The Rat's Own Silly Week, Day 2

[The Rat]

Fairey Tosser

 

 

The Fairey Delta 2 was one of the more impressive British experimental aircraft of the post-war period, and it’s basic design is credited with being the genesis of the very successful Dassault Mirage III series of aircraft. It was used to investigate various aspects of high-speed flight with a delta wing design, and both airframes went through a number of modifications during their lifetimes.

 

 

 

One little known aspect was a test of the ‘toss-bombing’ style of weapons delivery, a format also used with the American B-47 and B-58 bombers. An unknown number of test articles were produced, and secured to the aircraft on a centre-line pylon. They were painted in a high visibility scheme of red and white for tracking purposes, with a black nose cone. While given no official designation, crews referred to the aircraft as the ‘Tosser’. After a number of stops during the ferry flight, trials were conducted in the Australian desert, and results were considered favourable, and plans were in place to assess the possibility of underwing tanks to increase range should the aircraft be produced in that role.

 

 

 

However the lingering results and second-guessing that were left in the wake of the infamous 1957 Defence White Paper meant that such plans never came to be, and this particular period in the aircraft’s history have been obscured by time.