The West was stunned when the Soviet Union dropped its first atomic bomb in August 1949 and a year later the Korean War showcased Russia’s incredible technological progress in the form of the MiG-15 – a fighter capable of besting anything the RAF had to offer at that time. In the wake of the Second World War, funding for the RAF’s Fighter Command had fallen away dramatically but now there was an urgent need for new jet fighters to meet the threat of Russian bombers head-on. Britain’s top aircraft manufacturers, including Hawker, English Electric, Fairey, Vickers Supermarine, De Havilland, Armstrong Whitworth and Saunders-Roe, set to work on designing powerful supersonic aircraft with all-new guided missile systems capable of meeting a Soviet assault and shooting down high-flying enemy aircraft before they could unleash a devastating nuclear firestorm on British soil.

The result was some of the largest, heaviest and most powerful fighter designs the world had ever seen – and a heated debate about whether the behemoths should be built at all as guided weapons became ever more advanced. This is the story of Britain’s secret cold war fighter jet designs, fully illustrated with a host of drawings, illustrations and photographs.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Preface
• Introduction
  • Guided weapons
  • Rocket fighters
  • Light fighters
  • Night fighters
  • Naval and other types
  • Mutually assured destruction
  • The future of fighters
• From RAE interceptors to F.155T
  • The first draft
  • The threat
  • Bringing the firms in
  • The Hall report
  • Air Ministry vs RAE
  • One crew or two?
  • From behind or head-on?
  • Finalising the list
  • The F.155T competition begins
• The threat
  • The reality
• English Electric P.8
  • Guns as an insurance policy
  • The ‘short steps’
  • One man or two?
  • The threat
  • A modest development
• Hawker Hunter to early P.1103
  • The first P.1103s
• Hawker P.1103 two-seater
  • Outright performance
  • Limited freedom
  • With Red Hebe
• Fairey ER.103 development
  • Fairey Large
  • The steel delta
  • Escape pod cabin
  • Jets, wings and wheels
  • No abnormal forces
  • Weapons platform
  • Careful attention to design
  • Better than spec
  • Drawing on experience
• de Havilland DH.117
  • Ten very essential steps
  • Weapons and tech
  • Structure and layout
  • Looking to the future
• Armstrong Whitworth AW.169
  • Structure and production
  • Guided weapons
  • Making the attack
  • Future developments
• Saunders-Roe P.187
  • The 12 points
  • Structure and layout
  • Weapon options
  • The double attack
  • Production schedule
• Vickers Type 559
  • Structure
  • The weapon system
  • Building the 559
• Avro CF-105
• The final decision
  • No second chance for Saro
  • Eliminations
  • Hawker and EECo reprieved
  • The Air Staff view
  • Canberra all-weather fighter
  • Maudling’s five-year plan
  • The decider
  • Hawker’s parting shot
  • Thin Wing Javelin redesign
  • Macmillan’s manifesto
  • Defence review
  • OR.329 as a bomber
  • Cancellation
  • Defence White Paper 1957
  • Golden age no more
• Sources
• Bibliography