The Marshal is a family of British Supersonic Swing-wing bombers designed and built by Midland Aerospace. It was primarily used by the BRAF, Luftwaffe, USAF, And French Navy. The early models were capable of 970mph at 30,000ft. The Marshal D, seen above, was capable of 1,283mph at 30,000ft.

Midland Marshal

USAF 9th Bomber Squadron Marshal D sitting in a hangar at Edwards AFB, April 1995. -

Role

Strategic Bomber

National Origin

United Kingdom

Manufacturer

Midland Aerospace

First Flight

June 3 1978

Introduction

February 5 1980 RAF
August 5 1982 Luftwaffe
June 6 1985 USAF
September 18 1985 French Navy

Retired

May 31 2019 RAF
July 16 2015 Luftwaffe
December 13 2020 French Navy

Status

In Limited Service with USAF

Primary Users

RAF
USAF

Produced

1977-1993 Midland
1984-1997 Boeing

Number Built

423
Midland 286
Boeing 137

The Midland Marshal was born out of a request by the Royal Air Force for a Supersonic Bomber, placed in 1970. Midland Aerospace was caught up in the design of another aircraft, and the SB627-18 project was consistently delayed until 1972, when enough resources were available for Midland to begin development of the aircraft. Originally, the SB627-18 Was to be a tri-engine Delta wing with canards, but the idea was quickly scrapped when the first 1/4 scale testbeds proved too prone to stalls at low speeds. In 1975, the new design, which did not yet have the iconic wings of the production model, was unveiled in a private test to a group of Midland officials and the British Defense Minister. The Minister like the design, but the Midland executives were disappointed with the top speed being just 790mph, and voted 14-3 for a redesign. To compensate for the low speed, the designers constructed a large, somewhat heavy variable geometry wing system. It gave the aircraft better handling, but the speed was still insultingly low for the number of engines. They further changed the design by incorporating two FHI Superhawk afterburning turbofans. This increased weight, but also increased the top speed to nearly 1,000 mph. The aircraft, now renamed Marshal, was first seen by the public at the Paris Air Show in 1979. It "stole the show" according to many, and was quickly compared to the Me-262 in how revolutionary it was. It was the first swing-wing bomber built in the west, and was also the first aircraft to make use of the FHI Superhawk engine. The aircraft also Famously had twin 25mm cannons under the nose for ground-attack tasks

Ag1 for Afterburners
Ag2 to open bomb bay
Ag3 for lights