The Fighter-Striker Westland's W.37

[zen]

April 1950 Westland proposes the W.37 Fighter-Striker to N.9/47 for a fighter and NR/A.19 for a single seat strike aircraft.

Assuming this was chosen several benefits result:-

1. Either
a) the use of a single large jet such as Gyron or Olympus is chosen as the powerplant
b) a reheated Sapphire or Avon is chosen.

IF 'a' THEN developments in either powerplant soon bring static thrust up from 10,000lb to around 15,000lb and ultimately 20,000lb AND a possible re-engining with a moderate bypass turbofan massively extending range/endurance.

IF 'b' THEN developments in reheat will mean either engine reaches the proposed dry thrust of the larger engine AND reheated will delver around another 50% increase on that. A re-engining with a reheated Spey delivers increased range/endurance.

Logically the increasing power of the jets, means TO performance and maximum weight at catapult launch increases.
It also means that during it's development, it would still be viewed as a potential Fighter, as it's rate of climb would rise with that power.
This 22,000lb (approximately) strike weight could well rise without any increase in catapult power and WOD requirements will relax for launch.
That weight figure is such, it puts the machine in the realm of being operable from the CVL types, and well inside the extent rating of the Centaurs. MAking both far more valid for the future (from a 1950's perspective that is)

2. Either
a) W.37/1 is chosen due to internal weapons bay large enough to handle a torpedo and potentially Red Beard
b) W.37/2 is chosen due to the highly rated central station for a torpedo and potentially Red Beard

Of these the stronger case is W.37/1 as internal carriage of Red Beard was always desired for safe recovery and this was why Scimitar's had to return with a live weapon to an airfield instead of the carrier.

Under these circumstances, the RAF's push to kill NA.39, could be accepted by further development of the W.37 system by the inclusion of two seats (such a variant was designed for trainer purposes anyway), and a Blue Parrot (AI.23) set.
Killing NA.39 would release funds for some other system....but which?

Such efforts could actually draw in the RAF for the MRI mission, this being available long before the likes of the P1154, F4 or Jaguar. It might well make with extra fuel, the 600nm ROA for nuclear strike.....leaving only the longer 1000nm ROA for OR.339

Chief downsides of the design are:-
1. that single engine
2. the four 30mm guns are located such that gases could be re-ingested into the engine. So a relocation would be necessary....or simply removed in the era which saw the gun as out of date.
3. the high 'T' tail, which never bothered the Buccaneer, though if necessary the fuselage is of a configuration that a low tail could be achieved.
4. the inlets, which are of a wing root type. However it is possible to design that to say semi-circular or circular types and that might have happend during the development process anyway.

All in all, this is quite an interesting alternative path forward. It effectively liberates the RN from the ever more limited number of strike machines on ever more limited numbers of carriers, drives the need to handle reheated exhaust on the carriers deck much earlier, releases the RAF from piling everything on not just the OR.339 machine but alleviates the need to accept a NMBR.3 winner and is actually a strong case to survive D.Sandys Defence Review unscathed since it;s mostly a Strike/Attack machine.

In fact it might even gain some export orders.....
German Navy for instance?
Australia's FAA?
India?
South Africa?

An argument could be made that since the FAA has dropped the NA.39 requirement, the need for a superonic figher to compliment it's Strike machine is now more pressing.....
Depending on the timing this could drive forward more funding to the DH.110 Sea Vixen, speeding it to service (not impossible considering the glacial pace of that effort). Or it could put more funds behind the Vickers Type 556 (FAW Scimitar).
Alternatively considering the benefits of it's lighter weight on the needs of a CV, this could place more emphasis on the likes of the Type 545....

 

[JFC Fuller]

Logically the increasing power of the jets, means TO performance and maximum weight at catapult launch increases.
It also means that during it's development, it would still be viewed as a potential Fighter, as it's rate of climb would rise with that power.
This 22,000lb (approximately) strike weight could well rise without any increase in catapult power and WOD requirements will relax for launch.
That weight figure is such, it puts the machine in the realm of being operable from the CVL types, and well inside the extent rating of the Centaurs. MAking both far more valid for the future (from a 1950's perspective that is).

In late 1949 official interest emerged in what the effect of changing the proposed propulsion arrangement of the N.9/47 and N.14/49 from twin un-reheated turbojets to a single reheated turbojet would be. The RAE produced a technical note in early 1950 on the N.9/47 that concluded the result would be cheaper, lighter and higher performing but that it would take longer to produce due to the need to design a new fuselage. This was discussed at a meeting in April 1950 where it was decided that the Ministry of Supply should initiate a design study into such an aircraft. I have not yet found a direct link but it seems reasonable to assume that the W.37, a design study against the N.9/47 requirement produced in 1950, was this study or very heavily inspired by thinking inside the MoS, RAE and Naval Air Division.

I find the W.37/2 more interesting as it is closer to what the Navy wanted, a single seat day fighter from which a day strike variant could be derived to meet NR/A.19. Had it been decided to pursue the W.37, or another very similar design, around 1953/54 there would have been a push for a higher-altitude/speed version just as there was for the Scimitar (the abortive Mk.2). However, it should have been easier to achieve as the W.37 would have been lighter and already had reheat. Something akin to a naval Supermarine Type 545 or Hawker P.1083 could have emerged that might have been enough to deter Navy interest in high-performance single seaters (e.g. NA.47) until the late 1950s when they started to lose interest in such aircraft altogether in favour of long-endurance two-seaters for CAP.

The Navy generally had more severe range/endurance requirements than the RAF, coupled with the need for carrier take-offs and landings this produced a need for much greater lift. This was apparent when in early 1951 the Navy became interested in "interim" fighters, inverted commas because for some in the Navy the interim aircraft appear to have been an attempt to extricate themselves from the Scimitar and unpick the mess that resulted from torpedoing the N.114T tender. For the day fighter role, the Navy considered the Hawker P.1087 (Nene and Tay), Hawker F.3/48 (Avon RA.7) and the Supermarine F.105P (Type 541 Swift). The F.105P, the Hooked Swift, was ultimately chosen but all the designs were short of fuel against what the Navy considered ideal for its mission, and lift to the point that there was suggestion of a high-lift wing being included in the Hooked Swift after the first 20 production examples.

I don't see the W.37 as a threat to the NA.39. The NA.39 was shorn of the need to operate from the Centaur class (it wasn't until 1957 that it was decided that NA.39 would operate from Hermes) so was a fundamentally larger aircraft, which it needed to be in order to accommodate the all-weather, low-level range/payload requirement the Navy had for it.

This is all to say that a real opportunity was missed in 1950 to pursue a much more sensible single seat day fighter than the Scimitar and the Westland W.37/2 is indicative of what that type would/could have looked like.

 

[zen]

I tend to agree that W.37/2 is more fighter-like and has greater potential for development as such.

Considering Scimitar's roots in the straight winged twin dry Avon powered Heavy Day Fighter and was suffering from the march of requirements and technology....

Cutting it loose for such a design from Westland could solve the RNs needs.