Hawker Siddeley/Tupolev Chancellor (M)R.Mk.1

[Knightflyer]

XT592 / C 'Beorn'  No. 201 Squadron RAF Kinloss, Moray, Scotland. 1968








Arrival and into Service

The 'gift' of a squadron of Tupolev Tu-95RTs (Bear-D's) to the RAF following the UK Government's infamous 'lurch to the left' in the 1960s can be considered something of a mixed blessing.

Whilst for the government it had some propaganda value in that it could be seen as an acceptance by the Soviets of the UK government's new 'non-aligned' status, cynics amongst the world's political observers felt that the propaganda value to the Soviets of an leading ex-member of NATO receiving military 'aid' from its erstwhile foe was by far the greater.

On the ground (or perhaps on the runway would be a better term!) the value of the gift was perhaps more questionable. On examination by RAF engineers the aircraft were found to have been 'downgraded'; so although the airframes bulged with radomes and bristled with aerials, the relevant electronics had all been removed. Also the aircraft were no longer able to refuel inflight, but with an estimated unrefuelled range of around 9000 miles this was considered to be too much of an issue. So, whilst the stripped down state of the electronic payload could be seen to be a negative, the RAF did realise it had been presented with the basis for a (relatively) high speed, long range surveillance and maritime reconnaissance platform.

A contract was quickly awarded for the 'Britification' of the basic airframes. This brought a wry smile to the faces of the older team members from Hawker Siddeley (and those from Rolls Royce who came to look at the engines), who felt that following on from well-known examples of Soviet reverse engineering perhaps the boot was now on the other foot and maybe the Soviets hadn't quite realised the possible opportunities that they had given to their British counterparts.

A high priority engineering programme was created; which initially went by the title "British and Russian Engineering - Bear", invented (supposedly to convey the joint nature of the project) late on a Friday afternoon by a junior team leader who'd ended up with the task. This remained the project's name until the middle the following week when a more senior team member checked the acronym and boringly felt it wasn't quite appropriate. From that point the present (but boring) acronym (HaST) for Hawker Siddeley/Tupolev came into being.

On a related note, the mission acronym "Bear - Aerial Reconnaissance, Surveillance & Electronic Detection" also lasted a similar amount of time before higher echelons detected their junior colleagues humour.


However, under whatever title the project was referred to, British flight instruments and electronics were successfully installed (Rolls Royce's work to reverse-engineer the engines took longer, but spares and maintenance support for the existing Soviet engines was fairly quickly forthcoming) and the RAF took full delivery of its first 'new' Hawker Siddeley/Tupolev (HaST) Chancellor (M)R.Mk.1 six months after the aircraft had been received, the name Chancellor being chosen for the aircraft due to its Anglo-Russian connections and as a 'logical' progression from Shackleton.

The aircraft were camouflaged in a similar style to the MR.Mk.3 Shackletons, with the obvious differences of the wing and tail-fin white ID stripes (required under the terms of the newly signed London Protocol) and the Canberra style large fuselage 'Buzz-number' serials. Each aircraft received a large individual letter (randomly allocated) and also an individual name of a 'British' bear taken from literature or television*

(*special thanks to Rheged for his list of bears that I 'borrowed' from  )

[TallEng]

That's come out well
Is that Beorn the bear from the Hobbit?

Regards
Keith

[Knightflyer]

Is that Beorn the bear from the Hobbit?

Yep, that's the one    Rheged's full list can be found on the build post below (near the bottom of the first page)

http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,38563.0.html

"Beorn" was chosen for the model as it's short and has no repeating letters!  "Paddington" would have been a bit much! 

[PR19_Kit]

Ah yes, I like that!  

I see what you mean about it NOT needing an extra radome too.  

Maybe the serials could be a tad larger though, they wouldn't be able to read them from Murmansk when the aircraft were operating from Kinloss.....  

[Knightflyer]

Maybe the serials could be a tad larger though, they wouldn't be able to read them from Murmansk when the aircraft were operating from Kinloss..... 

THe best response for that is ..."If it was good enough for Canberras, it's good enough for ......." 

[NARSES2]

That's come out really well 

[sandiego89]

Great colors, glad you kept the "Soviet Tractor Green" wheels. Looks nice.

[Rheged]

XT592 / C 'Beorn'  No. 201 Squadron RAF Kinloss, Moray, Scotland. 1968



The aircraft were camouflaged in a similar style to the MR.Mk.3 Shackletons, with the obvious differences of the wing and tail-fin white ID stripes (required under the terms of the newly signed London Protocol) and the Canberra style large fuselage 'Buzz-number' serials. Each aircraft received a large individual letter (randomly allocated) and also an individual name of a 'British' bear taken from literature or television*

(*special thanks to Rheged for his list of bears that I 'borrowed' from  )

This is magnificent!!!
  I'm glad that the list was of use to you......... Isn't that one of the primary tenets of Whiffworld?  if we all share our ideas and stuff  our world becomes a nicer place to be.

[The Rat]

Very well done! 

[Gondor]

I like lots 

Gondor

[McColm]

The other maritime airfield was St Mawgan, great build.

[comrade harps]

Inspired! 

[Captain Canada]

Great job. She looks awesome in all her markings. Imagine residents running for cover as she did low overshoots in fog at places like Stornoway 

I love how much like a Shak she looks....especially that nose shot. Had to do  a double take on that one !

Beauty.....

[kitbasher]

Hello! 

[Knightflyer]

Hello! 

Hello ?