FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1947
1947 - 1358.PDF
176 FLIGHT AUGUST 14TH, iy.47 Civil Aviation News TUDOR NEWSO N the evening of Thursday, August 7th, the experimentalAvro Tudor VII visited the London Airport to give a demonstration flight. This aircraft is experimental onlyin having Bristol Hercules 120 engines in place of the normal .Rolls-Royce Merlins; in all other essentials it is a Tudor II.The purpose of fitting Hercules engines is to provide a little more power for take-off, and when the latest mark of Hercules,the 763, is fitted the present 1,715 h.p. per engine will be increased to over 2,000 a.p. for take-off. Both are two-speedengines, the present 120 being rated at 6,000 and 23,000ft according to gear. When the fitting of radial engines to the Tudor was firstdiscussed, it was suggested that the alleged swing on take-off, which had been the subject of a good deal of discussion atthe time, might be improved by having airscrews rotated in the opposite direction to the Merlins, and having what wascalled a symmetrical thrust line, i.e., with the airscrew and spinner in the middle of a circular engine cowling. It nowseems that these theoretical considerations had no effect. So far as A. V. Roe's Experience is concerned, the Tudors donot have any marked tendency to swing and certainly do not swing more than other large tail-wheel aircraft. On the testflight from Heathrow the first pilot, Mr. J. H. Orrell, who is Avro's assistant chief test pilot, opened all four throttles tothe stops very early in the take-off run and maintained direction on the rudders without any difficulty at all. He pointed outthat it was normal practice on all Tudors for the throttles to be wide open on take-off by the time 50 m.p.h. was indi-cated. The take-off weight at Heathrow was about 72,000 lb, or 8,000 lb under the maximum load. Demonstration at Heathrow In a forty-minute flight from Heathrow Mr. Orrell and hissecond pilot, Mr. Kenneth Cook, took the Tudor to the south coast, circling Brighton before return. They flew at about2,500ft, just under a layer of cumulus cloud, arid as a result the air was fairly rough. Except, however, for a slight shim-mying, similar to the yawing motion in a railway carriage, noticeable chiefly at the nose and tail of the aircraft, andattributed to flexing of the long fuselage in bumps, the Tudor VII was very steady. The silencing is particularly good, andnormal conversation can be carried on anywhere in the aircraft. It is probably the quietest of all the large aircraft operatingor demonstrated over this country. It is possible to feel a slight vibration through the floor when walking up and down thefuselage, but this is certainly not excessive. The crew quarters are above average in spaciousness and layout, and the pilots'cockpit, which contains only the bare essentials of instruments and controls, is exemplary. The furnishing of the interior, which is fully fitted out withseats, bunks and bar, is pleasing and quite luxurious. The colour scheme is in dark blue with light buff walls and ceiling.The spacious compartment in the vicinity of the bar and rear entrance was much appreciated, and the large windowsgive a very good view of the countryside below. The adjust- able metal lamps on the backs of the seats are not a goodfeature, in that they help to give an untidy appearance to the cabins, and several of them are responsible for an irritatingrattle. One of the main noises audible in the cabin was the, whistling and rushing of air around therear entrance door. On return to Heathrow the Tudormade an excellent landing, touching- down at about 80 kt. The speed atabout 2,500ft was 170 kt, indicated, with 33m of boost and 2,000 r.p.m. This Tudor VII was produced, or morecorrectly, converted, to the order of the Ministry of Supply, but no orders haveyet been placed. So far as the manufac- turers are concerned it is simply a caseof the customer ordering a Tudor II with the engines—Merlin or Hercules—whichhe prefers. Should he take four Hercules 763 engines, the take-off will be im-proved, the fuel consumption might work The Tudor VII, a Mk. II fitted with Hercules engines has improved take-off berformance and is noticeably quieter in the cabin. out slightly better at the present time, he would lost appro*;,mately 700 1b payload (the radial installations weighing j us^.under 200 lb more), and the price would be a little higher Speed and economy of operation depend upon operationalheight, but the exhaust noise from the Hercules would be less than from the Merlins. The Tudor VII first flew on April 17th of this year andhas done a iittle over 30 hours' flying to date. Incidentally, the modified and re-tested Tudor I is due togo to Boscombe Down towards the end of this month. The figures given for the Tudor VII with Hercules 1205are as follows: Still-air range, 2,800 miles at 10,000ft at 200 m.p.h. with full tanks (2,340 gallons); max. speed, 320 m.p.h.at 6,000ft; cruising speed at 70 per cent take-off power, 2]u m.p.h. at 10,000ft. B.S.A.A. TUDOR TESTS FURTHER details are now available of the results obtaineduring the recent trials of the Tudor IV in the West IiW1 British South American Airways undertook the tests,were part of the requirements of the A.R.B. for a certs'1 of airworthiness on aircraft to be operated in tropical clffcjand A.V-M. Bennet led the team of fifteen representatives from the M.C.A., the Corporation, Avro, Rolls-Royce, and theA.R.B. The outward flight was made across the North Atlantic owing to poor weather at the Azores, and the journeyfrom Prestwick to Gander took n£ hours. From Gander the Tudor IV was taken to Bermuda, through the Port of Spainto Kingston, Jamaica, where most of the trials were carried out. Water ballast tanks had been fitted and take-off testswere made at the al)-up weight of 8o,ooolb. We understand that there was no pronounced swing at any time, nor was thereany sign of buffeting at speeds much above the stall, and the crew were satisfied that without any major modifications thetype may be put into service without delay. There were minor defects which were mostly connected withthe unusual, equipment with which the aircraft had been fitted for the tests, resulting in poor air distribution and a highernoise level factor. On the ground it was found that some torm of air conditioning would be necessary in the hot climates,and efforts are being made to organize a portable refrigerating unit at all stops on the route. The pressurization system wassatisfactory for the few hours it was tried, but there again, full pressurization could not be maintained owing to theextraneous equipment and the difficulty of completely sealing the fuselage. At the maximum take-off weight of 8o,ooolb, ^thirty-two pas-sengers, 3,ooolb of freight and 3,300 gallons of fuel can be carried, giving an extreme range of 3,250 nautical miles.Tests showed that at a cruising speed of 219 knots, flying at about 10,000-12,oooft, and using 41 per cent M.E.T.O. power,the fuel consumption was 0.985 nautical miles per gallon. The take-off runs were found to be about 1,150 yards and thelanding runs about 1,000 yards, in calm conditions, at maxi- mum take-off and landing weights. B.S.A.A. have eight captains partially trained on Tudors,and the Corporation plans to fly, first of all, one flight on the east coast route as a dress rehearsal, carrying passengers. Fourof the type are on orde*, three of which have been promised for the end of September. They will be flown on the east coastroute until the Tudor Vs are available, and then the Mark IVs will be transferred to the west coast route. On the longestocean hop, from the Azores to Bermuda, the Tudor IV should be flown at almost full capacity load with safety.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
