THE MOST FAMOUS CANBERRA

摘要

Having originally been built by A. V. Roe at Woodford in 1954, WK163 went to Armstrong Siddeley Motors at Bitteswell, Leicestershire, for Viper engine trials in January 1955. In December of that year it was transferred to D. Napier and Sons at Luton, Bedfordshire, becoming the test airframe for the Scorpion rocket motor. A Double Scorpion - two units mounted together, with each being individually controllable - was fitted in the rear of the bomb bay of WK163 prior to the record -breaking flight from Luton in August 1957. This increased the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI)-administered world altitude record - not including air-launched rocket aircraft - from 65,876ft, set by another Canberra in 1955, to 70,310ft, a figure not beaten until April 1958, when US Navy pilot Lt Cdr George C. Watkins took a Grumman F11F Super Tiger to 76,939ft.