Quote:
Thermodyne said:
Again, hind sight would tell us that it was the correct way to go. None of the Mach 3 fighters were built, and as it turned out, they were not needed. At about the same time, the US canceled the F107 and F108 fighter programs. And results of later designs like the SR 71 suggest that the original Mach 3 designs would have never have been completely successful because of unforeseen engineering problems.
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First off TSR-2 was aviation grade ally-copper alloy, not titanium. No problem there.
As for the costs, you've paid the development costs, so the choice for TSR-2 was, build it or go F-111. As it turned out F-111 had cost overruns, indeed massive cost overruns, so the UK pulled out and brought some F-4s. For the money spunked on F-111 and buying F-4s you could of built as many TSR-2s as you wanted.
The money was there for new planes. I know you can get a bit 'US is best' blinded Thermy, but are you seriously saying you'd take F-4s over TSR-2s?