Aircraft That Would've Been Great but got Cancelled

(Can’t comment on US – though does anyone really assert that a common USN/USAF F-4 was a bad idea?). All UK cancellations were caused by the role changing (high altitude supersonic bomber Avro 730), becoming unaffordable in competition with other calls for money and men (supersonic V/STOL P.1154 and its HS681 bowser), or…doubt by the buyer that it could be built on time/spec/budget (Thin-Wing Javelin). This one makes the thrust of the thread moot: if Gloster couldn’t make thick-wing Javelin work by 1956, after 9 years’ privilege, it’s pointless to surmise any later G.A. might have been “Great”.

The only UK deletion that we should cry for was Filton-built Theseus/L-849, whose application to 1947 Cabinet for a ration of $ was declined because the country was skint. That, and only that, would have been better than what we actually operated.

I’ve also nominated the F-107 and F8U-3 elsewhere.

The F-107 was done in by a budget crunch and Ike’s policy of the most bang for the buck. By the late fifties, the US services had learned that the latter meant nuclear. Thus, the F-105 got the contract. Not to belittle the Thud, but it was a fighter-bomber in the sense that it was a bomber with the speed of a fighter. The F-107 was a fighter in the sense of mixing it up with the other side’s fighters, but it wouldn’t be around a few years later in Vietnam when such a plane was needed. The successes of USAF flyers in F-4s was due to their experience and skill in a plane basically unsuited for that style of fighting. (A plane reportedly forced on the service by McNamara instead of a preferred tactical F-106.)

As for the F8U-3, the USN gave the nod to the F4H because it saw the main mission of its fighters as downing Soviet bombers as far away as possible. As the F-4, Navy Phantoms would also be in the same situation as their USAF counterparts. They also did well all things considered, but it was the F-8 that became known as the MiG Killer. By the way, the USN continued to procure the smaller Crusaders because they were better suited to the smaller Essex carriers, not for their suitability at dogfighting.

Would you really want to mixing it with Migs in an F-107 with that air intake?:confused:

Fw 187 Falke

Fw 187 Falke

Going back to my Heinkel He100 suggestion briefly, I’ve been reading up on this and apparently it had a cruise endurance approximately 30% greater than the Bf109E and even with a conventional cooling system would have been around 40km/h faster. Food for thought for the Battle of Britain perhaps.

As far as the Martin Baker MB5 suggestion is concerned I think the real missed opportunity was as a naval fighter instead of the later Seafires and possibly Sea Fury. I don’t know if it was ever suggested for this role but the fact that it had a similar performance to the Seafire FR46, wide track undercarriage, contraprops and easy to remove panels for quick, easy servicing and re-arming would have made it valuable in the early stages of Korea for example. Not sure if it was ever suggested as a naval aircraft but it strikes me as an obvious role for it.

XF8U-3 Crusader III. Gotta wonder what it’d have looked like in Vietnam camo and if it would have been bought by the USAF over the F-4. (At one point they were BOTH suppose to get bought by the USN but then the beancounters had to ruin the fun. )

Hell yes! The Crusader III has always been a favourite of mine, whilst the Phantom may have been the better all round aircraft but the Crusader III was easily the better fighter!

the mb5
and the ca 15 if it was’nt for our “partners the us”stuffing around with which version fo the pw r2800 too use it would have flown at least 12 months earlier and made it into production and proved it self to be one of the great fighter of late ww11 and early post war,if it wasnt for the british it may have never flown at all.

I’ve also nominated the F-107 and F8U-3 elsewhere.

The F-107 was done in by a budget crunch and Ike’s policy of the most bang for the buck. By the late fifties, the US services had learned that the latter meant nuclear. Thus, the F-105 got the contract. Not to belittle the Thud, but it was a fighter-bomber in the sense that it was a bomber with the speed of a fighter. The F-107 was a fighter in the sense of mixing it up with the other side’s fighters, but it wouldn’t be around a few years later in Vietnam when such a plane was needed. The successes of USAF flyers in F-4s was due to their experience and skill in a plane basically unsuited for that style of fighting. (A plane reportedly forced on the service by McNamara instead of a preferred tactical F-106.)

As for the F8U-3, the USN gave the nod to the F4H because it saw the main mission of its fighters as downing Soviet bombers as far away as possible. As the F-4, Navy Phantoms would also be in the same situation as their USAF counterparts. They also did well all things considered, but it was the F-8 that became known as the MiG Killer. By the way, the USN continued to procure the smaller Crusaders because they were better suited to the smaller Essex carriers, not for their suitability at dogfighting.

XF8U-3 Crusader III. Gotta wonder what it’d have looked like in Vietnam camo and if it would have been bought by the USAF over the F-4. (At one point they were BOTH suppose to get bought by the USN but then the beancounters had to ruin the fun. )

Vickers V.1000/VC7 anyone?

How about the F-107 Ultrasabre?
Not cancelled but lost production contracts to the F-105.

My candidate is another Canadian offering (although closely related to a slightly earlier US plane).

The Canadair CL-84.

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=76986

Imagine the Invincible class CVS with a VSTOL ASW/AEW aircraft with a max speed of 375 kt (432 mph, 695 km/h), service ceiling of 30,000 ft, range w/7,000 lb (3,175 kg) payload of 1,400 nm (1,612 miles, 2,595 km), and endurance w/7,000 lb (3,175 kg) payload of 6 hours.

Before the Falklands war.

From everything I have read, the YF-23 was faster and more stealthy, but the YF-22 was more maneuverable and looked to be easier/cheaper to manufacture.

Both are things you look for in a mass-produced air-superiority fighter.

i seem to remember reading somewhere that the YF-23 was a better aircraft in terms of performance and stealth, or is that just me?

Depending on your choice of rumour, the YF23 was either a proof of concept for something bigger that’s currently “Black”, or a funding screen for said “Black” project.

Or of course it could be both or neither of these.

The latter two were cancelled for very publicly available reasons. The Lavi met its demise after the US pulled the plug on the funding of this Israeli F-16-competitor-to-be, and the YF-23 lost in the competition for the F-15 replacement from the YF-22.

i seem to remember reading somewhere that the YF-23 was a better aircraft in terms of performance and stealth, or is that just me?

Can anyone tell me which were the aircrafts which had cutting edge technology but were cancelled due to unknown reasons. I just know the C 50 AVRO, IAI LAVI and the YF 23 Black Widow II. Anything else?

The latter two were cancelled for very publicly available reasons. The Lavi met its demise after the US pulled the plug on the funding of this Israeli F-16-competitor-to-be, and the YF-23 lost in the competition for the F-15 replacement from the YF-22.

the british interceptor that was 90% completed as a mockup, the remains of which are in storage at cosford. also the north american XB-70, and the similar avro 730 was it??? (not sure about that one)

I believe that you are refferring to the P.1121, the remains at cosford are not of the mock-up.;)

The Avro-730 would have been epic.

the british interceptor that was 90% completed as a mockup, the remains of which are in storage at cosford. also the north american XB-70, and the similar avro 730 was it??? (not sure about that one)

Heinkel He100 – startling performance and superior in many ways to the Messerschmitt Bf109, but the RLM had already decided that the 109 was the fighter they were betting the house on. Would have been very interesting to see how they coped in the Battle of Britain.

I can think of two..

The CF105 Avro Arrow and the British TSR2.