To work with this material, relatively exotic puddle welding fabrication techniques were employed along with extensive technical support from external companies.

Flight testing encountered numerous problems, including the excessive fuel consumption of the De Havilland Gyron Junior engines used, which did not permit the aircraft to fly at high speeds long enough to evaluate the "thermal soaking" of the airframe, one of the main research areas of the project.

The Bristol Type 188 had its genesis in Operational Requirement 330, which sought a high speed (Mach 3) reconnaissance aircraft, which eventually developed into the Avro 730.

Another British aircraft manufacturer, the W. G. Armstrong Whitworth company, provided substantial technical help and support to Bristol during this period; they had also explored the use of puddle welding for advanced aerospace purposes.

[7] North American Aviation used the same methods of argon welding of stainless steel honeycomb sheet metal for the XB-70 Valkyrie bomber.

The majority of the oval-shaped fuselage's internal volume was occupied by the fuel tanks; a large compartment forward of the wing housed the suite of electronic recording and telemetry apparatus along with elements of the refrigeration system.

[10] This choice of powerplant resulted in the Type 188 having a typical endurance of only 25 minutes, not long enough to conduct the high-speed research tests that were required of it.

Chief Test Pilot Godfrey L. Auty reported that while the Type 188 transitioned smoothly from subsonic to supersonic flight, the Gyron Junior engines were prone to surging beyond that speed, causing the aircraft to pitch and yaw.

[citation needed] In order to solve the aerodynamic and flutter problems identified, a large number of scale models were produced and tested.

However, this follow-up order would be eventually cancelled shortly after the Avro 730 programme was itself terminated during 1957 as part of that year's review of defence spending.

[1][7] During May 1960, the first airframe was delivered to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, where it underwent a series of structural tests, both heated and unheated, before it was transferred to RAE Bedford.

[2] The longest subsonic flight lasted only 48 minutes, which was largely due to 70 percent of the aircraft's total fuel capacity being consumed just to attain its operational altitude.

[2] Nonetheless, although the Type 188 programme was eventually abandoned, the knowledge and technical information gained was put to some use for the future Concorde program.

The inconclusive nature of the research into the use of stainless steel led to Concordes being constructed from conventional aluminium alloys with a Mach limit of 2.2.

Experience gained with the Gyron Junior engine, which was the first British gas turbine designed for sustained supersonic operation, additionally later assisted with the development of the Bristol (later Rolls-Royce) Olympus 593 powerplant, which was used on both Concorde and the BAC TSR-2.