Sub-titled 'Flying Wings, Deltas and Tailless Designs,' this volume features a glorious variety of aircraft designs, projects, proposals and conceptual sketches from the British aircraft industry. Most were conceived against the needs of the UK military, with many showing a clear line of descent from World War Two German research. The majority will be unfamiliar to even the most ardent Aeroplane reader and, sadly, were destined never to see the light of day as hardware, let alone flying hardware. Alongside (relatively) well-known designs such as the Handley Page Manx and the Armstrong Whitworth AW52 are some fascinating 'might-have-beens! These include the Hawker 'Hawthorne' nuclear-powered bomber, a VTOL version of the Avro Vulcan with no fewer than 10 lift engines, and a rocket-powered variant of the Saunders-Roe SR53 capable of reaching Mach 3 and 250,000ft, intended to be air-launched from atop an adapted Valiant.
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