Yes the British civil service has a long history of ignoring British engineers and just doing whatever the Americans tell them. A key example is Black Arrow. Or the TSR-2. Exactly the same with the PC. Imagine how it could have been...

The UK managed to mess up the TSR-2 all by itself [1].

[1] http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/Research/RAF-Historica...

Thank you for posting that doc. My Dad worked on TSR-2 avionics (at Ferranti) and I grew up entertained by tales of TFR and moving map displays. Interesting reading.

I remember being take out to CIT on a school trip and seeing the TSR2 sadly sitting at the back of one of the hangers.

A plane so hot that one of the protype's on a single engine could walk away from the fastest fighter of the era!

If I ever run a laundry files game 666 squadron will be using the advanced version of the TSR 2 rather than the Bombcords