Hawker Siddeley P.1154

The Hawker Siddeley P.1154 was a supersonic VSTOL fighter aircraft being developed alongside the subsonic Hawker P.1127/Kestrel. The project was cancelled in 1965.

The project came about as a possible aircraft for use both with the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy. It would replace the Hawker Hunter in the RAF and the de Havilland Sea Vixen in the Fleet Air Arm (FAA). The RAF requirement was for a single seat fighter, the RN a two seat interceptor. Accordingly the design started to diverge with the naval version being the P.1154RN.

Propelled by a single Bristol Siddeley BS100 vectored thrust turbofan, the aircraft would have reached supersonic flight speeds from the thrust boost obtained by igniting the engine's PCB (Plenum Chamber Burning) system. Rolls-Royce offered a PCB, vectored thrust twin-Spey design as an alternative.

With the RAF and RN requirements going in different directions the aircraft was looking less viable. The RN cancelled their interest in 1963, removing the need to try and sell the aircraft to both services and work on the prototpye started. However, the following year the government cancelled the P.1154 along with the BAC TSR-2. Following the cancellation the RAF and RN got the F-4 Phantom II instead but the government also gave a contract for continued work on the P.1127.

Characteristics

(From specification SR250D, October 1964)
*Length: 57 ft 6 in
*Wingspan: 28 ft 4 in
*Height: 12 ft 6 in
*Wing area: 269 sq. ft
*powerplant:Bristol Siddeley BS100/8 Phase II vectored-thrust engine
*thrust:
**with PCB: 33,900 lb.
**without PCB: 26,200 lb.
*Internal fuel: 1,300 Imperial gallons.
*Weight:
**empty: 20,100 lb,
**maximum loaded weight: 40,050 lb
*Armament:
**Each wing: two pylons, (2,000 lb inboard, 1,000 lb outboard)
**Fuselage: single centreline pylon (2,000 lb) or 2 pylons at 1,000 lb each
**Weapons: Mix of SNEB rockets, anti-radar AJ.168 missile, Red Top missiles, 2-inch rockets, 30 mm ADEN cannon.
*Radius of action: 210 to 280 nm depending on speed and load
*Maximum speed (with PCB):
**At altitude Mach 1.7,
**At sea level: Mach 1.13

External links

*Harrier.org.uk