Greenwich Tigress and Super Tigress
| Greenwich Super Tigress | |
|---|---|
| |
| Greenwich Super Tigress FG.1 | |
| Role | Fighter-bomber |
| Manufacturer | Greenwich |
| First flight | 1954 (Greenwich Tigress), 1956 (Greenwich Super Tigress) |
| Introduction | 1957 (Super Tigress FG.1) |
| Retired | 1984 |
| Status | retired |
| Primary user | Commonwealth Navy, Commonwealth Air Force |
The Greenwich Tigress and Greenwich Super Tigress were Arthuristan fighter-bomber designs from the 1950s. The former was the first Arthuristan production fighter attaining supersonic speeds, while the latter, a re-engined version of the Tigress, was the first Arthuristan fighter to reach Mach 2. Variants of the Super Tigress would serve as Arthurista’s main lightweight tactical aircraft for decades, complemented by the Continental Reaper in the high-end air defence role and the Arthuristan Dynamics Mercury in the heavy strike role. They were fully replaced by the late-80's.
Greenwich Tigress
The Tigress, first flown in 1954, was Greenwich’s first attempt to develop and market a replacement for the Greenwich Gryphon. Equipped with an afterburning Armidale Ruby turbojet engine, the fighter could develop 47kn of thrust with afterburners and break the sound barrier.
The Commonwealth Air Force was initially unconvinced. At the time, they were primarily interested in procuring a technologically sophisticated, heavy, long range high altitude interceptor which could handle jet bombers. As such, a lightweight, manoeuvrable ‘dogfighter’ was not primarily within their sight. What saved the project was the Fleet Air Arm, which was constricted in the size of the aircraft they could operate by the fact carriers designed in the 1940's still constituted the mainstay of the fleet. With the Icarus class heavy fleet carrier project still in the planning stage and subject to the threat of cancellation, the Tigress seemed like an attractive option and they procured a number of aircraft, enough to equip several squadrons.
Actual operational usage proved the basic soundness of the airframe, which was light, agile and excellent in a turning fight. The engine, however, was swiftly becoming underpowered when compared to competing foreign designs. With the services considering importing a design from abroad, Greenwich understood that they must improve the aircraft as soon as possible.
Three squadrons (around 36 in total) were procured for the Commonwealth Navy. They were swiftly passed onto the air force for ground attack duties once the Super Tigress became available. The final whereabouts of these airframes is unknown.
Super Tigress FG.1
In 1955 Greenwich commenced a study in fitting the new, significantly more powerful Rollers Engineering Avon afterburning engine in the Tigress airframe. This resulted in a dramatic improvement in thrust-to-weight ratio and hence top speed, acceleration and rate of climb. First tested in 1956, it became the first Arthuristan fighter to reach Mach 2.
The Super Tigress remained in Arthuristan service for a long time as a mainstay lightweight tactical fighter, being employed by many fighter squadrons in the Commonwealth Air Force, as well as the light carriers of the navy until the latter were converted to operate STOVL aircraft. The Continental Reaper would soon supercede it as Arthurista's primary air superiority fighter whilst the Arthuristan Dynamics Mercury carried out the main long-range strike function. The Super Tigress was, however, more economical to build or maintain than these two models and were maintained in considerable numbers for both the local area air defence and ground attack roles.
The long nosecone of the aircraft also allowed the installation of a basic AIRPASS air interception radar, conferring a measure of all-weather/night operations capability. A HUD, one of the first to enter service with a combat aircraft, was installed in the cockpit.
The armament of these early service aircraft include a pair of 30mm rotary cannons, as well as four wing and one centreline fuselage hardpoints for Firestreak or Red Top heatseeking missiles, AGM-12 Bullpup guided ground attack missiles, AGM-45 Shrike anti-radiation missiles, as well as dumb bombs, unguided rockets and drop tanks. A typical warload for an interception mission would have been two heatseekers under the wings, plus three drop tanks. The number of missiles could be increased to four by reducing the number of tanks which the aircraft carries and thus its endurance.
In the 1970s, the FG.1A program was initiated as a limited upgrade of the Super Tigress. The radar was upgraded with limited look down capability, as well as compatibility with the Sidewinder, Python and other foreign heatseekers. Survivability was improved with the integration of countermeasures such as chaff/flare dispensers and radar warning receivers on additional mini-pylons on the wing-tips and under the wings. Nevertheless, following the introduction of the Continental Reaper, the Tigress no longer represented the best air combat platform in Arthuristan service and was progressively shifted towards ground attack work.
Super Tigress FG.2
The Super Tigress was replaced in the 1980s. However, the FG.2 program was still offered as a private venture for those aircraft still operated by export customers abroad. The most important new addition was a Yisraeli EL/M-2032 multimode pulse doppler radar with air-to-air, air-to-ground and sea surface search modes. It was capable of carrying weapons such as the AIM-9L or Python-3 all-aspect heatseeking missiles, Skyflash or AIM-120 AMRAAM long-range air-to-air missiles, as well as the ACM-2 Renove anti-ship missile and other precision ground strike munitions. The DASH helmet-mounted display were also to be integrated when it became available later, as well as targeting pods for precision-guided munitions. An aircraft thus upgraded would have remained viable as a multirole fighter well into the 1990's and beyond.
Operators
Specifications (Super Tigress FG.1)
- Crew: one
- Length: 48 ft 9 in (14.85 m)
- Wingspan: 31 ft 8 in (9.65 m)
- Height: 14 ft 4 in (4.36 m)
- Wing area: 250 ft² (23.25 m²)
- Empty weight: 13,810 lb (6,277 kg)
- Loaded weight: 21,035 lb (9,561 kg)
- Max. takeoff weight: 26,086 lb (11,833 kg)
- Powerplant: 1 × Rollers Engineering Avon turbojet
- Dry thrust: 12,533 lbf (54 kN)
- Thrust with afterburner: 17,000 lbf (78 kN)
- Maximum speed: Mach 2.04 (1,400 mph, 2,253 km/h) at 40,000 ft (12,192 m)
- Range: 1,800km
- Service ceiling: 59,000 ft[8] (19,980 ft)
- Armaments: 2x 30mm rotary cannons, 4x wing hardpoints, 1x fuselage centreline hardpoint