Avro Albion AF-104 Archer

The AF-104 Archer was a third-generation jet fighter aircraft produced by Avro Albion, primarily for the Royal Air Force of Albion. To date, it is the last fighter aircraft designed entirely in Albion to be placed into mass production. It was the last Albion-built fighter aircraft to serve in the RAFA until the procurement of the license-built CGA-Albanair AF-239 Griffin.

The AF-104 was developed in parallel with the ill-fated Avro Albion AF-105 Arrow. The Archer was chosen to replace the CGA Sabre as Albion's primary day fighter, incorporating the Manitou Haida engine developed for the Arrow. It served as the RAFA's main fighter aircraft until it was replaced by the Grumman AF-144 Tomcat. Archers additionally served with other air forces, mostly receiving airframes secondhand.

Procurement and design
In the late 1950s, Albion revisited its air defense plans to focus on the threat of Soviet nuclear attack on North America via Alban airspace. At the same time, the RAFA undertook to replace its existing fleet of CGA Sabre day fighters. The increasing primacy of intercontinental ballistic missiles to the nuclear threat led to the cancellation of the Avro Arrow and the selection of the Republic AF-105 Thunderchief in the role of high-altitude interceptor, but a need was identified for a dedicated air superiority fighter.

In concert with the Arrow programme, Avro Albion had been developing concepts for lightweight aircraft better suited to the day fighter role. The most promising of these was the A104, a single-engine delta-wing aircraft similar in layout to the Dassault Mirage III being developed in France. With the future of the Arrow in doubt, Avro was quietly advised to consider alternatives. The company, while strapped for time and manpower, devoted resources to mocking up the A104. A prototype was ultimately privately-funded. The aircraft, which Avro revealed at the 1959 Augusta Air Show under the name of the Avro Archer, carried a single Haida engine and demonstrated exceptional agility for a surprised crowd.

The cancellation of the Arrow led to massive layoffs at Avro, but the company was able to retain the core design team around the Archer in the hopes of finding a buyer for the design. The company was aware that the government would be launching a procurement for a new Day Fighter Aircraft, doing so in late 1959. At the time, consensus was that the RAFA would select the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, which was coming into widespread use in US-allied air forces at the time. The Archer and the Starfighter were indeed the two finalists, but political opinion and public backlash over the cancellation of the Arrow - and its associated job losses - led the Perks government to announce in mid-1960 that it had awarded the contract to Avro.

The decision effectively bailed out the company: A failed bid would have led directly to bankruptcy, given the debt load Avro Albion was carrying to stay afloat following the cancellation of the costly Arrow. The contract for the new fighter aircraft, dubbed the AF-104 Archer by the RAFA, allowed Avro to bring back much of its workforce. The decision was politically popular in that the Archer would be built entirely in Albion and use the massive engine initially planned for the Arrow. Avro hoped to market the Archer to foreign and allied air forces in the hopes of further paying down the debt and recouping the losses from the Arrow program.

Design
Externally similar to a Mirage-type delta-wing aircraft, the AF-104 was built around the Manitou PS.13 Haida, one of the most powerful engines of its time. The engine delivered immense thrust, capable of putting out double the horsepower of the SNECMA Atar engine that powered the contemporary Mirage III. Test-flying the A104 prototype, Avro designers found the engine provided such a massive thrust-to-weight ratio that they could stand the aircraft on its tail and the engine would provide enough thrust that it could take off like a rocket.

The uniqueness of the Haida engine created challenges for the designers. The huge turbojet was built with titanium rather than conventional steels, saving significantly on engine weight but increasing both costs and maintenance time. The engine's massive output held the potential to push the Archer to incredible speeds. The second prototype, A104-2, reached a maximum speed of Mach 2.79, but was found to have suffered heat damage to its wings and nose from the sheer air friction of traveling at such a high speed. Re-engineering the aircraft to incorporate more titanium construction was rejected as too costly and complex. Avro designers ultimately opted to utilize higher-grade steel construction to improve heat performance at high-mach speeds and to place a soft limit on the aircraft, capping its regular top speed at Mach 2.35. This could, however, be overridden in emergencies.

The armament, initially envisioned to incorporate four cannons, changed dramatically from the design phase to the final product as advancements in guided missile technology appeared increasingly likely to obsolete pure dogfighters. The cannon armament was scaled down to two nose-mounted guns, and the wing geometry was adjusted to incorporate hardpoints for external stores. The third prototype, A104-3, featured a hardpoint beneath each wing and a third under the belly, a loadout which would extend to five hardpoints for the final production version, with the inner two wing hardpoints and the central hardpoint plumbed for external fuel tanks. While Avro initially harboured ambitious plans to employ the cancelled Sparrow II missile, in revived form, as the Archer's go-to ordnance, these were quickly dropped in the face of Avro's budget constraints, and the AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-9 Sidewinder were selected. The Autonetics NASARR F-15A-41B radar, the same one utilized by the Starfighter, was selected for the Archer.

The Archer's greatest shortfall was that it was an Alban design going up against the lobbying juggernaut at Lockheed. Efforts to export the Archer largely fell victim to the Lockheed bribery and lobbying efforts of the era. European buyers in particular favoured the Starfighter, partially due to the Lockheed bribery scandal but also due to the higher cost of the hard-to-produce Haida engine. Avro's inability to secure economies of scale for the production of the Archer would doom the company to go into receivership in the 1970s, when it would be purchased by CGA-Albanair.

Performance
The Archer was one of the superlative maneuvering fighters of the Cold War, combining the power of the Haida engine with the excellent maneuvering characteristics of the delta-winged design.

Pilot opinion on the Archer was initially positive, remarking on the aircraft's easy-to-handle controls and high speed. However, the single-engine design - as with that of the AF-105 Thunderchief - proved more controversial, and the high speed of the Archer made it particularly dangerous to fly at low altitude. At very high speeds and G-loads, the aircraft tended to experience jamming of the cannons. The reliability of early guided missiles was also suspect: Alban pilots found their Sparrow missiles would often fail to launch, and when they did, they would frequently fail to strike the target. Pilots would frequently rely on their guns in both mock and live combat. The aircraft's finicky tendencies earned it the nickname "Arsehole" among some pilots.

In the European theatre, Archers were initially operated in the low-altitude strike role, where their high speed made them extremely vulnerable to catastrophic pilot error. After several incidents in the late 1960s and early 1970s in which pilots crashed their Archers into German or Polish hillsides and trees at roughly Mach 2, the Archer was dubbed the "Widowmaker" by the press and some pilots. The RAFA withdrew the type from the strike role and replaced it with the AF-105 at low altitude, and the number of accidents fell precipitously.

The single-engine design of the Archer made it vulnerable to catastrophic failure. While a two-engine aircraft can survive a single-engine failure and limp to a controlled landing, the Archer had no second engine to fall back on. These failings were highlighted in June 1966, when an Archer of 615 Squadron flown by 1LT Robert Tierney suffered engine failure over the Northwest Passage. Tierney was able to bail out of the aircraft before it crash-landed in the sea, but the vastness of the Arctic impeded rescue efforts. By the time a rescue aircraft discovered a wounded Tierney, he was suffering the effects of hunger and exposure, and he would die shortly after being rescued.

Despite these shortfalls, the Archer proved to be a formidable air-to-air combatant with unique capabilities. At a time when the United States Air Force and Navy were moving decisively away from gun-armed aircraft in favour of such notables as the F-4 Phantom, the Archer packed a balanced loadout of both guns and missiles, and it had the maneuverability to employ them to full effect. The Archer was particularly deadly in maneuvering battles, where its delta wing design gave it the ability to out-turn and out-climb even smaller and tighter-turning Soviet types. The Archer's aerodynamic excellence was recognized even by the US military, and Archer pilots regularly acted as dissimilar adversary forces for US pilots undergoing TOPGUN training.

Albion
Avro Albion would produce 227 AF-104s for the Royal Air Force of Albion.

Archers were a key part of Albion's presence in the Guyana War, a conflict which illustrated both the AF-104's strengths and its shortcomings. The initial phase of the war saw Archers forced to operate from fields relatively distant from the main theatre until safe airstrips closer to the front could be secured by the Royal Navy. Once on station, however, the AF-104s served with distinction and demonstrated that the era of gunfighters was far from over. The RAF's Phantoms, new in service at the time, were fast and carried heavy missile armament for the time, but the relative newness of guided missiles led to reliability issues, exacerbated by the tropical climate. Further, the big Phantom lacked a gun, a critical disadvantage against Colombian MiG-17 and MiG-19 fighters, both of which were much slower than the big Phantom but far more capable in a dogfight. The AF-104, once in the field, was far better equipped to beat Colombian dogfighters at their own game. RAFA Archers racked up an impressive kill tally and were instrumental in gaining air superiority over Essequibo and later Venezuela.

One of the most notable actions by an Archer pilot came during the Guyana War, when an AF-104 flown by Lieutenant John Oszypko of 626 Squadron, joined by a wingman, deployed from Jenny Field to cover the rescue of a downed RAF air crew near Mazaruni. Oszypko's wingman encountered a fuel leak and was forced to return to base, leaving Oszypko to respond alone. Reaching the scene, Oszypko found British rescue helicopters being attacked by four MiG-17s. Bursting into the MiG formation, Oszypko downed one with a Sparrow missile to break up their formation. The Colombian MiGs formed up into a wagon-wheel to try and lure the Alban pilot into a kill shot, but Oszypko was able to maneuver through the circle and isolate another MiG, which he shot down with guns. He claimed an additional MiG-17 with guns before two Colombian MiG-21s arrived at high speed and struck Oszypko's Archer with an Atoll missile. Oszypko ejected but was killed on landing. For his valour, Oszypko was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, the most recent Alban to receive this honour as of 2020.

The Guyanese conflict saw Alban Archers rack up the most impressive kill ratio of the war, scoring 21 air-to-air kills for three Archers lost. Kills scored by Archer pilots accounted for more than a third of Colombian fighter losses during the Guyanese phase of the conflict. Albion produced one Archer ace during the conflict: Captain Kenny Palitzsch of 615 Tactical Fighter Squadron was credited with five kills (one MiG-21, three MiG-17s and a Su-7).

AF-104s served extensively in Europe, operating from Alban-controlled airfields in West Germany and France as part of overall NATO efforts to contain the Soviet Union. The aircraft also served in domestic airspace and would eventually take over interceptor duties from the AF-105 as these aircraft transitioned to a strike role. AF-104s appear in several notable photos of Alban intercepts of Soviet aircraft, including an iconic photo of an AF-104 intercepting a Tu-95 "Bear" off Alaska with HMRAS Princess Royal steaming nearby.

Alban AF-104s played an important role in the development of the US Air Force's TOPGUN program. Alban pilots, with experience dogfighting Colombian gunfighters in Vietnam, were often called upon to act as adversary flights during TOPGUN training missions, where the AF-104's excellent close-quarters maneuverability, high speed and heavy gun armament were employed in asymmetric matchups with American jets like the F-4 Phantom II.

In the 1970s, the Archer fleet underwent the Mid-Life Upgrade Program, bringing the remaining examples up to AF-104D standard. This upgrade replaced the radar with a more modern version with limited strike capability, improved the efficiency of the engine, and most importantly integrated canards to further increase maneuverability.

The AF-104D would prove to be the last Archer variant to see Alban service. The broader Archer fleet was retired between 1984 and 1987 with the introduction of the AF-144 Tomcat as Albion's new main-line air superiority fighter. A single Archer demonstrator unit remained in service until 1993

Denmark
Downsizing of the RAFA in the 1970s as part of the Labour government's ongoing efforts to reduce defence spending saw Albion sell 31 used AF-104s to Denmark. These aircraft never served in wartime and were retired by the late 1990s.

Salonika
In 1977, 12 used AF-104s were sold to the Salonika Republic as part of the overall downsizing of the RAFA. These aircraft would see regular use as patrollers and presence flyers in the face of hostility from Greece and Bulgaria. Two Archers were involved in a 1979 incident in which Greek F-104 Starfighters conducted a dangerously close intercept of a passenger liner inbound to Salonika from Rabat. The Salonikan Archers intercepted the Greek fighters over the Aegean. The incident broke down into a dogfight, resulting in the Salonikan pilots shooting down one of the Starfighters, killing the Greek pilot. The so-called Flight 156 Incident led to a rapid escalation of tensions, requiring diplomatic intervention by Turkey, the United States and the United Kingdom to bring the situation to a peaceful resolution.

Specifications
General characteristics


 * Specifications for AF-104A.


 * Crew: 1
 * Length: ~52 ft
 * Wingspan: ~28 ft
 * Height: ~15 ft
 * Empty weight: ~16,500 lb
 * Gross weight: ~22,500 lb
 * Powerplant: 1 x Manitou PS.13 Haida afterburning turbojet, 19,350 lbf without afterburning, 25,600 lbf with afterburning

Performance


 * Maximum speed: Mach 2.35 at 50,000 feet
 * Never exceed speed: Mach 2.79 at 50,000 feet (likely to damage the airframe)
 * Cruising speed: 925 km/h
 * Range: 3,600 km with two external fuel tanks
 * Combat range: 1,200 km
 * Service ceiling: 62,000 feet
 * Rate of climb: 34,100 ft/min

Armament


 * Guns: 2x 30mm ADEN cannon, 115 rpg
 * Hardpoints: 5x pylon stations with a total carrying capacity of 8,600 lbs of ordnance
 * Rockets:
 * 2x LAU-10 rocket pods (each with 4x 5-inch Zuni rockets)
 * Missiles:
 * Up to 4x AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles
 * Up to 2x AIM-7 Sparrow (wing stations)
 * Bombs:
 * 12x 250 lb Mark 81 bombs or
 * 8x 500 lb Mark 82 bombs or
 * 4x 1,000lb Mark 83 bombs or
 * 2x 2,000lb Mark 84 bombs
 * Avionics:
 * Autonetics NASARR F15A-41B