Avro 730 British Super-Sonic Bomber Concept:

ABOUT THE MODEL:

• Scale: 1:144
• Length: 13.5 inches
• Material: Resin
• Number of Pieces: 39
• Detailed Cockpit, Landing Gear, Bomb Bay and "Red Beard"
• Tactical Bomb included.
• Decals by JBOT
• Master by Scott Lowther
• Casting by Replicant Casting Co.
• "Absolutely superb, beautiful shape, very nice castings!"

- Roger Todd, United Kingdom

ABOUT THE DESIGN:

In 1955, Britain's Avro company began to develop plans for a high-altitude Mach 2.5 reconnaissance aircraft.  Several configurations were examined, but all centered around a straight-wing design featuring a thoroughly enclosed cockpit with no windscreen to reduce drag,  large canards, and two engine nacelles, each containing multiple power plants. (Early plans called for wing-tip nacelles, but these were later moved closer to the fuselage.) A retractable periscope would be used to aid the pilot with take-offs and landings.By December 1956 the final design had been developed.  The plane would carry a crew of two -- a pilot and a navigator -- who would sit by-by-side.  Each nacelle would contain four Armstrong-Siddeley P.176 engines.  And, most important of all, the plane could also function as a bomber, carrying either a specially designed short-course weapon or Britain's Red Beard tactical bomb.

Unfortunately, the project was cancelled in 1957, a victim of the U.K.'s infamous Defense White Paper.