Sorry, Piers. Computers in the flight control system made all that stuff
obsolete.
And you can't call the wing sweep mechanism (part of the high-lift and
wing-sweep system -- HLWSCU) in the Tornado elegant :-) Part of the HLWSS was
a Kruger flap in each wing root. It gave the aircraft about 1.5kts of extra
stall buffer on the approach, a dreadful waste of design time, weight and cost.
They welded them shut pretty soon after I started flying the aircraft. The
same with the ramps in the intakes, designed to allow the engines to work at
above M1.2 (or perhaps M1.4); since the GR1 would not be travelling anywhere
near that Mach No, given that stores and tanks prohibited it, there was little
point in the ramps -- more waste of weight etc . . .
And finally, the TSR2 was pretty cool for its time, but I should have hated to
fly the blimmin' thing; it would have been no fun at all, and fun is very
important in that job.
Chris
On 29 Nov 2011, at 20:12, Piers Hemy wrote:
> BBBBut you are consigning the entire knowledge and experience base of the
> British aerospace industry amassed over the years of the TSR2 programme to
> the rubbish bin of economic common-sense! How can this be, Chris?
>
> Yes, I know, tell me about it ;-) Just because it's elegant engineering
> doesn't mean it's a good idea.
--
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