The Cancelled Projects
SUMMARY
This paper, which is based on a presentation to a seminar on the 1957 Defence White Paper, describes the aircraft and engine projects that were canceled as a direct result of the policies announced in the White Paper. It also describes a number of aircraft projects that were canceled or on which development ceased in the mid-1950s. These are often identified as casualties of the White Paper, although that was not the case. One consequence of the 1957 White Paper was the decision by Hawkers to develop the P.1127 after it became clear that there would not be a British market for the P.1121 supersonic air superiority strike fighter. The Harrier was developed from the P.1127, which changed the face of high-performance combat aircraft operations and is one of the most important of all developments in UK aviation history.
1. INTRODUCTION
This paper is based on a presentation at a seminar on the 1957 Defence White Paper (1) (DWP) on 24 October 2017 by the Historical Group of the Royal Aeronautical Society. It considers the airframe and engine projects which were terminated by the White Paper, but first I would like to mention three projects which were NOT canceled by this document, but which many publications say were, often I think to try to make out that the DWP had even more of an effect on UK military projects than it perhaps did. When assessing these programs, it should be borne in mind that Harold McMillan became Prime Minister in January 1957 and he then made Duncan Sandys his Minister of Defence – so all three projects had already gone by the time Sandys began work on this document.
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