Nagging question about Avro 707

[The Rat]

I seem to remember once reading, in the dim mists of my mis-spent youth, that the Avro 707 (scaled down Vulcan test aircraft for the uninitiated) performed so well that there was a thought to trying it out as a fighter.

Or was I dreaming again?  

No, I'm not thinking of building one, just getting it off my chest.    

[MartG]

Or was I dreaming again?  

I must have had the same dream, 'cos I have a vague memory of something along those lines too  

[GeorgeC]

I haven't got my references to hand so I am talking off the top of my head (or perhaps another bit of my anatomy)

The 707 provided essential information on the handling of delta-winged aircraft in an era where wind tunnels and flight modelling were still developing.  I think the basic shape of the 707 was carried into the Avro 720, a candidate for the mixed-propulsion jet/rocket fighter programme, the one with the SR53/SR177) and into trans/subsonic light fighter version the Avro 727 powered only by a jet.  I think the SR53 was developed further as its hydrogen peroxide oxidiser was less (!!) risky that the Avro's liquid oxygen.

Regards

GeorgeC

[Freightdog862]

Not sure about it being a fighter, but I read that four Avro 707C twin seat prototypes were planned (but only one finished) and it was thought that it could serve as a trainer for Vulcan crew's to transition on. In the end it wasn't needed, but you could get a way with one in wrap around grey/green (smart......)
Colin
 

[Captain Canada]

I'm pretty sure I've read that somewhere myself, Ratty......might have been a Wings of Fame Journal ?

[GeorgeC]

Ok, checked my references.  

The Avro 720 was initially a rocket only fighter based on the delta shape of the 707 but was about 50% heavier.  The relationship is broadly similar to that between the P1 and the Lightning (no not the F35 or P 38 ) or the Mirage I and III, looks similar but you wouldn't mistake one for the other.  As the 720 design developed, in competition with the SR53, it gained an auxiliary jet engine and intakes in a belly 'duct'.  

As the rocket fighter Operational Requirement developed, in about 1953, into a more 'balanced' mixed propulsion design which would become the SR177, Avro developed the design into a jet-only supersonic interceptor, the Avro 726, and a subsonic, jet lightweight fighter, Avro 727, to enter the NATO Light Fighter competition, won by the GR91.        

From the pictures and diagrams in Buttler's Secret Projects books the family resemblance is strongest between the 707 and the 727.

Regards

GeorgeC

[The Rat]

Thanks George. It's not exactly a definitive "there was serious discussions at the Ministry about a 707 fighter variant" type of statement, but someone could have taken the information you provided and mangled it into what I dimly remember reading.  ^_^