Thats what I have read too, at least if I remember correctly. afaik, stealth pods were never considered officially. As the line is going to close in 2010 under current plans, all the post 2010 Blocks are not more than suggestions at the moment.

IIRC the stealth pods were only ever shown on CGI’s of the proposed FB-22, the one with the large Delta wing- ie not the F-22 itself. The fact that there seems to be no plans for such pods on the F-35 suggests that the Raptor is probably not likely to see them for sometime.

You’re not wrong. There are projects like the Saunders Roe SR53 hybrid jet/rocket fighter which flew in prototype form, Hawker P.1121 which reached the mock-up stage, as did the Avro 720 rocket fighter, the TSR-2 of course and all the paper planes – SR.177 jet/rocket fighter, Buccaneer Mk2* (supersonic Buccaneer), ‘thin wing’ Javelin and Sea Vixen projects, ‘isoclonic wing’ Hunter and Swift projects… interesting times.

Of course the prototype for the P.1121 was under construction when it was cancelled. Never forget the P.1154 (super-sonic Harrier) of which the engine was tested and IIRC the prototype was under construction. Then there was the AW.681 STOL transport too which was an impressive piece of kit before it died.
Also there were the Vickers Type.581/583, which although they never left the drawing board do look suspiciously like the Tornado even though they appeared in the early 1960s! There was also the Avro-730 near Mach-3 bomber.
There were other aircraft that bit the bullet before Sandys even got to write his report, such as the Supermarine Type-545 (a kind of supersonic swift). This is all not too mention the Miles M.52 that could have quite easily been the first manned aircraft to go supersonic.

However all the above was realy the problem, frankly most of these requirements were rather extravagant, and the P.1121 could have filled most of the RAF’s combat aircraft needs. Sandys review may have been excessive but it was certainly partially neccesary, the level of spending the British government was doing on defence was simply unsustainable.

There were also some interesting civilian developments such as the Vickers V.1000 which was cancelled in 1953 that could have made a nice Boeing 707 rival.

Very interesting. That Fairy concept certainly looks the most practical design. reminds me of a Backfire actually. The Vickers/Supermarine one is definitely interesting but would a quite limited design I expect. Then again planes back then weren’t expected to serve for thirty years.

Daniel

I would certainly agree with that, whilst the Fairey design looks as if it would have significant upgrade/development potential, some of the others look very limited in scope.

Sorry for the confusion everybody.:D