Avro Tudor
| Avro Tudor | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Type: | Airliner |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
June 14, 1945 |
| Commissioning: |
1947 |
| Number of pieces: |
33 |
The Avro Type 688/689 Tudor was a four-engine airliner made by the British manufacturer AVRoe & Company in the 1940s. The aircraft was intended for long-haul service between Great Britain and North America, but could not prevail against the US competing models.
The Tudor drew attention to itself soon after its introduction through a series of serious accidents.
history
In 1943, the first plans to develop civilian post-war aircraft emerged in Great Britain. AV Roe received the order to develop a passenger aircraft for the North Atlantic route. In order to be able to fly over bad weather areas, a pressurized cabin was provided for the first time on a British aircraft .
At first they thought of a civil version of the Avro Lincoln bomber . The designer Roy Chadwick then designed the aircraft with the Lincoln wings and engines and a new fuselage. In September 1944 the first aircraft for the airline BOAC were commissioned. The first flight of the prototype took place on June 14, 1945.
During the test flights, it turned out that the range was well below the required 6,400 kilometers. The capacity of only 24 passengers and the flight characteristics were also unsatisfactory. It was not until 1947, after numerous design changes, that six enlarged copies were delivered to British South American Airways (BSAA), a subsidiary of BOAC.
Since the Tudor performed significantly worse than the Douglas DC-6 , Lockheed Constellation and Canadair North Star , only a few customers could be won. Some machines were used as fuel transporters during the Berlin Airlift . Others were used as test vehicles. A jet-powered variant was the Avro 706 Ashton .
The designer Roy Chadwick was killed in 1947 when a Tudor prototype crashed. When two BSAA aircraft were lost over the Atlantic in the late 1940s, the Tudor was temporarily banned from being used for passenger flights. The remaining machines were partially converted into cargo planes by Aviation Traders Ltd and used until 1959.
construction
The Tudor was an all-metal airplane constructed in half-shell construction. The pressurized hull was given a circular cross-section. The wings of the low-wing aircraft were taken over unchanged from the Avro Lincoln, the retractable tail wheel landing gear came from the Avro Lancaster . Four 12-cylinder V-engines Rolls-Royce Merlin 621 with 1795 hp each served as drive .
In order to improve the sales opportunities, several variants were developed in the 1940s. Thus, the Tudor 2 was provided for up to 60 passengers, while the Tudor 7 of four Bristol Hercules - radial engines was powered.
Versions
| Tudor 1 (Type 688) | Original version for 24 passengers, 12 built |
| Tudor 2 (Type 689) | Hull diameter increased by 30 cm, stretched version for 60 passengers by 7.50 m, 5 built |
| Tudor 3 | Tudor 1 with VIP equipment, 2 built |
| Tudor 4 | partially rebuilt Tudor 1 with 1.70 m stretched hull for 32 passengers, 9 newbuildings, 4 conversions |
| Tudor 5 | modified Tudor 2 for 44 passengers, 5 built |
| Tudor 6 | Tudor 2 for 38 passengers (project) |
| Tudor 7 | Conversion of the first series Tudor 2 with four Bristol Hercules radial engines , 1 conversion |
| Tudor 8 | Conversion of the second Tudor 1 prototype with four jet engines Rolls-Royce Derwent , 1 conversion |
| Tudor 9 | Tudor 2 with four Rolls-Royce Nene jet engines , realized as Avro Ashton |
| Trader (Type 711) | planned cargo version of the Tudor 2 with nose wheel landing gear, not built |
Incidents
During the Tudor's period of use from 1945 to 1959 there were 7 total losses; 149 people were killed in 6 of them. Full list:
- On August 23, 1947, a Tudor 2 of the Ministry of Supply ( aircraft registration G-AGSU ) crashed near the Woodford factory airfield during a test flight immediately after take-off. All 6 occupants, 4 crew members and 2 passengers, were killed. Avro's chief designer Roy Chadwick was among the fatalities . The cause of the accident was a mistake in the assembly of the ailerons of the prototype.
- On the night of January 29th to 30th, 1948, a Tudor 4 operated by British South American Airways (BSAA) ( G-AHNP ) with 31 people on board disappeared without a trace between Santa Maria (Azores) and Bermuda . The cause of the accident remained unknown (see also Disappearance of the Star Tiger ) .
- On January 17, 1949 another Tudor 4B of the BSAA ( G-AGRE ) with 20 people on board disappeared on the flight from Bermuda to Kingston (Jamaica) . This time, too, the cause of the accident could not be clarified. Since problems with the pressurized cabin were suspected, all Tudors were temporarily withdrawn from passenger service. It was later discovered that an elevator that was deflected too far could cause the machine to dive uncontrollably (see also Disappearance of the Star Ariel ) .
- On March 12, 1950, came at a Avro Tudor V of the Fair Flight (G-AKBY) landing at Llandow , Wales , United Kingdom to stall and crash. 75 of the 78 passengers and all 5 crew members were killed. The pilots had lost control of the completely overloaded machine, which also had its center of gravity well below the permissible limit. At that time it was the worst aircraft accident in aviation history (see also Llandow accident ) .
- On October 26, 1951, a Tudor 5 of the airline William Dempster (G-AKCC) came off the runway when landing at the Bovingdon military airfield and only came to rest outside the airfield. The aircraft was destroyed, all seven occupants survived.
- On January 27, 1959, a “Super Trader” of Air Charter Limited ( G-AGRG ) left the runway in strong crosswinds during take-off at Brindisi -Casale airport; then the left main landing gear tore off. The cargo plane en route to Australia exploded and burned out, killing two of the six crew members.
- On April 23, 1959, another “Super Trader” of Air Charter Limited ( G-AGRH ) on the way from Ankara to Bahrain got off course in strong winds and flew into the 4058 m high mountain Süphan (Turkey). All twelve crew members of the cargo plane were killed in this last Avro Tudor accident; the plane was only found after six days.
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Type 688 Tudor 1 |
|---|---|
| crew | 5 |
| Passengers | 24 |
| length | 24.20 m |
| span | 36.60 m |
| height | 6.70 m |
| Wing area | 132 m² |
| Wing extension | 10.1 |
| Takeoff mass | 34,500 kg |
| Cruising speed | 453 km / h |
| Top speed | 512 km / h |
| Service ceiling | 9,180 m |
| Range | 5,840 km |
| Engines | four 12-cylinder V-engines Rolls-Royce Merlin with 1795 HP / 1320 kW each |
See also
literature
- Enzo Angelucci, Paolo Matricardi: World Aircraft - Commercial Aircraft 1935-1960. Sampson Low Guides, London 1979, ISBN 0-562-00125-5 .
- Tony Eastwood, John Roach: Piston Engine Airliner Production List. Aviation Hobby Shop, West Drayton 1991, ISBN 0-907178-37-5 .
- Harry Holmes: Avro - The History of an Aircraft Company. Crowood Press, Wiltshire 2004, ISBN 1-86126-651-0 .
- AJ Jackson: Avro Aircraft since 1908. 2nd edition, Putnam Aeronautical Books, London 1990, ISBN 0-85177-834-8 .
- Fred T. Jane: The Avro 688 Tudor I. In: Jane’s Fighting Aircraft of World War II. Studio, London 1946, ISBN 1-85170-493-0 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ John Stroud: Post-War Propliners - Avro Tudor . In: Airplane Monthly, December 1993, p. 47 ff.
- ↑ accident statistics Avro Tudor 688/9 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on 10 November 2017th
- ^ Accident report Tudor 2 G-AGSU , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 21, 2016.
- ^ Accident report Tudor 4 G-AHNP , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 21, 2016.
- ^ Gondrom-Verlag (ed.): Flugzeug-Katastrophen , 1996
- ^ Accident report Tudor 4B G-AGRE , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 21, 2016.
- ^ Accident report Tudor 5 G-AKBY , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 21, 2016.
- ↑ Tony Merton Jones: British Independent Airline since 1946, Vol. 4 . Merseyside Aviation Society & LAAS International, Liverpool & Uxbridge 1977, ISBN 0-902420-10-0 , pp. 492-493.
- ^ Accident report Tudor 5 G-AKCC , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on November 10, 2017.
- ^ Accident report Tudor G-AGRG , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 21, 2016.
- ↑ accident report Tudor G-AGRH , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on 21 January 2016th