Handley Page HP.111. One of the three main contenders for the post-Sandys military strategic freighter/transport role. Ultimately, the Short Britannic 3 was chosen and entered service as the Belfast.

Vickers VC10 Military Freighter. One of the three main contenders for the post-Sandys military strategic freighter/transport role. Ultimately, the Short Britannic 3 was chosen and entered service as the Belfast.

The Short Bros Britannic 3 (the Air Staff’s least favourite choice for the strategic freighter/transport role) was developed into the Rolls-Royce Tyne-powered Belfast, which made its first flight on January 5, 1964. The type, of which only ten were built, entered RAF service in January 1966, this example, XR364, named Pallus, joining No 53 Sqn that year.

Short Bros Britannic 3. One of the three main contenders for the post-Sandys military strategic freighter/transport role. Ultimately, the Short Britannic 3 was chosen and entered service as the Belfast.

Had interceptor development been allowed to continue, three of the front-runners would have been the Fairey Delta 3 with Red Hebe missiles, and English Electric’s P.22 (with a rotary weapons bay) and P.23 Lightning derivative (with a mixed weapons load).

The P.22 with weapons deployed, ready for launch. The deployment sequence was as follows: bomb bay rotates to expose weapons bay; trapeze lowers; weapon is launched; trapeze retracts; bomb bay rotates to closed position.

Rotatable bomb­bay sequence with various weapons loads. The rotary bomb bay proposed for the P.22 was based on a design invented and trademarked by the Glenn L. Martin company in the USA, which used the idea on its experimental three-engined bomber/ground-attack aircraft, the XB-51, although the type was never put into production.