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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 1158.PDF
FLIGHT. APRIL 28, 1938. Great Britain's reply to the highly developed four-engined transports nearing com- pletion in America : The Armstrong Whitworth Ensign 42-seater with four 800 h.p. Siddeley Tiger IXs. ARMSTRONG V/HITWGRTH TN spite of some delays in the completion of the proto- "*• type Ensign for Imperial Airways, the Armstrong Whit- ("Flight" photographs.) Two types which have done an enormous amount of pioneer work on airlines in all parts of the world: the D.H.89, or Dragon Rapide (top), and the D.H.86, or Express airliner, shown in its latest form (86B) on the right. worth concern is to be complimented on having produced what promises to be a worthy -successor to the four- engined biplanes used for several years by Imperial Aiiki ways. Fourteen machines of the type are on order, and, the prototype is nearing the end of its tests. -; The Ensign is a high-wing, four-engined air liner fitted with Siddeley Tiger IX two-row radial engines of about 800 h.p. each. Outstanding among the features of tech-' nical interest is the immense retractable undercarriage'* which, when raised, is housed in the inboard engine^ nacelles, which are, of course, specially enlarged for the! purpose. ' Aft of the control cabin in the nose of the fuselage there are four cabins with accommodation for forty passengers, or, alternatively (in the Empire class), three cabins seat- ing twenty-seven passengers by day and twenty by night • with sleeping accommodation. The European class (forty passengers) has three lavatories, and the Empire class lias two. Mails and baggage are stowed in a hold on the upp'f deck of the central compartment. Data for the Ensign are: Span, 123ft. ; length, 114ft.; wing area, 2,450 sq. ft.; weight empty, 27,500 lb. ; weight loaded, 46,500 lb.; top speed4 200 m.p.h. (approx.); crins- ing speed, 165 m.p.h. at 7,000ft. ; range, 760 miles. Makers: Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, Ltd., Coventry.
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