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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 2065.PDF
OCTOBER 17TH, 1946 FLIGHT w arer w The Passenger Version of the Type 170 in Action : A Straightforward Aircraft with Solid Qualities IN THE AIR—XXI By " INDICATOR"W ITHOUT a capacity for mind-reading in an imaginary timeless world, it would be hardly possible to know exactly the thoughts in the designer's mind when he laid out the plans for the Bristol 170 in its original form. But certainly it can be taken that the machine was intended primarily to fulfil the need for a robust, compara- tively short-haul freighter pure and simple. The conditions of the post- war world, however, caused an im- mediate demand for passenger- carrying rather than freighter air- -craft, and the Wayfarer was conse- quently developed more or less con- currently with the original Freighter prototype. Both were entirely pri- vate ventures, and the fact that orders for more than seventy of the typos have already been received suggests that the formula, though originally worked out for rather specialized purposes—and even con- sidered by some to be retrograde in conception—has plenty of merit in the eyes ot the various operators. Ihe 170 can reasonably be thought UNTIL now " Indicator " has been dealing in this series with wartime military air craft, on most of which he has had con- siderable testing and ferrying experience. In this and later articles, he will deal with present-day civil types. Now peacetime conditions are likely to be restrictive—and especially so ;'or any essentially non-professional pilot. Civil aircraft are not always to be flown merely for the asking ; nor is it generally possible to put in more than a few hours in each type—and not necessarily as The pilot in ultimate charge. For half a dozen reasons the days have gone when any " accepted " all-type pilot could take forty-thousand- pounds' worth 0/ aircraft away by himself after a mere study of the pilots' notes. Save in the case of the majority 0/ smaller types, therefore, the impressions m this new series may need to be qualified by conditions But they should be interes»- ing and instructive not only against " Indicator's " background of experience with military types, but also with two tcore or so of pre-war civil aircraft of as a modernized and more practical version ot the " workhorse " aircraft exemplified by the Ju. 52, which, in spite of its faults, has probably given a longer period of useful service than any other type so far made. Certainly, the need for designing a taselage to accommodate bulky as well as heavy loads has produced somewhat extraordinary conditions for the Wayfarer's passengers and crew. The former can sit and move about in a cabin of more than com- fortable dimensions, while the latter, perched in what can really be de- scribed as a " flight deck," above, the cabin and ahead of the leading edge, have a quite unusually good view of the world at large, both while on the ground and in the air. Since the Wayfarei is primarily intended for short-range heavy-duty work, there may be a prevalent idea that the possible maximum endur- ance is a low one For surh de- livery trips as that across the Atlantic extra tanks are installed in the fuselage, but even the standard tankage offers a safe range of more
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