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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 0346.PDF
220 FUGHT FERRY TO AMBASSADOR . . . was both uphill and towards some trees. Notwithstanding adviceto the contrary, Findiay took off and struck the trees; both he and Mr. Morgan, the radio operator, were fatally injured. KenWaller and the other occupant, Mr. Peachey, were little hurt. Late in 1936 die company announced the Series III Envoy,characterized by stressed-skin, plywood-covered wings, which obviated the Warren-girder inter-spar bracing.At the annual general meeting on the last day of 1936, the chairman—then Mr. George Wigham Richardson—said he wasdisappointed to have to present accounts showing a loss on the year's trading. This state of affairs was almost entirely dueto the smallness of the turnover. Contracts, however, had been received from the Government for three different types ofmilitary aircraft, and the total value of orders on the books for civil and military machines was about £700,000. So futureprospects were certainly not unfavourable. It transpired that one of the military types to which thechairman had referred was the AS-10 Oxford trainer, a develop- ment of the Envoy and destined to became the most famousof Airspeed products up till the immediate post-war period. Apart from functioning as a transitional trainer for flyinginstruction including instrument flying, it was designed to pro- vide for tuition in navigation, night flying, radio, gunnery andvertical photography. The invitation to submit designs for such a trainer had been received in 1935 and considerable develop-ment from the originally considered Envoy was natural enough in view of the varied requirements. The other two aircraftmentioned were, no doubt, the target aircraft Queen Wasp The " Flight " photograph immediately below was secured on passage to Arnhem, and depicts a Horsa glider as seen from its Stirling tug. Horsas of the Arnhem forte, arrayed before departure, are seen in the second picture. A powered Horsa was projected, but never built. The beautiful Envoy for the use of floyofty and State personages. (colloquially known as the " Clay Pigeon " at one period), whichwas under construction, and a " special defence machine." This aircraft was designed to trail cables carrying explosives and wasnot further developed because its role was, of course, superseded by the barrage balloon. Envoys continued to sell strongly, not solely to commercialoperators, but among private owners as well. Two superb examples went into the services of the Maharajahs of Jaipurand Indore, and a third to the managing director of a great Czechoslovakian steel corporation. It is interesting to remem-ber the relatively low cost of aircraft in those days. One of the earner standard Envoys was priced at £4,500, while the Couriershad been sold for £3,200 and the Ferry for a figure as low as £3,975. In April, 1937, the news came out of a special Envoy for thetransport of Royalty and State personages, accommodating four passengers. The aircraft carried a steward and wireless operatorin addition to W/C (now A.Cdrc) E. H. Fielden, the chosen pilot. The year 1937 found F/L. Cohnan and Mr. G. B. S. Errington,the chief test pilot, making the longest delivery flights attempted up to that time. In Cheetah IX-engined Envoys they flew the9,000 miles from Portsmouth to Lin Chow, in China. Mr. Errington, whose departure date coincided with the arrival ofthe monsoon, nevertheless made the trip in 53 flying hours, averaging 168 m.p.h. and suffering no serious trouble en route. The park of new and experimental types at the RAF. Displayof that year contained, in addition to the prototype Oxford (L4534), the first Queen Wasp target machine, which, with itsneatly cowled Cheetah engine, tapered biplane wings and generously fenestrated cabin, looked much too good to beshot down into the sea. Wheel and float undercarriages were quickly interchangeable. Catapult trials of a Queen Waspfloatplane were later made from H.M.S. Pegasus (formerly Ark Royal) by F/L. Cohnan. The Royal Envoy (G-AEXX) was prominent in the newsduring May, 1938, when, on the 9th of that month, the King made a tour of four RAJ1, stations—Northolt, Harwell, Upavonand Thorney Island. At the Central Flying School, Upavon, His Majesty saw some of die recently delivered Oxfords at work.Shortly afterwards—in June—it was announced that an additional order for these trainers had been placed with Airspeed, and itwas further disclosed that the type was to be built by the de Havilland and Perdval companies. So to Airspeed came thehonour of being the youngest firm in the industry to have its products built by outside contractors. Certainly the Oxford made an excellent impression on theFlight representative who air-tested it. "It would probably not be an exaggeration," he wrote, " to say that in the AirspeedOxford a really modern array of controls and instruments has been planned in complete detail, and as a whole, almost for thefirst time .... The planning of the cabin is such as would please even the pilots who are familiar with some of the much-praised American transport aeroplanes .... The controls appear to be everything that they should be, and the aileron controlin particular is a good deal more pungent than is usually expected in comparatively large aeroplanes." Overseas air fences were showing marked interest, and fiveOxfords were acquired by the Royal New Zealand Air Force. A visitor to Portsmouth during September was Air Marshal SirPhilip Joubert de la Ferte, Air Officer Commanding R.A.F. India, who took delivery of the first of two Envoys for the Communica-tions Flight in his Command. They were to be at the disposal of His Excellency the Viceroy and, apart from the cabin arrange-ment, were similar to the machine used by His Majesty the King. One of the Air Ministry Oxfords was civil-registered and
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