Here are the spec details. It was fast for it's day. With a Soviet bomber approaching about to drop a nuclear weapon, they intended to get up there before it could do it.
Or so they thought at the time.
Those cold war days must have been pretty scary.
I wonder if the Soviets would have actually attacked Western Europe if they could have gotten away with it?
Specifications
General characteristics
* Crew: One, pilot
* Length: 45 ft 0 in (13.72 m)
* Wingspan: 25 ft 1½ in (7.66 m)
* Height: 10 ft 10 in (3.30 m)
* Wing area: 274 ft² (25.5 m²)
* Airfoil: RAE102
* Empty weight: 7,400 lb (3,360 kg)
* Loaded weight: 18,400 lb (8,360 kg)
* Powerplant:
o 1× Armstrong Siddeley Viper 8 turbojet, 1,640 lb (7.3 kN)
o 1× de Havilland Spectre rocket, 8,000 lbf (35.7 kN)
Performance
* Maximum speed: Mach 2.2 (at 45,000 ft (13,700 m) [3])
* Service ceiling: 67,000 ft (20,420 m[4])
* Rate of climb: 52,800 ft/min (270 m/s) : 2 min 12 sec from brakes to 50,000 ft
* Wing loading: 67.2 lb/ft² (328 kg/m²)
* Thrust/weight (jet): 0.52
* Endurance at full power: 7 minutes[citation needed]
Armament
* Missiles: 2 × de Havilland Firestreak infra-red guided missiles