ...

; it did not progress further than the drawing board.

Background

Operational Requirement F.155 was an

Operational Requirement An Operational Requirement, commonly abbreviated OR, was a United Kingdom (UK) Air Ministry document setting out the required characteristics for a future (i.e., as-yet unbuilt) military aircraft or weapon system. The numbered OR would describe ...

issued by the British

Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for aircr ...

in 1955 for an interceptor aircraft to defend the United Kingdom from high flying supersonic bombers. F.155 specified exacting demands: *The capability of making an intercept within 20 minutes of target contact (250 miles from the UK) with a target speed of Mach 1+ *Ceiling: 60,000 ft (18,000 m) *Armament: a mixture of infra-red guided missiles and radar guided missiles *Crew: A crew of two was specified because of the anticipated workload: pilot plus weapon systems operator (WSO)/navigator The Ministry of Supply made clear in the requirement that the plane and missiles should be treated as a "weapon system" i.e., a cohesive whole. The armament specifications were covered by a separate Operational Requirement, OR.1131, which listed two missile systems: the infra-red guided de Havilland "

Blue Vesta The de Havilland Firestreak is a British first-generation, passive infrared homing (heat seeking) air-to-air missile. It was developed by de Havilland Propellers (later Hawker Siddeley) in the early 1950s, entering service in 1957. It was the fir ...

" and the radar-guided Vickers "Red Hebe". H-p1103

The submission by

Hawker Siddeley Hawker Siddeley was a group of British manufacturing companies engaged in aircraft production. Hawker Siddeley combined the legacies of several British aircraft manufacturers, emerging through a series of mergers and acquisitions as one of onl ...

a design by the legendary designer Sir

Sydney Camm Sir Sydney Camm, CBE, FRAeS (5 August 189312 March 1966) was an English aeronautical engineer who contributed to many Hawker aircraft designs, from the biplanes of the 1920s to jet fighters. One particularly notable aircraft he designed was th ...

was effectively a supersonic development of his successful

Hawker Hunter The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly developed Rolls-R ...

design, using a single engine - a 25,000 lb development of the

de Havilland Gyron The de Havilland PS.23 or PS.52 Gyron, originally the Halford H-4, was Frank Halford's last turbojet design while working for de Havilland. Intended to outpower any design then under construction, the Gyron was the most powerful engine of its ...

breathing through an under-chin air intake.Mason 1991, p. 80. Two detachable rocket boosters, to give a 3.7 minute boost, were carried in mid-wing nacelles.

1957 Defence White Paper

Although a nuclear threat from high-flying Soviet supersonic nuclear-armed bombers was identified in 1955, F.155 calling for supersonic interceptors (in service by 1962) was superseded by the

1957 Defence White Paper The 1957 White Paper on Defence (Cmnd. 124) was a British white paper issued in March 1957 setting forth the perceived future of the British military. It had profound effects on all aspects of the defence industry but probably the most affected wa ...

. The paper was a major review of military spending and one of its elements was the cancellation of nearly all manned fighter projects as a radical change had occurred in strategic threats with the expectation that intercontinental ballistic missiles and low-level strike would replace high flying bombers.

Background

1957 Defence White Paper

Specifications

See also

References

Further reading