alternatehistory.com

As promised, I dusted off that old list of mine. To be completed, I don't have Tony Butler and Derek Woods books on hand. Of course some lines might contradict others, history is rather OTL than linear A.H. I wanted to keep the best types that were utterly screwed by dumb decisions OTL (Trident and Medway, here is to you).

1 - No WWII bomber / transport agreement with the USA. And a slightly more inspired Brabazon committee: no Brabazon, no Princess.

2 - Three Audacious class carriers and a bunch of Centaurs, 1946. Implacables /Illustrious scrapped. Everything smaller sold elsewhere in the world.

3 - Miles M52 flies, even after the Bell X-1 breaks the sound barier.

4 - Hawker P.1081 as a transition, swept wing fighter. Introduced over Korea in 1952.

5 - Hawker Hunter only (no Swift) No Lightning - P.1 / P.1B only for Mach 2 research.

6 - DH.110 Vixen only (no Javelin) FAW - right from 1953-54, not 1959. Both RAF and RN.

7 - F-155T downrated- Fairey ER-103C & Hawker P.1103 will sweep export markets.

8 - 1958: Buccaneer for the RAF serves until the 90's (no TSR-2, F-111, AFVG, Tornado...)

9 - Victor Mk.2 and Vulcan Mk.2 with Blue Steel Mk.2 into the 60's, Valiant converted as tankers.

10 – Comet canned after the crashes. Vickers VC.7 as transport for the RAF and passenger version.

11 - BAC and HSA created earlier and consolidated earlier.

12 - 1954 medium fleet carrier consolidated with the French Clemenceaus and PA.58 Verdun. No Tiger conversion, EVER. No Victorious either. A small numbers of Centaurs are given a modest upgrade and soon will be converted in Commando carriers.

13 – Anglo – French cooperation on AEW radars, including a joint buyout of E-1C Turbotracer for the carriers, eventually with a cooperative radar.

14 - Hawker P.1127 still happens, leading to the Harrier and later Hawker P.1216

15 – 1959: SNECMA / RR agreement on Medway and Spey for Mirage IVB and later Mirage types. Trident stick with the Medway, which finds its way into the Viggen.

Into the 60's...

16 - Short Belfast with the French as a high-end to the Transall.

17 - Cooperation on space launchers is strictly anglo-french, no ESRO / ELDO disaster but only Blue Streak / Diamant / Black Arrow hybrids - later with LH2 small engines: RZ-20 and HM-4 merged. With Diamant or solid boosters it slowly growth to Ariane 1 level of performance.

18 – No Concorde (heresy ! blasphemy !) but an earlier Airbus to aggregate the varied anglo-french jetliners. Including Medway / Spey, larger Trident.

19 – Anglo-French Twosader with Spey, 1964. No Spey F-4K.

20 – No Jaguar but a subsonic AlphaHawk instead. By 1970 RAF strike force is a mix of Hawker P.1121, Buccaneers, Victor and Vulcan Mk.2 supported by Valiant tankers.

21 – 1965: Anglo-French agreement in VSTOL research. The French get transports: Breguet 941. British gets fighters, Hawker P.1127. Mirage III-V is hopeless, Dassault is reluctant so the British turn to Breguet as per OTL. No HS.681 monstrosity. P.1154 fails as per OTL.

22 - Red Top I.R seeker on french R.530. More generally, cooperation in AAM.

23 - Big wing Harrier in the 70's screw the AV-8B, followed by Hawker P.1216 in the 80's.

24 - RR doesn't throw RB.207 and Airbus under a bus, although a scaled down A300 finally gets RB.211s.

25 - In the early 60's the much larger VC-7 airframe has become the Nimrod 1 & 2 (instead of the dead Comet 4), up to the AEW.3... and it cures some of the OTL issues with the later (overheating avionics into a too small fuselage, so cool it with the kerosene - WTF ??!!!)
More generally the VC-7 is a success, and although the Boeing 707 can't be beaten, the VC-7 kick the DC-8 and sells pretty well. In RAF transport command, the VC-7 and Short belfast works hand in hand for long range hauling. Later the VC-7 logically replaces OTL VC-10 tankers when the V-bombers are retired.
Top