Short Sperrin
| SA.4 Sperrin | |
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| Short Sperrin Gyron test bed (lower port engine) at Farnborough September 1955 | |
| Role | Experimental aircraft |
| Manufacturer | Short Brothers and Harland, Belfast |
| First flight | First prototype: 10 August 1951 Second prototype: 12 August 1952 |
| Retired | First prototype: 1958 Second prototype: 1957 |
| Primary user | Royal Air Force (intended) |
| Number built | 2 |
 Short Sperrin taking off and making a low pass
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Short Sperin at the 1951 Farnborough Air Show
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The Short SA.4 Sperrin (named after the Sperrin Mountains) was a British jet bomber design of the early 1950s, built by Short Brothers and Harland of Belfast. It first flew in 1951. From the onset, the design had been viewed a fall-back option in case the more advanced strategic bomber aircraft, then in development to equip the Royal Air Force's nuclear-armed V bomber force, experienced delays; the Sperrin was not put into production because these swept-wing designs, such as the Vickers Valiant, were by then available.
As their usefulness as an interim bomber aircraft did not emerge, a pair of flying prototypes were instead used to gather research data on large jet aircraft and to support the development of other technologies, such as several models of jet engines. The two aircraft completed were retired in the late 1950s and ultimately scrapped sometime thereafter.
The Air Ministry issued a specification on 11 August 1947 B.14/46 for a "medium-range bomber landplane" that could carry a "10,000 pound [4,500 kilogram] bomb to a target 1,500 nautical miles [2,780 kilometres] from a base which may be anywhere in the world", with the stipulation it should be simple enough to maintain at overseas bases. The exact requirements also included a weight of 140,000 lb (64 t). The B.35/46 specification required that the fully laden weight would be under 100,000 lb (45 t), the bomber have a cruising speed of 500 knots (580 mph; 930 km/h) and that the service ceiling would be 50,000 ft (15,000 m). This request would become the foundation of the Royal Air Force's V bombers, Britain's airborne nuclear deterrent.
At the same time, the British authorities felt there was a need for an independent strategic bombing capability—in other words that they should not be reliant upon the American Strategic Air Command. In late 1948, the Air Ministry issued their specification B.35/46 for an advanced jet bomber that would serve as a successor to the Avro Lincoln, the then-standard heavy aircraft of RAF Bomber Command, and that it should be the equal of anything that either the Soviet Union or the Americans would have. The exact requirements included that the fully laden weight would be under 100,000 lb (45.36 t), the ability to fly to a target 1,500 nautical miles (1,700 mi; 2,800 km) distant at 500 knots (580 mph; 930 km/h) with a service ceiling of 50,000 ft (15,000 m) and again that it should be simple enough to maintain at overseas bases. A further stipulation that a nuclear bomb (a "special" in RAF jargon), weighing 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) and measuring 30 ft (9.1 m) in length and 10 ft (3.0 m) in diameter, could be accommodated. This request would be the foundation of the V bombers.
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Wikipedia