Most sources say the air group was to have been 18 Phantoms and 18 Buccaneers plus ASW and AEW so my guess is 140 Buccaneers. Plus more to replace the Mk 2s lost to attrition before the Phantom entered service and less the surviving Mk 1s which were used by the training squadron.
In principle, that's 133 Buccaneers in active squadrons, which works out to around 200 S.2s. That's not overmuch of an increase from the OTL production of 149 S.2s, though most of them would be ordered much sooner and there'd be proportionately more flying at any given time. Tossing in the 36 South African S.2s helps, but you'd probably want a large RAF or IAF order to get the supersonic Buccaneer funded. Unfortunately, while the supersonic Buccaneer fits well in replacing either the Canberra or MiG-27 in Indian service, I'd expect the Indians to prefer the significantly cheaper Su-7 and Ajeet in the late 60s timeframe they'd consider buying the S.2. That leaves basically the OTL RAF order of around 50 airframes, presuming the rolling fiasco that was British deep-strike aircraft development in the 60s and 70s continues, and I don't think that quite moves the needle enough.
Now see the endurance at Mach2.
P150 was essentially a new aircraft with all the risks and costs that involve and inevitable delays that would entail
The F-106 was also a very fast aircraft which featured a supercruise ability as Mark Foxwell, another former Delta Dart driver, explained: “I recently visited the 27 Fighter Squadron at Langley, flying the F-22. They touted the Raptor’s supercruise capability, where they use AB to take it well supersonic and then cruise supersonic in military. Well I/we did that routinely on the Six (as the F-106 was called its pilots); I would take it in full AB to 49,000 and Mach 1.5, then go to full mil and cruise supersonic for 500 miles or more.”
I don't have straight endurance figures, but an F-106 flying at 40,000 feet had a combat radius of just under 600 nautical miles at Mach .9 and around 225 at Mach 2. I do not have similar figures for the Phantom, as I only have Navy data for that plane and they calculate things differently.
The Buccaneer S Mk 1 was phased out of the front line squadrons in 1966 but was used by the OCU and Trials units until 1970.
I read that too. It would have reduced the number of Phantoms required by about a third and increased the number of Buccaneers by about a third. Say 90-100 Phantoms and 180-190 Buccaneers.
At which point there will be no Tornado in this TL, so the RAF will buy first F-15C as Arrow and Lightning replacements and then F-15E as Buccaneer replacements. This will kill later British interest in the Typhoon.
I am pretty sure I have much less time than you logged on discussion forums for Cold War aircraft. But at least in my more limited experience I haven’t seen the Lightning hate you mention. I here EE Lightning and I think “only plane possibly able to intercept a U2”.
