Armstrong Whitworth AW.171

The Armstrong Whitworth AW.171 was a British project of the 1950s for a supersonic vertical take-off and landing flying wing. It was planned to investigate the extremely low aspect ratio delta wings that Professor A.A. Griffith proposed for supersonic transports. The design was a very slender delta flying wing with two Bristol Orpheus turbojets mounted at the wingtips and ten Rolls-Royce RB.108 lift jets, and the pilot was to lie in a prone position to reduce drag. Published figures give a crew of one, a length of 70 ft 10 in, a span of 17 ft 7 in and a gross weight of 17,500 lb, with a target speed of Mach 2.0. Work was cancelled in 1957 before a prototype was completed, so the aircraft remained a paper design.