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It's crazy how advanced some UK technology was back then. Designing afterburners in 1943. And then canceling just before completion of the aircraft. The same h

It's crazy how advanced some UK technology was back then. Designing afterburners in 1943. And then canceling just before completion of the aircraft. The same happens in many cases. What's a successful breakthrough is usually not only technological. UK was extremely indebted after the second world war, mostly to USA. https://www.exchangerates.org.uk/articles/1325/the-200-year-pound-to-dollar-exchange-rate-history-from-5-in-1800s-to-todays.html https://www.exchangerates.org.uk/articles/1325/the-200-year-... Of course there was the wider sad story of management problems in UK industry and the long decline after the war.

redis_mlc 5y ago
I grudgingly give credit to the British for being very clever (magnetron, battle of the beams, etc.) during and after WW2. Having said that, London had food rationing for 9 years after the war, and really didn't have the money or facilities that the Americans had. (A B-29 was used as the mothership for the X-1!) The W article below mentions "After the rocket plane experienced compressibility problems during 1947, it was modified with a variable-incidence tailplane following technology transfer with the United Kingdom." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_X-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_X-1 Additionally, around half the X-plane pilots died, so Britain avoided a lot of test pilot fatalities. The US poured unlimited funding and talent into the program, with everybody being stars/aces (Yeager, Hoover, etc.) Both were injured seriously and almost died in various X-plane tests. One X-plane test pilot set a record, then just quit and started a gun range.
cameronh90 5y ago
The UK is also the only nation to successfully produce an orbital-class spacecraft then cancel their space program. Our inability to follow through in recent decades can be depressing. Hopefully SABRE/Skylon doesn't turn out to just be vaporware.

redis_mlc 5y ago

I grudgingly give credit to the British for being very clever (magnetron, battle of the beams, etc.) during and after WW2. Having said that, London had food rationing for 9 years after the war, and really didn't have the money or facilities that the Americans had. (A B-29 was used as the mothership for the X-1!) The W article below mentions "After the rocket plane experienced compressibility problems during 1947, it was modified with a variable-incidence tailplane following technology transfer with the United Kingdom." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_X-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_X-1 Additionally, around half the X-plane pilots died, so Britain avoided a lot of test pilot fatalities. The US poured unlimited funding and talent into the program, with everybody being stars/aces (Yeager, Hoover, etc.) Both were injured seriously and almost died in various X-plane tests. One X-plane test pilot set a record, then just quit and started a gun range.

cameronh90 5y ago

The UK is also the only nation to successfully produce an orbital-class spacecraft then cancel their space program. Our inability to follow through in recent decades can be depressing. Hopefully SABRE/Skylon doesn't turn out to just be vaporware.