"Armstrong Whitworth" "Argosy". A photo. Characteristics.

United Kingdom

A type: chetyrehdvigatelny transport aircraft

Capacity: two crew members and passengers to 89

It was the last flight of "Armstrong Whitworth» (Armstrong Whitworth) before it "disappeared" in the "Empire" "Hawker Sidley Avieshn". The plane "Argosy» (Argosy - a merchant ship) has been developed mainly for companies involved in air cargo transportation, but achieved the greatest success in the military role in the Royal Air Force ranks. In fact, only 17 aircraft "Argosy" were sold to civil society organizations in the early 1960-ies.

The aircraft was operated in Europe, North America and Australia. The interest of the military in this aircraft led to the fact that 56 of Argosi ​​aircrafts with Mk 1 were ordered by the RAF Royal Aviation Administration, whose crews nicknamed them "Whistling Wheelbarrow" (whistling wheelbarrow). Reducing the British military presence overseas and a staggering budget cutback led to the premature abandonment of the Argosi ​​aircraft just ten years after they were put into service. His tasks were handed over to the ubiquitous Hercules aircraft of Lockheed. A small number of those released after the withdrawal from military operation fell into civilian hands, but a huge part of the Argosi ​​fleet was scrapped.

The only surviving in a state of airworthiness of the aircraft "Argosy" is served in the RAF plane T 2 HR447, which sold the US company "Dinken Avieshn» (Duncan Aviation) and delivered in March 1976 years. The plane was hired by the Bureau of Land Contract Management Alaska until its decommissioning in 1991, after which it was donated to the museum Museum of Flying in California. Occasionally he flew the aircraft was then handed over 1994, in a small museum at Fox Field in Lancaster, California, where he removed the engines. Its present state is not defined.

Basic data

Dimensions:

• Length: 26,44 m
• Wingspan: 35,05 m
• Height: 8,91 m

Power point: four turboprop engines "Darth" 526 company "Rolls-Royce"

Power: 8920 l. from. (6654,32 kW)

The weight:

• BLANK: 22 680 kg
• Maximum take-off: 39 915 kg

Date of first flight:

• March 4 1961 years (Plane "Argosy" C Mk 1)

Aircraft performance characteristics:

• Maximum speed: 455 km / h
• Range: 2865 km

The surviving airworthy modifications in the hands of civilians:

• Argosy With Mk 1 Nebraska, in Santa Monica, California.