Thunder & Lightnings - British Aircraft Corporation TSR.2

Two complete airframes, XR220 and XR222, survived and have both been restored to good static condition. All the other TSR.2 airframes along with the only TSR.2 to fly were destroyed as mentioned in the history section.

Complete aircraft

British Aircraft Corporation TSR.2
Survivors

Serial	Mark	Owner & location	Updated
XR220	Prototype	RAF Museum Cosford, Shropshire	17/05/2007
XR222	Prototype	Imperial War Museum, Duxford Airfield, Cambridgeshire	30/08/2007

Nose/cockpit/other sections

Serial	Mark	Owner & location	Updated
XR???	Prototype	Brooklands museum (forward fuselage), Weybridge, Surrey	10/02/2006

Bristol-Siddeley Olympus engine, Wroughton, 2005; Martin Gatter

Various parts of TSR.2 are scattered around the country - both the Gatwick Aviation Museum and the Science Museum at Wroughton have zero-time Bristol-Siddeley Olympus engines that were destined for TSR.2s (both pictured here). Several wing sections were to be found at Foulness for some years but were sold and scrapped, finally becoming saucepans or something in 1995. A main wing section can be found propping up a fence at the Newark Air Museum; an engine access door gets better presentation in the engine display hall (this is from XR222 - XR222 has a replacement!). Various other small items survive, e.g. the partial pressure helmet pictured on the history page is in the RAF Museum at Cosford, where they also have a TSR.2 ejector seat and a publicity model. Canopies can be found at the Midland Air Museum and in use as a training aid at RAF Halton.

Bristol-Siddeley Olympus engine, Vallances, 17th July 1997; Dick Clements (RIP)

Pazmany PL.1 G-BDHJ at Bodmin Aerodrome, early 1997; Martin Pengelly

There is a strange little postscript to the TSR.2 saga, involving another aircraft that could almost justify being included in the TSR.2 survivors list... some of the metal destined for the production TSR.2s was instead used in the manufacture of G-BDHJ, a Pazmany PL.1. This is a light trainer type aircraft, which has been used as a basic trainer by the Chinese air force. However, the one in question here wasn't used by the Chinese - it first flew in 1971, and is now based at Bodmin aerodrome in Cornwall. It's a world apart from the TSR.2, but I thought that it merited a mention! Sadly the aircraft has not flown since 1997 and is no longer on the CAA register.

Leading Particulars

First flight	27th Sep 1964
Crew	Two - Pilot and Navigator
Armament	Prototype never got as far as carrying any; specification called for carriage of 6 x 1,000lb iron bombs, reconaissance pack or a nuclear weapon, all in the internal weapons bay. Extra weapons or fuel to be carried on pylons under the wings.
Powerplant	Two 30,600lb (16,600lb dry) Bristol-Siddeley Olympus B.O1.22R turbojets.
Max. speed	Mach 2.0+ at altitude
Service ceiling	40,000ft+
Range	1,000+ nm (3,000+ nm ferry range)
Empty weight	54,750 lb
Max. take off weight	102,200 lb
Wing span	37 ft 1.7 in
Wing area	702.9 sq ft
Length	89 ft 0.5 in
Height	23 ft 9 in

Survivors Listing

Complete aircraft

Nose/cockpit/other sections

Leading Particulars