Vickers-Armstrong 559

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In the mid-1950s, the RAF issued a call to British military aircraft manufacturers requesting proposals for a high-speed jet interceptor that could take down high-altitude jet bombers.

Vickers-Armstrong's response was the Type 559. The plane was distinguished by its set-back main wings, twin rudders, forward canards, and massive chin-set air intake split vertically to feed two de Havilland Gyron jet engines arranged vertically in the manner of the English Electric Lightning. The aircraft would have been armed with two Red Hebe or Blue Jay missiles mounted atop its central fuselage, just behind the canards.

Although quite eye-catching the Type 559 was considered too radical and did not make it past the design stage. vickers559-landed-frontstarboardangle_1_orig.jpg vickers559-landed-nose_1_orig.jpg vickers559-landedport_1_orig.jpg vickers559-starboardrearangle_1_orig.jpg vickers559-4_1_orig.jpg vickers559-7_1_orig.jpg vickers559-2_1_orig.jpg
 
Beautiful.

One of the design weaknesses was the Red Dean mounting as seen in the pictures. It was suboptimal but the Red Dean / Red Hebe were so huge, they wouldn't fit elsewhere !

Never realized it had a "diabolo" undercarriage.
 
Why weren't the missiles placed under the wing?
 
Centre of gravity issues? Those are big missiles.
 
one cannot help but think the benefits of side-by-side engine installation would've offset any costs associated with it and made this a much more practical design.
 

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