Armstrong Whitworth Atalanta
The Armstrong Whitworth AW15, also called Atalanta, was the end of the 1920s by the British manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft developed four-engine airliner.
History
The AW15 was due to a study published in December 1929 requesting the Imperial Airways, which needed a transport aircraft for their African route network. The airline called for a capacity of nine passengers in addition to a three -man crew and half a ton of cargo. The aircraft should have a range of over 700 kilometers and a cruising speed of over 200 km / h to 9,000 feet altitude. On the basis of the request was designed by the chief designer of Armstrong Whitworth, John Lloyd, the AW. 15 This was a high-wing monoplane with four Armstrong Siddeley Lynx majors engines with 260 hp. This interpretation was submitted in August 1930 as a proposal to Imperial Airways. However, before a contract has been granted a substantial revision of the construction took place, resulting in a now much larger aircraft, for the four Armstrong Siddeley were provided each with 340 HP Double Mongoose engines. The engines were later known under the name Serval. The prototype was named Atalanta and denied its first flight on 6 June 1932.
Construction
The design consisted of a hull grating, which was composed of carriers, which in turn were formed from steel strip. The cabin area was covered with plywood, while the rear fuselage was covered with fabric. It was intended to disguise the solid chassis aerodynamic, but this was actually implemented only in the prototype. The wings had a mixed construction with an internal steel frame and a Sperrholzbeplankung. The aircraft could carry up to seventeen passengers. Imperial Airlines decided to provide on the Indian routes only nine and in Africa only eleven passengers.
Use
After initial problems were eliminated, the Atalanta took on 26 September 1932 on the regular scheduled services between London and Brussels and Cologne. On October 20, the aircraft was damaged on a test flight. In order not to make known this failure was the third produced machine, the previous Arethusa, also baptized in the name of Atalanta.
Imperial Airways ordered eight aircraft, which were delivered until 1933. The prototype left on 5 January 1933, London- Croydon with the aim of Cape Town in South Africa. Together with three other machines it was used on the route between Cape Town and Kisumu in Kenya. On 1 July 1933 AW15 promoted first air mail from London to Karachi. Each two in India and two UK registered aircraft flew between Karachi and Calcutta, Rangoon and later to Singapore.
Before the outbreak of the Second World War three machines had already been lost. The remaining five came into the possession of BOAC and were delivered to the Royal Air Force in India in March 1941. Later she received a machine gun as armament and led by reconnaissance flights for the Indian Air Force. After the last reconnaissance flight on 30 August 1942, the last four remaining aircraft were withdrawn from service.
Names and registrations
- Atalanta (G- ABPI )
- Andromeda (G- ABTH )
- Arethusa (G- ABTI, renamed Atalanta, later VT- AEF )
- Artemis (G- ABTJ )
- Astraea (G- ABTL )
- Athena (G- ABTK )
- Aurora (VT- AEG)
- Amalthea (G- ABTG )
Civilian users
- Indian Trans-Continental Airways
- British Overseas Airways Corporation
- Imperial Airways
Military user
- Indian Air Force
- Royal Air Force