Airspeed Courier
The Airspeed AS 5 Courier was a light single-engine transport aircraft in low-wing design of the British aircraft manufacturer Airspeed Ltd. ..
History
The machine was developed by Hessell Tiltman, one of the founder of Airspeed Ltd.. . The first production aircraft was delivered in September 1933. Only 16 aircraft were built in different series, of which 11 AS 5A.
The first flight took place on 11 April 1933. The prototype with the registration G - ABXN both crashed in April 1933 in Portsmouth and in June 1933 at Martlesham Heath, but each could be repaired.
Use
A machine took in 1934 at the MacRobertson Air Race from England to Australia in part. She came in as one of 11 machines from a starting field of 20 in Australia and was sixth. This machine was completely destroyed by fire in 1939 on the airfield in Essendon in the hangar of Ansett Airways.
Five machines were bought by the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, however, prevented the protest of non-interference lobby in England extradition.
For the Royal Air Force ( RAF), a machine came with a 360 hp radial engine Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah IX used. This machine with the code K4047 was used until 1943. Overall, the RAF had ten machines in use. A civil machine with the registration G - ACVF was used until 1947.
Construction
A special feature of this type possessed the first from the UK via a retractable landing gear. In order to be able to land intact even during a failure of the landing gear mechanism, the tires sticking something out of their shafts. The wing and the fuselage are made of wood.
Various engine variants were carried out, the most common was the version with a 7- cylinder radial engine Armstrong Siddeley Lynx IVc with 240 hp.
Specifications (AS 5B)
Others
1936 tried two employees of Airspeed, an AS to steal 5 Courier ( provided registration G - ACVA ) to try their luck in the Spanish civil war, but already failed at startup. One ( Arthur Gargett ) died in the attempt, the other ( Joseph Smith) was jailed for four months.