![]() ![]() Research and development is a hugely important part of our defence, aerospace and security business, we invested £150 million of our own capital in R&D in 2012. “BAE Systems stores more than one million historical documents and artefacts and in addition to celebrating our nation’s engineering achievements, I believe these examples of forward thinking are still inspiring for young people who are thinking about a career in engineering and considering the endless possibilities of what could be designed.” Aircraft and vehicle engineering involves producing and analysing literally thousands of iterations and whilst today the process is speeded up through the use of computer modelling, it’s fascinating to look through our archives and see what engineers were working on at that time. Even when it debuted in 1963, it looked expensive and flashy, arguably as flashy as the over-the-top Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing. Howard Mason, Heritage Manager at BAE Systems said “Although 50 years have passed since these extraordinary designs were first put to paper, we can see how some of the technologies and ideas were developed over time and put to use now in aircraft like the F35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Aston Martin DB5 is one of the most classic, stylish grand tourers to ever hit the road, and it’s the car that all other grand tourers (GTs) hope to be like. ![]() The unique designs were produced by engineers in BAE Systems predecessor companies including English Electric, Hawker Siddeley and the British Aircraft Corporation The ideas behind that original aircraft can still be seen today in current delta-winged space aircraft such as Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, XCOR’s Lynx Mk.III as well as early designs for the US Space Shuttle.Ĭelebrating our heritage Coinciding with the opening of a new centre to celebrate heritage at our military aircraft factory in Warton, Lancashire, some unique documents from the archives have been brought to life through animation to show how the R&D projects might have looked if developed further. The government decided not to proceed with the project though, prompting Tom Smith - one of the developers - to comment that MUSTARD was too “far ahead of its time”, and that there was “nothing worse than being right at the wrong time.” Two of those would act as boosters and launch the third into space, and then separate before returning to earth like normal aircraft – followed by the third, once its intended mission was complete. The aircraft was formed of three separate crewed, delta-winged sections that are launched as a single unit. The project would have created the world’s first reusable ‘space plane’, with the cost of development having been estimated as ‘20 to 30 times cheaper’ than that incurred by the expendable rocket systems in use that eventually put man on the moon in 1969.
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