The Vickers Type 559 high-speed, high-altitude interceptor was intended to satisfy a Cold War-era requirement for the Royal Air Force - it was not furthered.
Operational Requirement (OR) "F.155" of 1955, calling for a high-speed, high-altitude interceptor, resulted in many proposed designs to come from the usual British defense houses - Armstrong-Whitworth (AW), Fairey, Hawker, Vickers, etc. For Vickers, their contribution became the "Type 559", a large, twin-seat combination propulsion scheme speedster designed around a canard wing configuration. Like others in the series of F.155 proposals, the Type 559 went nowhere as British thinking shifted towards the missile age following the Defence White Paper review of May 1957.
Nuclear-capable Soviet bombers poised the biggest threat to freedom and stability in the West so, as a response, interceptor programs were taken on by the British as well as the United States and the French. The need was great for a Mach 2.0 or greater aircraft built around powerful jets with the possibility of using rockets to augment output thrust. Coupled with this high-performance would be an all-in-one weapons suite encompassing advanced missiles (heat-seeking and beam-riding) as well as Airborne Interceptor (A.I.) radar, the latter set in the nosecone.
To help manage the technologically-heavy aircraft, a crew of two was a necessity and for maximum survival, ejection seats, multiple engines, and cockpit pressurization would become requirements.
The cockpit was set at the front of the fuselage in typical fashion, though aft of the nosecone set to house the interception radar fit. The cockpit would be framed as usual and seat its two crew - pilot and navigator/weapons operator - in a side-by-side arrangement.
The aircraft was drawn up with a running length of 68.2 feet, a wingspan of 42 feet and a height of 15.2 feet. Empty weight reached 41,500lb while Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) peaked at near 30,000lb. All told, the Type 559 was one of the larger submissions entertained for requirement F.155.
At the heart of the Type 559's propulsion scheme was a combination powerplant involving two afterburning turbojets and a pair of rocket motors for boost power. This was intended to satisfy high cruising speeds, dash speeds, and rate-of-climb for the interceptor design. 2 x de Havilland "Gyron" PS.26/1 turbojets would output 20,000lb of thrust each while 2 x de Havilland "Spectre Junior" boosters would supply momentary thrust output, adding an additional 5,000lb of power each. All told, this would help to get the interceptor up to speeds of Mach 2.5 and a service ceiling near 60,000 feet while rate-of-climb was estimated to be 51,000 feet-per-minute.
As for armament, and like other F.155 entrants, the Type 559 was set to carry a pair of air-to-air missiles, these to become either the "Red Hebe" beam-riding weapon or the "Blue Jay" Mk.4 heat-seeker. As the wing tips of the mainplanes were taken up by the vertical tail fins, this meant that the missiles would be seated against the fuselage atop wingstub-like protrusions. The supports were added near midships along the dorsal facing of the fuselage to complete the aircraft's look (this physical feature was also used in the English Electric Lighting fighter).
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(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)
✓Interception
Ability to intercept inbound aerial threats by way of high-performance, typically speed and rate-of-climb.
✓X-Plane (Developmental, Prototype, Technology Demonstrator)
Aircraft developed for the role of prototyping, technology demonstration, or research / data collection.
Length
68.2 ft (20.80 m)
Width/Span
42.0 ft (12.80 m)
Height
15.3 ft (4.65 m)
Empty Wgt
41,491 lb (18,820 kg)
MTOW
66,139 lb (30,000 kg)
Wgt Diff
+24,648 lb (+11,180 kg)
(Showcased structural values pertain to the Supermarine Type 559 production variant)
Installed:
2 x de Havilland "Gyron" PS.26/1 afterburning turbojet engines developing 20,000lb of thrust each; 2 x de Havilland "Spectre" rocket motor producing 5,000lb of thrust each.
(Showcased performance specifications pertain to the Supermarine Type 559 production variant. Performance specifications showcased above are subject to environmental factors as well as aircraft configuration. Estimates are made when Real Data not available. Compare this aircraft entry against any other in our database or View aircraft by powerplant type)
PROPOSED:
2 x "Red Hebe" radar-guided air-to-air missiles OR 2 x "Blue Jay" InfraRed (IR) air-to-air missiles mounted over the fuselage.
Supported Types
(Not all ordnance types may be represented in the showcase above)
Hardpoint Mountings: 2
Type 559 - Base Project Designation.
Ribbon graphics not necessarily indicative of actual historical campaign ribbons. Ribbons are clickable to their respective aerial campaigns / operations / aviation periods.
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