Originally planned to use an active radar seeker to offer all-aspect performance and true fire-and-forget engagements, the valve-based electronics demanded a missile of prodigious size.
Folland Aircraft won the development contract in February 1950 to arm the Gloster Meteor, weighing in at about estimated 600 pounds (270 kg).
After some initial progress, chief engineer Teddy Petter seemed uninterested in pursuing the design and the contract was cancelled in November 1951.
Problems with the General Electric Company (GEC) X-band seeker led to the missile having to be enlarged several times, eventually reaching a massive 1,330 pounds (600 kg), which made it too heavy for the Javelin.
Continued problems led Vickers to completely redesign it, abandoning the GEC seeker in favour of a simpler semi-active radar homing.
When British intelligence learned of new Soviet supersonic bombers, the Thin-Wing Javelin was cancelled in 1956 in favour of Operational Requirement F.155.
The missile would have to be lowered beneath the aircraft on a trapeze before launch in order for the seeker to pick up the signal from the fighter's radar.
The RAE were not impressed and developed their own preferred design, consisting of a bullet-shaped unpowered "dart" that was launched up to speed by drop-off solid fuel rocket motors.
In order for the weapon to be launched from far enough to keep the fighter outside of the bomber's fire during the missile's flight, the radio energy needed for tracking would demand a very powerful radar or a very large antenna to focus it enough.
In August 1948, the Air Ministry released a simpler specification for a weapon capable of tail-chase approaches against propeller-powered bombers like the Tupolev Tu-4.
[4] On 18 June 1951, Group Captain Scragg concluded that Red Hawk would not be available for some time, and suggested that it be re-directed as a pure fighter weapon.
This was intended for use by two-seat fighters, notably the F.153 thin-wing Javelin which was then under development, but also the De Havilland Sea Vixen and the single-seat Supermarine Swift.
[8] Folland was already involved in missile development with the RAE in the RTV.2 test vehicle, which began to suffer from delays and cost overruns.
Unfortunately, they found that when the weapon would have to be launched subsonically it would require a small rocket to get it up to the ramjet's ignition speed of Mach 1.3, adding 50 pounds (23 kg) to the design.
At the time, the design was to weigh 600 pounds (270 kg)[b] and be powered by four Buzzard motors from the Propellant and Explosives Research and Manufacturing Establishment.
This initial work led to an official requirement in June 1955, known to the Air Ministry as OR.1105 and the Admiralty as AW.281, for an "active radar homing all-round attack weapon system operating on collision course tactics.
"[9] The X band guidance radar from the General Electric Company (GEC) soon ran into problems, delaying the possible in-service date.
[13] The resulting yaw caused the plane to flip over on its back before the missile finally broke free and the aircraft lost almost 20,000 ft altitude while recovering.
Vickers eventually decided to start a complete redesign, abandoning the GEC seeker in favour of a semi-active system.
The thin-wing Javelin would have significant difficulties dealing with this aircraft and the Air Ministry put all its attention on newer supersonic designs that were being developed as part of Operational Requirement F.155.
The rocket motor was centered in the cylindrical fuselage and exited through a nozzle at the extreme rear, within a partial cone boat tail section.
This layout was largely retained the for final pre-production model, WTV.5, which added an extended ogive nose cone that took the length to 16 feet 1 inch (4.90 m) and reshaped the fins to add mach tips.