Aviation Traders ATL-98

Aviation Traders ATL-98
Type:	Transport plane
Design country:	United Kingdom
Manufacturer:	Aviation Traders
First flight:	June 21, 1961
Production time:	1961-1969
Number of pieces:	21st

The Aviation Traders ATL-98 Carvair is a four-engine, combined cargo and passenger aircraft that was converted from the US airliner Douglas DC-4 in 21 units by the British manufacturer Aviation Traders Ltd from 1961 to 1969 . The position and shape of the cockpit , which is located in a hump above the loading area, is striking , similar to the Budd RB-1 Conestoga , the Bristol 170 , the Armstrong Whitworth Argosy and later the Boeing 747 . Like the DC-4, the C-54 does not have a pressurized cabin .

history

An Aer Lingus Carvair being loaded at Bristol Airport (1965)

Towards the end of the 1950s there was a need (through Sir Freddie Laker and his company Air Charter, which was later also called Channel Air Bridge and was later sold as part of British United) for an aircraft that could bring automobiles and their wealthy owners to their destinations transported across the English Channel between Great Britain , Ireland and France . The Bristol 170 Freighters and Superfreighters already used for this purpose had become too small due to the increasing volume of traffic. With many airlines selling DC-4 aircraft from their stocks, Aviation Traders Ltd. a number of these machines around. The cockpit was raised by 2.08 meters over the now continuous 24.74 m long and max. Relocated a 2.03 m high cargo hold, lengthened the fuselage, moved the rear pressure bulkhead 1.2 m back and raised the vertical stabilizer. Overall, the measures made the machine 900 kg heavier, which could be compensated for by savings in the interior. The bow could be opened for loading and unloading by a hydraulically operated flap that folded away to port . The first conversion began in October 1960 and the first flight took place on June 21, 1961 with test pilot DB Cartridge at the controls. The first machine (G-ANYB) was approved on March 31, 1962. The Carvair could carry five cars and 22 passengers in a compartment at the rear. The pure passenger version carried 85 passengers; However, other configurations were also possible on request. The name "Carvair" originated as an abbreviation from "Car via Air". The airline British United Air Ferries began operating this type in early 1962, which ended on January 1, 1977. The cost of an upgrade was initially around £ 105,000 per aircraft.

operator

A British Air Ferries Carvair, Southend (1974); the heavily rebuilt front trunk is clearly recognizable

Between 1961 and 1969 a total of 21 DC-4s (19 C-54s, 2 DC-4s) were converted. These were delivered to:

Aer Lingus (3 pieces, 1963–1964)
Ansett-ANA (3 pieces, 1965–1968)
Aviaco (3 pieces, 1964–1965)
British Air Ferries ¹⁾ (1 piece, 1969)
British United Air Ferries ¹⁾ (6 pieces, 1963–1966)
Channel Air Bridge ¹⁾ (3 pieces, 1962)
Interocean Airways (2 pieces, 1962), which flew under the Luxembourg flag.

¹⁾ Channel Air Bridge and Silver City Airways merged on January 1, 1963 to form British United Air Ferries (BUAF). This was renamed British Air Ferries on October 1, 1967 .

After the end of the transport of cars across the English Channel in 1973, most operators sold their Carvair to cargo airlines around the world.

In January 2007 three planes were still in service, one each at Phoebus Apollo (9J-PAA) in South Africa , Brooks Fuel (N898AT) in Alaska and Gator Global Flying Services in Texas . Three or four other non-airworthy machines also still exist.

Incidents

From the first flight in 1961 to July 2019, the ATL-98 Carvair suffered eight total losses. In 4 of them 24 people were killed. Examples:

On December 28, 1962, an ATL-98 from the Channel Air Bridge ( aircraft registration G-ARSF ) from Southend was used to make a visual approach to Rotterdam Airport in poor visibility and snowfall . Due to an approach that was too steep, the aircraft collided with a two-meter-high dam 240 meters from the runway, jumped up again and then hit again very violently 70 meters further. The right wing tore off, whereupon the machine turned to the right on its back and slid another 200 meters. The captain was killed, the other 3 crew members and the 14 passengers survived.

On March 8, 1967, an ATL-98 from Compagnie Air Transport (F-BMHU) lost altitude again when taking off from Karachi Airport and crashed onto a road bridge, destroying rickshaws and a truck. The take-off weight of the fully loaded machine was too high for the prevailing weather conditions. Four of the six crew members and seven people on the ground were killed.

On March 18, 1971, the nose landing gear of a British Air Ferries (BAF) (G-APNH) ATL-98 coming from Southend collapsed during a crosswind landing at Le Touquet Airport . All 18 occupants survived the accident. However, repairing the machine would have been uneconomical.

Technical specifications

Technical data of the Aviation Traders ATL-98:

Parameter	Data
length	31.27 m
span	35.82 m
height	9.09 m
Wing area	135.8 m²
Empty mass	18,762 kg
Takeoff mass	33,475 kg
Landing runway	650 m
Take-off run	1035 m
Rate of climb	198 m / min
Stall speed (without flaps)	191 km / h
Cruising speed	342 km / h
Top speed	402 km / h
Service ceiling	5700 m
Range	5560 km
Engines	4 × Pratt & Whitney R-2000 -7M2 Twin Wasp, each 1081 kW

Trivia

A Carvair made an appearance in the famous James Bond film Goldfinger from 1964 .

literature

Arthur Pearcy: Douglas Propliner's DC-1 - DC-7. Airlife Publishing, Shrewsbury 1995, ISBN 1-85310-261-X .
Helmut Kreuzer: All Propeller Aircraft 1945 - Today. Air Gallery Verlag, Ratingen 1989, ISBN 3-9802101-1-1 .
Maurice J Wickstead: Airlines of the British Isles since 1919. Staplefield, W Sussex, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 2014, ISBN 978-0-85130-456-4 .
AERO. Issue 16, p. 444

Web links

Commons : Aviation Traders ATL-98 - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ FlugRevue January 2009, pp. 92–95, Large Flap - Aviation Traders Carvair (with production list)
^ Pearcy, p. 128
^ Airlines of the British Isles , p. 98
↑ jp airline-fleets international , Edition 2004/05
↑ Accident Statistics ATL-98 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 23, 2017.
^ Accident report ATL-98 G-ARSF , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 4, 2019.
↑ Air-Britain Archive: Casualty compendium part 89 (English), June 2003, pp. 2003/095.
^ Accident report ATL-98 F-BMHU , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on September 18, 2017.
^ Tony Eastwood and John Roach: Piston Engine Airliner Production List . West Drayton: The Aviation Hobby Shop, 1996, ISBN 0-907178-61-8 , p. 11.
^ Accident report ATL-98 G-APNH , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 5, 2019.
↑ Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1963/64

[1] FlugRevue January 2009, pp. 92–95, Large Flap - Aviation Traders Carvair (with production list)

[Pearcy_S._128-2] Pearcy, p. 128

[Airlines_of_the_British_Isles_S._98-3] Airlines of the British Isles , p. 98

[4] jp airline-fleets international , Edition 2004/05

[5] Accident Statistics ATL-98 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 23, 2017.

[6] Accident report ATL-98 G-ARSF , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 4, 2019.

[7] Air-Britain Archive: Casualty compendium part 89 (English), June 2003, pp. 2003/095.

[8] Accident report ATL-98 F-BMHU , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on September 18, 2017.

[9] Tony Eastwood and John Roach: Piston Engine Airliner Production List . West Drayton: The Aviation Hobby Shop, 1996, ISBN 0-907178-61-8 , p. 11.

[10] Accident report ATL-98 G-APNH , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 5, 2019.

[11] Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1963/64