No Gloster Javelin!

A very interesting discussion on which I hope to be able to add some information.
The Belgian Air Force as other NATO air forces were pressed to form an AWX force. The mean problem was that buying an aircraft meant one was buying an old system.
Initially it was planned that Fairey at Gosselies was to built the Meteor NF11 under license for Belgium and the Netherlands. This did not happen for two reasons: the problem with finishing a Meteor F8 contract and the US pressure for buying the Vampire from Italian production.
Belgium did not buy any additional Meteor NF11 than the 24 ex RAF.
Belgium had its eyes set on the Javelin with negotiations already starting in the beginning of the fifties. Sabca was to be the contractor. Since I even found numbers with delivery dates, I guess the discussions were very serious. Since this program would be partially funded by the US, the USAF did some tests for Belgium on the Javelin and Vautour. I never found any paper with the results, but the Javelin was not recommended by the USAF team. The US proposed even to supply F89 that were stored at Davis Monthan. The story becomes at this point complicated because of in 1955 there was the New Deal in the US and a realization that the proposed plan for the formation of Belgian units was impossible to realize. The air force was keen to receive any aircraft with an advanced firing system. Since no modern AWX airframe was available one settled for the CF100 with a modern Hughes firing system.
 
In the absence of the Javelin, the Vixen is all you've got until the Lightning comes along. Assuming a timeline divergent enough that Sandys doesn't happen, it probably gets replaced by some sort of Mach 2 delta designed and built by a Fairey/Gloster conglomerate armed with a semi-active outgrowth of Fireflash developed by Fairey in-house.
 
In the absence of the Javelin, the Vixen is all you've got until the Lightning comes along. Assuming a timeline divergent enough that Sandys doesn't happen, it probably gets replaced by some sort of Mach 2 delta designed and built by a Fairey/Gloster conglomerate armed with a semi-active outgrowth of Fireflash developed by Fairey in-house.
On reflection, the conglomerate is probably Fairey-Gloster-DeHavilland. Fairey and Gloster for airframe, Fairey and DH collaborating for weapons (both have guided missile experience), DH for engines (full-size Gyron).
 
Back
Top Bottom