Gloster Javelin

Gloster Javelin
Gloster Javelin XH903
Type	All-weather Fighter/interceptor
Manufacturer	Gloster Aircraft Company
Designed by	George Carter
Maiden flight	26 November 1951
Introduced	29 February 1956
Retired	April 1968 (RAF)
Status	Retired
Primary user	Royal Air Force
Number built	436

The Gloster Javelin was an "all-weather" interceptor aircraft that served with Britain's Royal Air Force in the late 1950s and most of the 1960s. It was a large T-tailed delta-wing aircraft designed for night and bad weather operations. This was the last aircraft to bear the Gloster name.

Design and development

The Javelin began with a 1947 Air Ministry requirement for a high-performance night fighter that led to orders for prototypes under specification F.44/46 of two of the competing designs, the Gloster GA.5 and the de Havilland DH.110 which was also under consideration for the Royal Navy. When it appeared that the Gloster design would be ready sooner and would be simpler and cheaper to build, the de Havilland submission was rejected; though the company was to continue development of the DH.110 as a private venture that eventually resulted in the de Havilland Sea Vixen. The Gloster design had a distinctive appearance, its broad delta wings surmounted by a huge finned T-tail. The F.44/46 specification subsequently became F.4/48 related to the "Operational Requirement" OR.227. The GA.5 first flew on the 26 November 1951 flown by test pilot Bill Waterton (two months after the prototype DH.110 took to the air), and protracted flight testing took place until 1956, when the first 14 production machines were delivered, designated F(AW) Mk.1, development and improvements continued, leading to small production runs of different models of the aircraft throughout the year.

Gloster Javelin, probably a flight test aircraft, at Farnborough. Date unknown

By the end of 1956, the Javelin was up to a FAW.7 variant, which was the first to actually meet the specifications of the original Air Ministry requirement, and which was to become the definitive version of the aircraft (most of which were later altered to the FAW.9 standard). Indeed, the Javelin was evolving so quickly that deliveries of the FAW.8 began before FAW.7 production had ended. As a result, the final 80 FAW.7 aircraft went straight from the factory into storage, eventually flying after being remanufactured as FAW.9s. A total of 427 were produced in all variants, plus seven prototypes.

Operational service

The Javelin entered service with the RAF in 1956 with No. 46 Squadron RAF based at RAF Odiham, England and at its peak (in the years 1959 to 1962), equipped 14 squadrons. After 1962, numbers dropped rapidly and, by 1964, only four squadrons were flying the type. The closest that the RAF's Javelins came to combat was during the Malaysian Confrontation with Indonesia from September 1963 until August 1966. Javelins of 60 Squadron, later joined by 64 Squadron operated out of RAF Tengah, Singapore flying combat patrols over the jungles of Malaysia. In 1964, an Indonesian Air Force C-130 Hercules crashed while trying to evade interception by a Javelin. During June 1967, following the disbandment of No. 64 Squadron RAF, 60 Squadron were deployed to Kai Tak, Hong Kong because of unrest in the colony during China's Cultural Revolution. The last of the type was withdrawn from service in 1968 with the disbandment of 60 Squadron at RAF Tengah at the end of April 1968. One aircraft remained flying with the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Boscombe Down until 24 January 1975.

Variants

A total of 435 airframes were built by Gloster and Armstrong-Whitworth. Several of them were converted to different marks (sometimes repeatedly).

FAW.1

Initial version with Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire Sa.6 engines with 8,000 lbf (35.6 kN thrust) each, British AI.17 radar, four 30 mm ADEN cannon in wings; 40 produced, and the seven prototypes were later fitted to this standard.

FAW.2

Replaced AI.17 with U.S.-made Westinghouse AN/APQ-43 radar; 30 produced.

T.3

Dual-control trainer version with no radar, bulged canopy for improved instructor visibility. All-moving tailplane, lengthened fuselage to compensate for altered centre of gravity, adding additional internal fuel. Retained four cannon; 22 produced.

FAW.4

Similar to FAW.2, but with vortex generators on wings for improved stall characteristics. 50 produced.

FAW.5

Based on FAW.4, with revised wing structure incorporating additional fuel tanks, provision for missile pylons (never actually fitted); 64 produced.

FAW.6

Combined FAW.2's American radar with the revised wing of the FAW.5. 33 produced.

FAW.7

Introduced new Sa.7 engines with 11,000 lbf (48.9 kN) thrust each, powered rudder, extended rear fuselage. Armed with two 30 mm ADEN plus four Firestreak air-to-air missiles; 142 produced.

FAW.8

Upgraded Sa.7R engines with reheat, raising thrust to 12,300 lbf (54.7 kN) thrust above 20,000 ft (6,100 m); at lower altitudes, the limitation of the fuel pump caused a loss of cold thrust. ^[1].New "drooped" wing leading edge and auto-stabilizer for better handling.

FAW.9

A total of 76 FAW.7s refitted with the revised wing of the Mk.8.

FAW.9R

R standing for "Range". A total of 40 Mk.9s were refitted with in-flight refueling probes.

Several variants were proposed and investigated but none produced, including reconnaissance versions, a fighter bomber version with underwing panniers for bombs, and a supersonic variant with area-ruled fuselage, thinner wings, and a new tail. The "thin wing Javelin" would have been capable of about Mach 1.6 and with a higher ceiling than contemporary US designs. Initial work started with fitting a thinner section wing to a Javelin fuselage but as the project developed the changes became so great that it would effectively have been a different aircraft albeit having an outward resemblance to the Javelin. The final incarnation of the thin wing Javelin just before cancellation was a large aircraft carrying two Red Dean all aspect missiles as a posible contender for Operational Requirement F.155.

Operators

 United Kingdom –  Royal Air Force

• No. 3 Squadron RAF
• No. 5 Squadron RAF
• No. 11 Squadron RAF
• No. 23 Squadron RAF
• No. 25 Squadron RAF
• No. 29 Squadron RAF
• No. 33 Squadron RAF
• No. 41 Squadron RAF
• No. 46 Squadron RAF
• No. 60 Squadron RAF
• No. 64 Squadron RAF
• No. 72 Squadron RAF
• No. 85 Squadron RAF
• No. 87 Squadron RAF
• No. 89 Squadron RAF
• No. 96 Squadron RAF
• No. 137 Squadron RAF
• No. 141 Squadron RAF
• No. 151 Squadron RAF
• No. 228 Operational Conversion Unit RAF

Survivors

XA553 (FAW1) 

On display, Cape Town, South Africa

XA564 (FAW1) 

Royal Air Force Museum, Cosford, England

XA634 (FAW4} 

On display, RAF Leeming, England

XA699 (FAW5) 

On display, Midland Air Museum, Coventry, England

XH767 (FAW9) 

Stored RAF Leeming

XH768 (FAW9) 

On display as XH707, Cerbaiola, Italy

XH892 (FAW9R) 

On display, Flixton, Suffolk, England

XH897 (FAW9) 

On display, Imperial War Museum Duxford, England

XH903 (FAW9) 

Preserved, Staverton, England

XH992 (FAW8) 

On display, Newark Air Museum, Newark, England

Specifications (Gloster Javelin FAW Mk 9)

Data from Thunder and Lightnings^[2]

General characteristics

• Crew: Two, pilot and radar operator
• Length: 56 ft 9 in (17.15 m)
• Wingspan: 52 ft (15.85 m)
• Height: 16 ft (4.88 m)
• Wing area: 927 ft² (86 m²)
• Empty weight: 24,000 lb (10,886 kg)
• Loaded weight: 31,580 lb (14,325 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 43,165 lb (19,580 kg)
• Powerplant: 2× Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire 7R turbojets, 12,300 lbf (54 kN) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 610 knots at sea level (710 mph 1,140 km/h)
• Range: 954 mi (1,530 km)
• Service ceiling 52,800 ft (15,865 m)
• Rate of climb: 5,400 ft/min (27.45 m/s)
• Wing loading: 34 lb/ft² (166 kg/m²)
• Thrust/weight: 0.78

Armament

• 2x 30 mm ADEN cannons
• Up to four de Havilland Firestreak air-to-air missiles

Avionics

• Westinghouse AN/APQ-43 radar

References

• Winchester, Jim. "Gloster Javelin." Military Aircraft of the Cold War (The Aviation Factfile). Rochester, Kent, UK: The Grange plc., 2006. ISBN 1-84013-929-7.
• British Aircraft Directory accessed 22nd October 2007
• Thunder and Lightnings

External links

• Javelins in Service
• Gloster Javelin at Greg Goebel's AIR VECTORS

Related content

Comparable aircraft

F4D Skyray - Yakovlev Yak-25

Designation sequence

Gloster E.28/39 - Gloster Meteor - E.1/44 ("Ace") - Gloster Javelin

Related lists

List of aircraft of the RAF - List of fighter aircraft