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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 0639.PDF
MARCH IITH, 1943 heir Characteristics ARMSTRONG-WHITWORTH ENSIGN Cruising Speed 165 m.p.h. DIMENSIONS OF ENSIGN Span .. /23ft. Length / /4ft. Height .. • • . • • 23ft. Wing Area .. .. 2.450 sq. ft. WiEN originally produced, the Armstrong Whit-worth Ensign, designed as an airliner for ImperialAirways several years before the outbreak of war, was fitted* with four 850 h.p. 14-cylinder Armstrong-Sid - deley Tiger IX air-cooled radial engines, and had a maxi- mum cruising speed of 170 m.p.h. at 7,000ft. with a top speed of 205 m.p.h. at the same altitude. Its ceiling when fully loaded was 22,000ft., and it could hold 15,000ft. on three of its four engines; the normal range on 62 per cent, of its power was 860 miles. Two pilots (captain and first officer), radio operator and two stewards comprised the crew, but the passenger accom- modation differed on the "European" and "Empire" models. Nine oi these aircraft were acquired by British Overseas Airways for wartime service, for they were the biggest air-liners Britain possessed at that time, and the principal modification effected was the substitution of Wright Cyclone engines in place of the Tigers. The Cyclones fitted are the nine-cylinder G102A type developing 1,100 h.p. for take-off and 900 h.p. at 2,300 r.p.m. at 6,700ft. The all-up weight of the Ensign, however, has beep increased from its original 48,500 lb.'to more than 50,000 lb., and its present cruising speed is 165 ra.p.h. Top speed and other performance figures are not released for publication. The high cantilever wings, which are of moderate aspect- ratio and taper in plan and thickness to fairly square tips, are built on a single spar box of corrugated light alloy sheet.. The leading-edge is metal covered, and part of it is used for cooling the oil tanks. Aft of the spar the wing consists of a lattice structure of light alloy covered with fabric and fitted with split trailing-edge flaps. " Frise " ailerons are employed. The tailplane follows the same con- structional method, is similar in plan form to the wings, and together with the large single fin and rudder is fabric covered. The fuselage, however, is entirely of metal. It is an oval monocoque structure of light alloy built of transverse frames, longitudinal stringers and a riveted stressed skin.
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