Armstrong Whitworth Argosy

From Freepedia

Armstrong Whitworth Argosy AW 650 (1959)

Named for the earlier 3 engined biplane airliner of Imperial Airways, the Armstrong Whitworth Argosy was a high winged 4 engined transport aircraft supplied to the Royal Air Force and a number of civil operators. The rear doors could be opened in flight to enable supplies to be dropped by parachute. First flown on 8 January 1959 a total of 73 were built, 56 for the Royal Air Force and the remainder for civil operators such as BEA.

The Argosy was powered by four Rolls-Royce Dart turboprops, had a maximum weight of 97,000 lb (44,000 kg) and a payload of 28,000 lb (12,700 kg or 12.5 long tons). Cruising at 210 knots (390 km/h), it had a range of 3,450 statute miles (6,400 km) and could seat 65 passengers. (New Zealand machines which were the main link between the Chatham Islands and the mainland were fitted with a pressurised "passenger capsule").

The type's unusual "pod and boom" structure—enabling loading front and rear—earned it the nickname "The Whistling Wheelbarrow".

The last flight by an Argosy was made by one of New Zealand operator SAFE air in 1992; that aircraft now being preserved in Blenheim.

Survivors

ZK-SAE "Merchant Enterprise", [{Woodbourne]], Blenheim, New Zealand. G-APRL Midland Air Museum, U.K. G-BEOZ Aeropark, Nottingham East Midlands Airport, U.K. XP411 - Royal Air Force Museum, Cosford, U.K. the cockpit of XN819 is at the Newark Air Museum.

Two other machines are believed to be preserved in the U.S.