Vickers Swallow
In the years following the Second World War, there was significant interest in developing a new generation of aircraft designs based on the knowledge acquired during the conflict. British engineer and inventor Barnes Wallis, a long-term employee of the aircraft company Vickers-Armstrongs, took a particular interest in variable-sweep wings and the potential of advanced wing designs. During this work, Wallis conceived of an aircraft that lacked conventional features, such as a vertical stabiliser and rudder, instead using the movement of variable geometry wings as its primary flight control.
Wallis' concept attracted interest within the British government. The Ministry of Supply and the Ministry of Defence jointly arranged for a series of tests to demonstrate the technology's application to projectiles, both for research purposes and as a potential form of anti-aircraft defence.
Out of this research, Wallis produced a new aircraft design, equipped with a moveable delta wing configuration and relatively large compared with traditional long-distance aircraft of the era. It was commonly referred to by the name Swallow. Multiple roles were envisioned for the full-scale Swallow. It was initially viewed as suitable for a very long-distance airliner; projections of its range would have enabled a non-stop UK-Australia route to be served. Later on, the Swallow was increasingly viewed as a potential supersonic successor to the subsonic Vickers Valiant, one of the RAF's V bombers.
By the summer of 1956, a series of flying models had been flown and data gathered from flight tests; this information had reportedly resolved all of the Swallow's technical problems; by this time, however, government interest was fading in light of other commitments. Vickers was unable to independently finance its development to a full-size aircraft. In June 1957, Ministry funding for the venture was withdrawn; accordingly, formal work on the project ceased during that same year.
Despite the termination, Swallow continued to attract attention internationally. In late 1958, research efforts were temporarily revived through cooperation with the Mutual Weapons Development Programme of NATO, under which all of Wallis' variable geometry research was shared with the Americans. According to aviation author James R. Hansen, American aerospace engineer John Stack was enthusiastic about the concept, as were numerous engineers at NASA; however, the United States Department of Defense was opposed to committing any resources to the project.[8] Research into Swallow produced several new configurations aimed at improving aspects of its performance, some involved the adoption of a compact folding tail section, canards, an expanded fuselage, and repositioned engines. While the concept drew the attention of the United States Navy, competing programmes, such as supersonic transport (SST), led to no commitments ever being made, thus Swallow did not go any further.
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