Established in 1997, Crécy Publishing is one of Europe’s leading publishers of transport and military history titles. We have a strong emphasis on aviation titles and, since the acquisition of the Ian Allan Publishing list, we are also the world’s leading railway book publisher. Starting with the publication of a single book, our company has grown through a mixture of organic growth and the acquisition of quality publishing lists. Today, Crécy Publishing imprints include: ABC guides, Classic, Goodall, Hikoki Publications, OPC (Oxford Publishing Company) Pilot’s Notes. Imprints we have absorbed into our list include Air Data, Flight Recorder, Ian Allan, Noodle Books and Nostalgia Road.

Tim McLelland was an experienced and recognized author specializing in military aerospace subjects. He was also the writer of numerous well-known titles and contributor to many leading aerospace magazines. McLelland has flown in a wide range of military aircraft such as the Tornado, Harrier and Lightning, and has also taken part in four Red Arrows display routines. McLelland wass a Vulcan specialist and has many contacts connected with the aircraft type including crew and designers. Tim McLelland has authored more than twenty books, including: English Electric Lightning [2009], Hawker Hunter [2009], Harrier [2011], The Vitor Story [2011], Vulcan: God Of Fire [2012], F-4 Phantom [2013], The Typhoon Story [2013], Britain’s Cold War Bombers [2013], and British Cold War Fighters [2014]. Tim McLelland died in Sheffield in 2015.

Tony Buttler was born in 1956 and joined High Duty Alloys in Redditch in 1974 as a metallurgist. For nearly 20 years he was closely involved in the testing of aluminum and titanium airframe and engine components for many of the world’s most important airplanes. It was during this timeframe that his interest in military aircraft grew into a passion. Since 1995, Tony has been a freelance aviation historian. This includes hard cover books on British Secret Projects, American Secret Projects, Secret Soviet Projects, and X-Planes of Europe. He has also written many titles for the Warpaint series of monographs as well as many articles for most of the popular historical aviation magazines.

In addition to Tim McLelland's original work, new chapters have been added to this third edition including a further extra chapter by renowned aviation author and historian Tony Buttler covering the design problems faced by the TSR2; a chapter by Clive Richards looking at the pre-history of requirement GOR339 which led to the TSR2; and additional extracts from the TSR2 flight and engineering manuals. Tim McLelland’s original 2010 book on the TSR2 was 127 pages and was published by Ian Allen. The second edition published by Crécy included a chapter on the General Dynamics proposed F-111K from Tony Buttler and upped the page count to 184. This third edition includes additional chapters from Tony Buttler and Clive Richards along with additional data from the TSR2 flight and engineering manuals that brings that count to 228 pages.

This portrait hard cover book [8.75” x 11.25”] features a color photograph [possibly a colorized black and white pic] of the XR219 taken from the chase aircraft, Wing Commander Jimmy Dell’s English Electric Lightning T4. Note that the white airframe was only for pre-production aircraft. Operational TSR2s would have been in standard RAF Dark Grey / Dark Green camouflage with silver [and later Aircraft Grey] undersides. All of the photographs on the rear cover are included within the book with captions. I counted 177 black and white photographs and illustrations [including “Secret” notes and drawings] and 51 color photographs and drawings. There are also six tables. Richard J Caruana contributes eight color illustrations featuring both the pre-production colors and proposed operational camouflage along with nine scale black and white drawings

Tim McLelland kicks off with a three-page introduction before jumping into Chapter One on the “Supersonic Canberra”. The concept of a successor to the English Electric Canberra started in 1956 leading into a General Operational Requirement [GOR] 339 for a supersonic successor to the Canberra. Pushed by English Electric, nearly all surviving British aircraft manufacturers prepared responses to GOR.339. Politics of course were in play and the British government was encouraging all bidders to consider consolidation with each other, whether they liked it or not. Four of the proposals are seen on Page 024 featuring de Havilland, Fairey, and Gloster. Additional proposals were prepared by Blackburn, Supermarine, Vickers, Bristol, and Hawker, in addition to English Electric. The first TSR2, XR219, would end up making 24 flights before the program was shut down. Her first flight can be seen at the top of Page 101 with her gear down. The landing gear remained an issue for most of the test flights; indeed, it took the first ten flights just to get the main gear to retract and extend properly. Landing vibrations continued till an additional strut was fitted to the main gear on flights 21 and 22 that finally seemed to solve the vibration problem. The color photograph at the bottom of the page depicts XR219 on test flight 13 where her speed brakes can be seen deployed.

Unfortunately, XR219 did not survive to be a museum showpiece, as she was destroyed testing vulnerability of a modern airframe to gunfire and shrapnel. XR221 and the partially completed XR223 suffered the same fate. Additional completed airframes XR224, XR225, XR226, along with incomplete airframes XR227 through XR229 and XS660 through XS669 were scrapped six months after cancellation. The only survivors were XR220, on display at RAF Museum Cosford, and XR222 on display at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. XR220 was scheduled to join XR219 in flight test on the day the program was cancelled. She would have joined the test program earlier but suffered major damage being transported to Boscombe Down. The restoration of XR222 can be seen on Page 144 in three color photographs. Upon program cancellation XR222 was assigned for ground training at Cranfield and is possibly a composite of several airframes.

Appendix 2 includes a series of drawings reproduced from the original Maintenance Manuals and Crew Notes. This includes 28 pages of “Secret” Crew Notes as seen on Page 179. This page provides drawings of the original Martin Baker Mk.8 seat that was designed specifically for the TSR2. Martin Baker later reused the Mk.8 designation for a lightweight variant of the Mk.10 ejection seat used in the FMA IA 63 Pampa amd the Short Tucano that removed the ejection seat rocket pack. Appendix 4 by Tony Buttler addresses “TSR2 Problems To Solve?” that focuses on two additional issues that needed resolution outside of the landing gear and engines. The first issue was the use of Alcoa X2020 aluminum-lithium alloy whose use in the airframe can be seen at the drawing at the top of Page 216. The use of this alloy would provide the weight savings required in the design. This alloy had already been successfully used on the North American Vigilante. The second issue addressed is seen in the table at the bottom of the page. The best time to change an engine in the TSR2 is quoted as 50 hours and that was in the BAC factory. While this time may have been reduced eventually, compared with its contemporaries, it was clearly a huge issue. The sections include:

• The Author
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Introduction To The Second Edition
• Chapter One: “Supersonic Canberra”
• Chapter Two: Paper Planes
• Chapter Three: Marriage Of Inconvenience [Page 024]
• Chapter Four: Bombs and Bureaucracy
• Chapter Five: Antipodean Antipathy
• Chapter Six: Airborne At Last
  • TSR2 XR219 Flight No. 1
• Chapter Seven: Testing Times
  • TSR2 XR219 Flight No. 2
  • TSR2 XR219 Flight No. 14
• Chapter Eight: Engineered For Success
• Chapter Nine: Cost Concerns
• Chapter Ten: The Axe Falls
• Chapter Eleven: Victim Of Circumstance [Page 101]
• Chapter Twelve: TSR2 Described
  • Aircraft Performance
  • Attack Systems – Nuclear Role
  • Aircraft Structure
  • Engineering
  • Flying Controls
  • Ground Equipment
  • Aircraft Production
  • Proposals For Operational Service [Page 144]
• Appendix One: General Dynamics F-111K For The RAF by Tony Butler
  • Assessments
  • Order Numbers
  • Growing Problems
• Appendix Two: TSR2 Detail Drawings
  • Crew Notes
  • Maintenance Manuals
  • Status Report – October 1961
  • Status Report – June 1962
  • BAC T.S.R.2 Scale Drawings by Richard J. Caruana
  • BAC T.S.R.2 Colour Drawings by Richard J. Caruana
  • Under The Radar Screen
  • Secret: T.S.R.2 Crew’s Notes [Page 179]
• Appendix Three: Recipe For Disaster? By Clive Richards
• Appendix Four: TSR2 Problems To Solve? by Tony Buttler
  • Structural Materials [Page 216]
  • Engine Changes
• Appendix Five: Tangible Legacy by Ken Ellis
• References
• Modeling
• Index

Model-kit-wise, TSR2 kits were available from Airfix in 1-72-scale and 1/48-scale. The 1/72-scale kit was first released in 2006, and although it was re-released a few more times in support of the Japanese Stratos 4 anime series, it remains a rarity. Airfix released a 1/48-scale TSR2 in 2009 and it has yet to be re-released. Vacuformed kits have been produced in both 1/72 and 1/48, but they are difficult to find as well. Pit Road released a 1/144 injected kit of the TSR2 in 2011 and it has been re-released to support the Stratos 4 anime series. It has also been re-released as a pre-painted kit and as a pre-built model. Great Wall Hobby released the Pit Road kit in 2013. The last re-release of this kit by Pit Road was in 2019.

It’s great to see this book released again, especially with the bonus of the additional 45 pages. I was able to read it over five nights and found it quite interesting, notably, Appendix Four by Tony Buttler on TSR2 Problems To Solve? I was really surprised at the engine change-out time being so high, and clearly out of line with any contemporary aircraft. One will never know what design changes would have been required to solve this issue since the TSR2 was canceled, but it is still curious. This third edition is a great read and addresses engineering and political issues thoroughly. Historians and modelers should find this edition quite enjoyable.

My thanks to Casemate, Crécy Publishing, and IPMS/USA for the chance to review this great book.

Highly recommended!