Handley Page Jetstream
The Handley Page HP.137 Jetstream is a small twin-turboprop airliner, with a pressurised fuselage. The aircraft was designed to meet the requirements of the United States commuter and regional airline market; the design was improved and built by British Aerospace as the BAe Jetstream 31 and BAe Jetstream 32, featuring different turboprop engines. Handley Page was in an awkward position in the 1960s, wishing to remain independent of the "big two" British companies, but without the money needed to develop a large new airliner that would keep it in the market. After studying the problem it decided that its next product would be a competitive small airliner instead, filling a niche it identified for a 12–18 seat high-speed design. American salesman and modification engineer Jack Riley claimed to have written the design specifications; the design garnered intense interest in the US when it was first introduced, an order for 20 had been placed before the drawings were complete. Charles Joy was responsible for the design.
The original design dates from 1965 as a 12-seat aircraft. The aircraft was a high-tail monoplane of conventional layout. Considerable attention was paid to streamlining in order to improve performance, which led to one of the design's more distinctive features, a long nose profile; the fuselage had a circular cross-section to ease pressurisation, allowing much-higher-altitude flights and consequent higher speed and comfort than competing unpressurised designs. One drawback of the design was that fuselage was so small in cross-section that the cabin floor had to be "lowered" to allow stand-up passenger entry and egress through the rear door; this meant. Final assembly took place in a new factory at the Radlett aerodrome, but large portions of the structure were subcontracted, including complete wings being built by Scottish Aviation at Prestwick and the tail section by Northwest Industries of Edmonton, Canada; the original design used Turbomeca Astazou XIV engines of 840 hp, flew on 18 August 1967 as the Jetstream 1.
Throughout the test program the engines proved to be a weak point, being underpowered for the design, temperamental for what was a mature and used turboshaft design. Testing was moved to the Turboméca factory airfield in the south of France, both to allow faster turnaround with engine work, in order to improve the schedule by taking advantage of the better weather. In order to improve sales prospects in the US, the fifth prototype was fitted with the US-built Garrett TPE-331 in place of the French Astazou. Changing to the US-built engine was enough to allow the United States Air Force to consider it for cargo use, it placed an order for 11, fitted with a cargo door and accommodation for 12 passengers or six stretcher cases, to be known as the C-10A, or Jetstream 3M. The US Air Force cancelled its order in October 1969 citing late delivery; the first production model Jetstream 1 flew on 6 December 1968, over the next year 36 would be delivered. However, by this point Handley Page had given up on the original engine, the Jetstream 2 was launched with the larger 965 hp Astazou XVI, starting deliveries in late 1969.
The late delivery and engine problems had driven development costs to over £13 million, far more than the original £3 million projections. Only three Jetstream 2s would be completed before Handley Page went bankrupt, the production line was shut down in 1970. There was enough interest in the design that it was first picked up by a collaboration of investors and Scottish Aviation which formed a company called "Jetstream Aircraft" to produce the aircraft. A further ten Jetstream 1s were produced by this team. Scottish Aviation continued production of the Jetstream 2 as well, although referring to it as the Jetstream 200. In February 1972, 26 Jetstream 201s were ordered by the Royal Air Force, which used them as multi-engine trainers as the Jetstream T.1. Fourteen of these were modified as observer trainers for the Royal Navy, receiving the designation Jetstream T2. Jetstream Mk 1 Jetstream 200 Jetstream 3M Improved variant with TPE331 engines for the United States Air Force. C-10A United States Air Force military designation for the Jetstream 3M, production started but order cancelled and none delivered.
Riley Jetstream A few early Jetstream 1 aircraft were converted by Riley Aircraft of Carlsbad, California, to this version. The aircraft were fitted with two PT6A turboprop engines. Jetstream T1 United Kingdom military designation of Mk 1s for the Royal Air Force as multi-engine trainers. Jetstream T2 Conversion of T1s for the Royal Navy as rear-crew trainers. Century III Conversions with TPE331 engines; the aircraft was used by corporate operators and scheduled passenger commuter/regional airlines. ArgentinaAero VIP LibyaBuraq Air ColombiaADA SARPA Vertical de Aviación DenmarkNewair GermanyBavaria Fluggesellschaft United StatesAir Illinois Air US Apollo Airways Big Sky Airlines Dorado Wings Cal-State Air Lines JetAire Airlines Interstate Airlines Sierra Pacific Airlines South Central Air Transport Sun Airlines Texas Star Airways Western Air Stages Zia Airlines United KingdomRoyal Air Force retired 2003. Royal Navy retired 2011. UruguayUruguayan Navy former Royal Navy T2s. Retired 2010. 6 March 1970 D-INAH of Bavaria Fluggesellschaft crashed.
17 April 1981, Centur
Turboprop
A turboprop engine is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. In its simplest form a turboprop consists of an intake, combustor, a propelling nozzle. Air is compressed by the compressor. Fuel is added to the compressed air in the combustor, where the fuel-air mixture combusts; the hot combustion gases expand through the turbine. Some of the power generated by the turbine is used to drive the compressor; the rest is transmitted through the reduction gearing to the propeller. Further expansion of the gases occurs in the propelling nozzle, where the gases exhaust to atmospheric pressure; the propelling nozzle provides a small proportion of the thrust generated by a turboprop. In contrast to a turbojet, the engine's exhaust gases do not contain enough energy to create significant thrust, since all of the engine's power is used to drive the propeller. Exhaust thrust in a turboprop is sacrificed in favour of shaft power, obtained by extracting additional power from turbine expansion. Owing to the additional expansion in the turbine system, the residual energy in the exhaust jet is low.
The exhaust jet produces around or less than 10% of the total thrust. A higher proportion of the thrust comes from less at higher speeds. Turboprops can have bypass ratios up to 50-100 although the propulsion airflow is less defined for propellers than for fans; the propeller is coupled to the turbine through a reduction gear that converts the high RPM/low torque output to low RPM/high torque. The propeller itself is a constant speed type similar to that used with larger reciprocating aircraft engines. Unlike the small diameter fans used in turbofan jet engines, the propeller has a large diameter that lets it accelerate a large volume of air; this permits a lower airstream velocity for a given amount of thrust. As it is more efficient at low speeds to accelerate a large amount of air by a small degree than a small amount of air by a large degree, a low disc loading increases the aircraft's energy efficiency, this reduces the fuel use. Propellers lose efficiency as aircraft speed increases, so turboprops are not used on high-speed aircraft above Mach 0.6-0.7.
However, propfan engines, which are similar to turboprop engines, can cruise at flight speeds approaching Mach 0.75. To increase propeller efficiency, a mechanism can be used to alter their pitch relative to the airspeed. A variable-pitch propeller called a controllable-pitch propeller, can be used to generate negative thrust while decelerating on the runway. Additionally, in the event of an engine failure, the pitch can be adjusted to a vaning pitch, thus minimizing the drag of the non-functioning propeller. While most modern turbojet and turbofan engines use axial-flow compressors, turboprop engines contain at least one stage of centrifugal compression. Centrifugal compressors have the advantage of being simple and lightweight, at the expense of a streamlined shape. While the power turbine may be integral with the gas generator section, many turboprops today feature a free power turbine on a separate coaxial shaft; this enables the propeller to rotate independent of compressor speed. Residual thrust on a turboshaft is avoided by further expansion in the turbine system and/or truncating and turning the exhaust 180 degrees, to produce two opposing jets.
Apart from the above, there is little difference between a turboprop and a turboshaft. Alan Arnold Griffith had published a paper on turbine design in 1926. Subsequent work at the Royal Aircraft Establishment investigated axial turbine designs that could be used to supply power to a shaft and thence a propeller. From 1929, Frank Whittle began work on centrifugal turbine designs that would deliver pure jet thrust; the world's first turboprop was designed by the Hungarian mechanical engineer György Jendrassik. Jendrassik published a turboprop idea in 1928, on 12 March 1929 he patented his invention. In 1938, he built a small-scale experimental gas turbine; the larger Jendrassik Cs-1, with a predicted output of 1,000 bhp, was produced and tested at the Ganz Works in Budapest between 1937 and 1941. It was of axial-flow design with 15 compressor and 7 turbine stages, annular combustion chamber and many other modern features. First run in 1940, combustion problems limited its output to 400 bhp. In 1941,the engine was abandoned due to war, the factory was turned over to conventional engine production.
The world's first turboprop engine that went into mass production was designed by a German engineer, Max Adolf Mueller, in 1942. The first mention of turboprop engines in the general public press was in the February 1944 issue of the British aviation publication Flight, which included a detailed cutaway drawing of what a possible future turboprop engine could look like; the drawing was close to what the future Rolls-Royce Trent would look like. The first British turboprop engine was the Rolls-Royce RB.50 Trent, a converted Derwent II fitted with reduction gear and a Rotol 7 ft 11 in five-bladed propeller. Two Trents were fitted to Gloster Meteor EE227 — the sole "Trent-Meteor" — which thus became the world's first turboprop-powered aircraft, albeit a test-bed not intended for production, it first flew on 20 September 1945. From their experience with the Trent, Rolls-Royce developed the Rolls-Royce Clyde, the first turboprop engine to be type certificated for military and civil use, the Dart, which became one of the most reliable turboprop engines built.
Dart production continued for more than fifty years. The Dart-powered Vickers Vi
Miles Aircraft
Miles was the name used to market the aircraft of British engineer Frederick George Miles, with his wife Blossom and his brother George Herbert Miles, designed numerous light civil and military aircraft and a range of curious prototypes. The name "Miles" is associated with two distinct companies that Miles was involved in, is affiliated with several designs produced before there was a company trading under the Miles name; the original company was founded in the early 1930s by Charles Powis and Jack Phillips as Phillips & Powis Aircraft after meeting Fred Miles. From 1932 the company was based on Woodley Aerodrome in Woodley, near the town of Reading in the county of Berkshire. In 1936, Rolls-Royce bought into the company and although aircraft were produced under the Miles name, it was not until 1943 that the firm became Miles Aircraft Limited when Rolls-Royce's interests were bought out; the company needed to increase production of the Miles Messenger and to do so they took over a former linen mill in Banbridge, County Down, Northern Ireland for the production of components of the aircraft.
A hangar at RAF Long Kesh was used for assembly of the aircraft and flight testing was carried out at the airfield. The company moved to Newtownards following the end of the war in 1946; the company opened the Miles Aeronautical Technical School in 1943 under the directorship of Maxine Miles The school had a "Headmaster", Walter Evans. In 1947, the company entered receivership following bankruptcy proceedings instigated by Titanine Ltd. in the Chancery Division of the High Court. Titanine supplied Miles with aviation coatings used in the production of the Miles Gemini aircraft. Mr. Justice Wynn-Parry adjourned the petition of Titanine Ltd. for the winding up of Miles Aircraft Ltd. until 19 January 1948, on the grounds that the company had showed prima facie reasons for not yet having formulated a reorganization scheme. The petitioners, creditors for £5,837, were supported by other creditors for £62,000 and opposed by creditors for £200,000. An affidavit put into court showed that subject to audit, a loss of £630,000 had been incurred on 31 October 1947, but that a rescue plan could not be drawn up until the audit was completed.
The principal trade creditors were: Blackburn Aircraft Ltd. De La Rue Extrusions Ltd. Smiths Aircraft Instruments Ltd. and the Sperry Gyroscope Co. Ltd. Mr. F. G. Miles announced the payment of the 4% per cent preference dividends out of his own resources of £8,600. After Miles Aircraft had been taken over by financiers in 1947, the design and manufacture of aircraft was ended by the new Board. At this time the company had some £5 million worth of business in hand, including substantial orders for the Messenger and the Gemini. In 1948 an application by the Board of Trade for the appointment of an inspector to investigate the affairs of Miles Aircraft Ltd. was granted by Mr. Justice Roxburgh; the B. O. T. Case was that when a prospectus was issued in March, 1947, the directors should reasonably have been expected to know that all was not well with the company, when, in August, 1947, a dividend of 7% per cent and a bonus of 24% were recommended, they should reasonably have been expected to know that a big loss was being suffered by the company as reported in the Board of Trade Inquiry.
Charges were brought against F. G. Miles, they were 24 charges regarding publication of a Miles Aircraft Ltd prospectus with "false and reckless statements". The trial began on 10 May 1950 of at the Old Bailey. After 17 days of sitting, the jury stopped the case against Miles and Sir William, they were discharged, they had appeared on charges of inducing people to acquire shares in the company by making a misleading forecast and dishonestly concealing a material fact in a prospectus. According to Flight, "Twenty of the original 24 counts were thrown out before the defence was reached; the prosecution alleged that the defendants gave a misleading forecast that for 1947 the profit covering the production of aircraft would have been £75,000, whereas there was a substantial loss. It was alleged that they recklessly made the misleading statement that the company had orders on hand which were sufficient to ensure production for the following two years, that they dishonestly concealed the fact that a profit for the manufacture of aircraft in 1947 was unlikely."
Both men said. After the acquittal, an application for costs for £20,000 was disallowed; the aviation assets were purchased by Handley Page as Handley Page Reading Ltd. Handley Page produced the Miles-designed M.60 Marathon as the H. P. R.1 Marathon. The Miles Aeronautical Technical School was taken over by the Reading Technical College. Other products in which Miles had interests included photocopiers; the Philidas locking nut unit became an independent company. The bookbinding machinery and actuator production were taken over by a formed company, the Western Manufacturing Estate Ltd, the name "Western" referring to its location on the Woodley aerodrome; this company merged with the Adamant Engineering Company Ltd. to form the Adwest Group. Miles manufactured ballpoint pens designed by László Bíró through an associated company, the Miles Martin Pen Co. Ltd. In 1948, Frederick Miles founded F. G. Miles Limited, which continued to produce aircraft under the Miles name; the company was based on Redhill Aerodrome and Shoreham Aerodrome.
In 1961, the aviation interests were merged with Auster Aircraft Limited into British Executive and General Aviation Limited as Beagle-Miles Ltd, with George Miles as Chief Designer and Technical Direc
Hawker Siddeley
Hawker Siddeley was a group of British manufacturing companies engaged in aircraft production. Hawker Siddeley combined the legacies of several British aircraft manufacturers, emerging through a series of mergers and acquisitions as one of only two such major British companies in the 1960s. In 1977, Hawker Siddeley became a founding component of the nationalised British Aerospace. Hawker Siddeley operated in other industrial markets, such as locomotive building and diesel engine manufacture; the company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Hawker Siddeley Aircraft was formed in 1935 as a result of the purchase by Hawker Aircraft of the companies of J. D. Siddeley, the automotive and engine builder Armstrong Siddeley and the aircraft manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. At this time, Hawker Siddeley acquired A. V. Roe & Company, Gloster Aircraft Company and Air Training Services; the constituent companies continued to produce their own aircraft designs under their own name as well as sharing manufacturing work throughout the group.
During the Second World War, Hawker Siddeley was one of the United Kingdom's most important aviation concerns, producing numerous designs including the famous Hawker Hurricane fighter plane that, along with the Supermarine Spitfire, was Britain's front-line defence in the Battle of Britain. During this campaign, Hurricanes outnumbered all other British fighters, combined, in service and were responsible for shooting down 55 percent of all enemy aircraft destroyed. In 1945, the Hawker Siddeley purchased Victory Aircraft of Malton, Canada from the Canadian government, renaming the company A. V. Roe Canada known as Avro Canada a wholly owned subsidiary of Hawker Siddeley. Avro Canada underwent a major expansion through aircraft development and acquisition of aircraft engine, steel, railway rolling stock, computers and other businesses to become, by 1958, Canada's third largest company directly employing over 14,000 people and providing 45% of the parent company's revenues. During its operation, Avro Canada aircraft included the C102 Jetliner, CF-100 Canuck, CF-105 Arrow and VZ-9- AV Avrocar.
Only the CF-100 fighter entered full-scale production. Other design projects included supersonic transport passenger aircraft, a mach-2 VTOL fighter, hovercraft, a jet engine-powered tank, the hypersonic Space Threshold Vehicle. After the cancellation of the Arrow, the company began to unravel. In 1962, A. V. Roe Canada was dissolved and the remaining assets were transferred to the now defunct Hawker Siddeley Canada. In 1948, the company name was changed to Hawker Siddeley Group; the aircraft division would become Hawker Siddeley Aviation and the guided missile and space technology operations as Hawker Siddeley Dynamics. In 1959, the aero engine business, Armstrong Siddeley was merged with that of the Bristol Aero Engines to form Bristol Siddeley. In the late 1950s, the British government decided that with the decreasing number of aircraft contracts being offered, it was better to merge the existing companies, of which there were about 15 surviving at this point, into several much larger firms.
Out of this decision, came the "order" that all future contracts being offered had to include agreements to merge companies. In 1959, Folland Aircraft was acquired, followed by de Havilland Aircraft Company and Blackburn Aircraft in 1960. In 1963, the names of the constituent companies were dropped, with products being rebranded as "Hawker Siddeley" or "HS". In this period, the company developed the first operational, and, by far, the most successful VTOL jet aircraft, the Harrier family; this aircraft remains in service. In 1948, Hawker Siddeley acquired a factory in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, on the Richmond Road near Ham; this was to become their main headquarters. In 1957, Hawker Siddeley purchased the Brush group of companies that included Brush Electrical Machines, Brush Traction, which manufactures electromotive equipment and railway locomotives; the Brush prototype locomotives Falcon, the futuristic but over-weight HS4000'Kestrel', were produced there. Other railway engineering assets were acquired, including Westinghouse Brake & Signal and the engine builder Mirrlees Blackstone, which came with the Brush businesses.
In the early 1970s, Hawker Siddeley's Canada Car and Foundry subsidiary began to build rapid transit vehicles for the North American market. The first order was for the Port Authority Trans-Hudson line and consisted of 46 PA-3 cars numbers 724–769, which were based on the original hexagonal profile PA-1 & PA-2 cars designed and built by the St. Louis Car Company during 1966–67. Hawker Siddeley would sell the same general design to the MBTA in Boston for their Blue and Orange Lines. 70 48' cars were delivered to the Blue Line in 1978–80 and 120 65' cars were delivered to the Orange Line in 1980–81. Hawker Siddeley manufactured much of the Toronto subway system's older rolling stock, the H5 and H6 models; the heavy rail manufacturing business, based in Mississauga and Thunder Bay, are now part of Bombardier Transportation. MBTA bought a number of commuter rail coaches from the German firm Messerschmitt, thereby teaming Hawker Siddeley with its old World War II rival under the same organisation.
On 29 April 1977, as a result of the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977, Hawker Siddeley Aviation and Dynamics were nationalised and merged with British Aircraft Corporation and Scottish Aviation to form British Aerospace. However, HSA and HSD accounted for only 25% of the Hawker Siddeley business by this time, the non-aviation an
Bombardier Inc.
Bombardier Inc. is a multinational aerospace and transportation company based in Montreal, Canada. Bombardier started as a maker of snowmobiles, is now a large manufacturer of regional airliners, business jets, mass transportation equipment, as well as a provider of financial services. Bombardier was founded by Joseph-Armand Bombardier as L'Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitée on July 10, 1942, at Valcourt in the Eastern Townships, Quebec. A mechanic who dreamed of building a vehicle that could "float on snow. Bombardier's technological breakthrough in the design of bush vehicles came in the mid-1930s when he developed a drive system that revolutionized travel in snow and swampy conditions. In 1937, Bombardier sold 12 snowmobiles, named the B7 and, in 1942, created l'Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitée company; the first snowmobiles were large, multipassenger vehicles designed to help people get around during the long winter months. Snowmobiles were used in rural Quebec to take children to school, carry freight, deliver mail, as ambulances.
His invention filled a particular need in the region and soon business was booming. In 1941, Armand opened a new factory in Valcourt. A major setback hit the growing business: the Second World War was well underway and the Canadian government issued wartime rationing regulations. Bombardier customers had to prove that snowmobiles were essential to their livelihood in order to buy one. To keep his business going, Armand developed vehicles for the military. After the war, Bombardier experienced another setback in his snowmobile business. In 1948, the Quebec government passed a law requiring all highways and local roads to be cleared of snow. Armand Bombardier therefore decided to diversify his business, first by producing tracked snowplows sized for use on municipal sidewalks by making all-terrain vehicles for the mining and forestry industries. Of note, the machines had removable front skis that could be replaced with front wheels for use on paved or hard surfaces, thus providing greater utility to his large snowmobiles.
Production of these machines evolved over time. During 1951, the wooden bodies were replaced with sheet steel and these vehicles were powered by Chrysler flathead six-cylinder engines and 3-speed manual transmissions. In the 1960s, V-8 engines began to appear and during the 1969/1970 production years, the standard round "porthole"-style windows were replaced with larger rectangular windows which allowed more interior light and made them feel less claustrophobic. Following these changes came the switchover to more reliable Chrysler Industrial 318 engines with the automatic Loadflite transmissions. Production of these machines continued into the mid-1970s. Bombardier wanted to develop a lightweight snowmobile that could carry one or two people. In the early 1950s, Armand set aside his dream to focus on developing his company's other tracked vehicles, but by the end of the decade, more efficient engines had been developed and were starting to come onto the market. Bombardier resumed his efforts to build a "miniature" snowmobile.
He worked alongside his eldest son Germain. Armand and Germain developed several prototypes of the lightweight snowmobile and the first Bombardier snowmobile went on sale in 1959; the Ski-Doo snowmobile was called the "Ski-Dog" because Bombardier meant it to be a practical vehicle to replace the dogsled for hunters and trappers. By an accident, a painter painted "Ski-Doo" on the first prototype; the public soon discovered. A new winter sport was born, centred in Quebec. In the first year, Bombardier sold 225 Ski-Doos, but Armand was reluctant to focus too much on the Ski-Doo and move resources away from his all-terrain vehicles. He vividly remembered his earlier business setbacks. Armand slowed down promotion of the Ski-Doo line to prevent it from dominating the other company products, while still allowing him to dominate the snowmobile industry; the snowmobiles produced were of exceptional quality and performance, earning a better reputation than the rival Polaris and Arctic Cat brand of motosleds.
In 1971, Bombardier completed the purchase of the Moto-Ski company. On February 18, 1964, J. Armand Bombardier died of cancer at age 56, he left behind a thriving business, but one, focused on one person. Armand dominated his company, he controlled the small research department. By the time of his death, sales of the company had reached C$20 million, the equivalent of C$160 million in 2004 dollars; the younger generation took over, led by Armand's sons-in-law. The young team reorganized and decentralized the company, adopting modern business tactics; the company adopted the latest technological innovation—the computer—to handle inventory and billing. Distribution networks were improved and increased, an incentive program was developed for sales staff. In 1967, L'Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitée was renamed Bombardier Limited and on January 23, 1969, the company went public, listing on the Montreal and Toronto stock exchanges. In October 2016, Bombardier Inc. anno
Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer
The Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer was a British STOL transport aircraft built by Scottish Aviation Limited at Prestwick Airport, during the 1950s. It was designed for both military operators, it was conceived as a twin-engined version of the Pioneer light transport. Both aircraft required "an area only 30m by 275m in which to operate." Powered by two Alvis Leonides 531 radial engines, the Twin Pioneer was a high-wing cabin monoplane with a triple fin and rudder assembly and fixed tailwheel undercarriage. The prototype Twin Pioneer, registered G-ANTP, first flew at Prestwick Airport on 25 June 1955. Flight trials proved that the aircraft had a short landing run and the aircraft was displayed at the September 1955 Society of British Aircraft Constructors Show at Farnborough. Three pre-production aircraft were built for trials, sales and demonstrations. In 1958, the 33rd aircraft was used as a prototype for the Series 2 with Pratt & Whitney Wasp R-1340 radial engines, ordered by Philippine Air Lines.
A Series 3 aircraft was developed to use the improved Alvis Leonides 531 radial engine. The military version could carry external stores such as bombs under the stub wings. One aircraft became the first aircraft for the newly formed Royal Malaysian Air Force when it was delivered on 16 January 1962; the Royal Air Force ordered 39 aircraft, which were built between 1958 and 1959, deployed in Aden and the Far East. It was used extensively by British forces in the Malayan Emergency and the confrontation in Borneo. In August 1959, No. 78 Squadron RAF at Khormaksar received some Twin Pioneers to supplement its single engine Pioneers. The Twin Pioneers were employed in moving troops and supplies around the wilderness and on occasions lending support to the Sultan of Oman. A series of double engine failures caused problems with the squadron losing two aircraft on the same day. Unsuitable soft and hard landing strips were causes of failures during landings. Other squadrons that operated the Twin Pioneers were No. 152 Squadron RAF based at Muharraq in Bahrain: No. 21 Squadron RAF, which reformed with the type at Benson in May 1959.
The squadron moved to Kenya and in June 1965 to Aden. No. 152 operated around the Persian Gulf and in 1959, No. 209 Squadron RAF based at Seletar began to receive Twin Pioneers. These operated in Malaya; the SRCU at RAF Odiham flew three Twin Pioneers for aircrew training. RAF No. 230 Squadron in the UK was the last military operator of the Twin Pioneer. The squadron operated the type in an interesting sand-colour camouflage scheme. Although used in military operations, the Twin Pioneer was successful as a commercial transport for operation in areas without proper airfields, where unprepared surfaces were the norm. Twin Pioneers were sold as survey aircraft to oil exploration companies with some of the first sales to Rio Tinto Finance and Exploration Limited, the Austrian and Swiss government survey departments. Three were used by the'Kroonduif' in Dutch New Guinea. One Twin Pioneer served as a STOL training aircraft with the Empire Test Pilot School at RAE Farnborough for many years. Twin Pioneer: Prototype aircraft with Alvis Leonides 503 radial engines, one built.
Twin Pioneer Series 1: Production aircraft with Alvis Leonides 514 radial engines. Twin Pioneer CC. Mk 1: Military version of the Series 1 for the Royal Air Force, 32 built. Twin Pioneer Series 2: Production aircraft with Pratt & Whitney R-1340 radial engines. Twin Pioneer Series 3: Production aircraft with Alvis Leonides 531 radial engines. Twin Pioneer CC. Mk 2: Military version of the Series 3 for the Royal Air Force, 7 built. Australia Austria Canada Ecuador Iceland Indonesia Iran Kuwait Laos Malaysia Mexico Nepal Netherlands New Guinea Nigeria Crown Colony of North Borneo NorwayFjellfly Philippines Sierra Leone Switzerland United Kingdom United States MalaysiaRoyal Malaysian Air Force received 14 aircraft. Nepal OmanSultan of Oman's Air Force United KingdomRoyal Air Force No. 21 Squadron RAF No. 78 Squadron RAF No. 152 Squadron RAF No. 209 Squadron RAF No. 225 Squadron RAF No. 230 Squadron RAF No. 224 Group Support Flight No. 1310 Flight RAF RAF Katuanayake Station Flight operated one aircraft.
RAF Odiham Station Flight Empire Test Pilots' School Short Range Conversion Unit AirworthyTwin Pioneer Mk 3 VH-SYS at Wedderburn Airstrip, SydneyOn displayTwin Pioneer Mk 1 VH-AIS at Bradfield. Queensland. Twin Pioneer Mk3 VH-EVC at Bankstown Aviation Museum, Sydney On displayTwin Pioneer Mk 3 FM1001 at the Royal Malaysian Air Force Museum Twin Pioneer Mk 3 FM1064 at the Melaka Transport Museum On displayTwin Pioneer CC.1 XL993 at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, England. Twin Pioneer Mk 2 G-BBVF at the National Museum of East Fortune, Scotland. Twin Pioneer Mk 2 G-APRS at the Classic Air Force, England. Stored or under restorationTwin Pioneer Mk 3 G-AZHJ at the Classic Air Force, England. A recorded loss of a Twin Pioneer occurred on take off from Limbang Airport on 17 May 1967; the aircraft, operated by Malaysia-Singapore Airlines, carried the registration 9M-ANC. The cause was given as unknown. In Royal Air Force service only three aircraft had fatal accidents: 2 March 1961 – XL966 of 21 Squadron flew into rising ground at Mount Meru, Tanzania, one killed.
14 February 1963 – XN318 of 209 Squadron flew into a wooded cliff in Borneo, all five onboard killed. 18 April
Prestwick
Prestwick is a town in South Ayrshire on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland about 30 miles south-west of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr to the south on the Firth of Clyde coast, the centre of, about 2 miles south, it had a population of 14,901 at the 2011 census. The town is served by Glasgow Prestwick Airport, which serves many European destinations as well as transatlantic and other international cargo flights; the town was the first home of the Open Golf Championship, played on the Prestwick Old Course from 1860 to 1872. Prestwick lies on the south-west coast of Scotland 30 miles to the south west of Glasgow, it adjoins the larger town of Ayr, the centre of, 2 miles south. To the north of Prestwick is the small village of Monkton. Prestwick's name comes from the Old English for, priest's farm: preost meaning "priest" and wic meaning "farm"; the town was an outlying farm of a religious house. George T. Flom suggested. In this case, it would mean "priest's bay". From Robert the Bruce to James VI, King of Scots, numerous Kings have traversed the coastal walks in and around Prestwick and Troon.
Bruce is reputed to have been cured of leprosy by the waters of the well at St Ninians church. The well still exists behind the church. Although it has been a Burgh of Barony for over a thousand years, it was a village until the railway arrived in the 1840s and the middle class from Glasgow started to build large houses along the coast; the Prestwick Bathing Lake, known as the Lido, was opened in 1931 by the Secretary of State for Scotland, William Adamson. It was the largest swimming pool north of the border, it could accommodate 3000 spectators. It hosted swimming galas, diving exhibitions, moonlight swimming sessions and regular fireworks displays and was the venue of some of the Miss Scotland competitions, it was subsequently demolished. On 28 August 1944, a Douglas C-54 Skymaster of the United States Army Air Forces, on approach into Glasgow Prestwick Airport in bad weather, crashed into a residential area of Prestwick, killing all 20 passengers and crew and five people on the ground. Glasgow Prestwick Airport Prestwick International Airport, opened in the 1930s.
The airport was a transatlantic gateway for over half a century. It lies close to, was the last European re-fuelling way-point on, the Great Circle route from London via Thule in Greenland to San Francisco - now no longer relevant for modern aircraft with non-stop range. During World War II the US Air Force had a base at the airport, Elvis Presley set foot in the UK for the only time there in 1960, when his US Army transport aircraft stopped for refuelling en route from Germany. Though a period of decline in the 1980s and 1990s saw it lose its status as Scotland's primary transatlantic airport, Prestwick continues to handle US military flights. In July 2005, the airport was the main transport hub for world leaders attending the G8 conference in Gleneagles; the airport now caters to Ryanair. In addition, BAE Systems, Goodrich Corporation, Spirit AeroSystems and GE Aircraft Engines have maintenance/manufacturing facilities adjacent to the airfield. Ryanair has maintenance facilities at Prestwick.
Prestwick has a Royal Navy Air Station known as HMS Gannet, where Sea King search and rescue helicopters are stationed. Prestwick is a major air traffic control centre, with both the Scottish Air Traffic Control Centre and Prestwick Oceanic Area Control Centre located at the NATS owned'Scottish and Oceanic Area Control Centre'. Prestwick is on the Ayrshire Coast Line between Glasgow Ayr. Three trains per hour call at both Prestwick Town and Prestwick International Airport, with additional services at peak times. Glasgow is 50 minutes from Prestwick by rail; the line continues south to the port of Stranraer on the Wigtownshire coast, but a change of trains at Ayr is required. The bus routes that run through Prestwick are run by Stagecoach Western including an express service to and from Glasgow known as the "X77"; the A79 road runs directly through the town, is reached from the A77 trunk road between Glasgow and Stranraer, or from the A78 Ayrshire coastal route to Largs and Greenock. The remains of the old parish church are located near Prestwick railway station.
Thought to have been built in the 12th century, the small church building is now a ruin, is surrounded by an ancient graveyard. Andrew Strath, "Keeper of the Green" at Prestwick Golf Club in the 1860s, is buried in the cemetery. Prestwick has a 1-mile long esplanade alongside part of the Firth of Clyde, it has two children's playgrounds. At the north end Kid'zplay, an indoor activity centre, can be found next to the large play-area, a large open air swimming pool. Parallel to the esplanade is a line of large houses overlooking Arran; the Prestwick Old Course hosted the first Open Golf Championship in 1860. The first twelve Open Championships were played there, from 1860 to 1872.. The town hosts two other golf courses, St. Nicholas and St. Cuthberts. St. Nicholas is a traditional links course south of the town. Prestwick St Ninians Golf Club was founded in 1912; the club continued until the 1950s. The Shaw Monument stands on the high ground overlooking Prestwick Airport. On Ardayre Road in Prestwick is a Polish memorial.
Its origins can be traced to a memorial erected by the Polish Air Force at Monkton. Discovered there in a dilapidated and v
