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= Se ee eee = ————s aa i Et r abs. shes set Stee Fz a was supported in an upright position on the Nothing really conclusive came from this ground in exactly the same manneras the sin- _ meeting and, while the Canadian effort to gle-engined version, using a retractable promote Project Y continued, the RAF had shock absorbing leg fitted in the tail fin’s pod shifted its interest to the mixed-propulsion and two retractable legs that were housed in _ interceptor to meet the OR.301 specification. underwing fairings during flight. Airborne On the other hand, Avro UK were still explor- radar was planned for this aircraft and arma- _ ing the idea of using a radial-flow gas turbine ment would have comprised two Blue Jay — engine ina triangular-shaped aircraft and this (later renamed Firestreak) air-to-air missiles, small-scale study lasted for the next two or mounted on wingtip launch rails. three years. At the same time Avro UK exam- Three months after the discussion between _ ined alternative proposals for a VTOL flat-riser Dr Ormond Solandt and Sir Roy Dobson, sev- fighter produced by A A Griffith at Rolls- eral P.724 models had been tested in Avro Royce. UK’s wind tunnel. In turn this indirectly led to One of his concepts was for a two-seat a meeting between John Frost, who was try- VTOL interceptor with Mach 2.8 performance ing hard to sell his Project Y aircraft tothe RAF, _ that used at least ten RB.108 turbojets for lift. and Sir William Farren of the RAE. They finally This was followed in 1957 by a heel-shaped agreed that the Avro P.724 would probably _VTOL fighter design produced at Hawker Sid- have similar performance to any aircraftofthe deley, Kingston, which may have been same size and weight that was powered byan intended to compete directly with the later RFGT. However, Farren accepted that the Avro Canada WS-606A. Thought to have been combination of a radial flow engine witha cir- designed by John W Fozard, this flat-riser cular wing or delta shape would lead to some ducted the exhaust flow from its centrally very real aerodynamic advantages that located Bristol BE.53 turbojet to a peripheral included improved stall characteristics. plenum chamber that dispersed gases below the aircraft, generating lift for take-off and land- ing. A rear letterbox exhaust vent provided sta- bility with a flap to divert some exhaust downwards. Once airborne, internal doors would be used to divert all exhaust gas to the rear of the aircraft for level flight, with small doors in the two outer exhaust ducts for addi- tional yaw control. No project reference was assigned to this very innovative Hawker-Sidde- ley concept, probably indicating that it never progressed very far beyond the drawing board. As work on Project Y progressed in Canada, the design team ran into serious engineering problems caused by the steep take-off and landing angle which was now set at about 75°. To support the aircraft a single, very long, retractable undercarriage leg was fitted, which worked in combination with a small tailwheel. This arrangement led to the aircraft being called Manta or Praying Mantis by the design team. The name Jump Gyro can also be found in some company documenta- tion, but the official company name of this air- craft became Ace. Two glass panels were proposed for the cockpit floor to provide the 61 Hawker Siddeley VTOL fighter concept. Based on an image provided by Joe Cherrie, enhancement by Bill Rose Avro UK P.724 VTOL interceptor Mk 2 design. via Bill Rose Canada’s Cold War Saucers