Armstrong Whitworth AW15
| Armstrong Whitworth AW15 | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Type: | four-engine airliner |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
June 6, 1932 |
| Number of pieces: |
8th |
The Armstrong Whitworth AW15 , also called Atalanta , was a four-engine airliner developed by the British manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft in the late 1920s .
history
The AW15 was created on the basis of a request published by Imperial Airways in December 1929 , which required a commercial aircraft for its African route network. The airline demanded a capacity of nine passengers in addition to a crew of three and half a ton of cargo. The aircraft should have a range of over 700 kilometers and a cruising speed of more than 200 km / h at an altitude of 9,000 feet. Armstrong-Whitworth's chief developer, John Lloyd, designed the AW based on the requirements. 15. This was a high- wing aircraft with four Armstrong Siddeley Lynx Majors engines of 260 hp each. This interpretation was submitted as a proposal to Imperial Airways in August 1930. Before an order was placed, however, the design was significantly revised - with the result of a now much larger aircraft, for which four Double Mongoose engines from Armstrong Siddeley with 340 hp each were planned. The motors later became known as the Serval. The prototype was named Atalanta and made its maiden flight on June 6, 1932.
construction
The construction consisted of a fuselage grid of girders formed from sheet steel strips. The cabin area was planked with plywood, while the rear part of the fuselage was covered with fabric. It was planned to cover the fixed chassis aerodynamically, but this was only actually implemented in the prototype. The wings were also designed in a composite construction with an inner steel frame and plywood planking. The plane could carry up to seventeen passengers. Imperial Airlines decided to only allow nine passengers on Indian routes and only eleven on Africa.
commitment
After initial problems had been resolved, the Atalanta took up liner service between London and Brussels and Cologne on September 26, 1932 . On October 20, the aircraft was damaged on a test flight. In order not to let this failure become known, the third machine produced, the previous Arethusa, was also named Atalanta.
Imperial Airways ordered eight aircraft, which were delivered by 1933. The prototype left on January 5, 1933, London-Croydon airport with the aim Cape Town in South Africa . Together with three other machines, it was used on the route between Cape Town and Kisumu in Kenya . On July 1, 1933, an AW15 carried airmail from London to Karachi for the first time . Two aircraft registered in India and two in Great Britain flew between Karachi and Calcutta , and later to Rangoon and Singapore .
Before the outbreak of the Second World War, three machines had already been lost. The remaining five came into the possession of the BOAC and were handed over to the Royal Air Force in India in March 1941 . They later received a machine gun as armament and carried out reconnaissance flights for the Indian Air Force . After the last reconnaissance flight on August 30, 1942, the last four remaining machines were decommissioned.
Names and marks
- Atalanta (G-ABPI)
- Andromeda (G-ABTH)
- Arethusa (G-ABTI, renamed Atalanta, later VT-AEF)
- Artemis (G-ABTJ)
- Astraea (G-ABTL)
- Athena (G-ABTK)
- Aurora (VT-AEG)
- Amalthea (G-ABTG)
Civil users
Military users
- Indian Air Force
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Data |
|---|---|
| crew | 3 |
| Passengers | 9-17 |
| length | 21.79 m |
| span | 27.43 m |
| height | 4.57 m |
| Wing area | 119.4 m² |
| Empty mass | 6323 kg |
| Takeoff mass | 9525 kg |
| Cruising speed | 160-176 km / h |
| Top speed | 251 km / h |
| Service ceiling | 4330 m |
| Range | 1030 km |
| Engines | 4 × radial engines Armstrong Whitworth Serval III with 254 kW (345 PS) each |
See also
literature
- Ray Williams: Atalanta - Part 1. In: Airplane Monthly, October 1980, pp. 506-511
- Ray Williams: Atalanta - Part 2. In: Airplane Monthly, November 1980, pp. 564-570
