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Information about the Avro Tudor |
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Whilst the two other main types operated by BSAA were conversions of an existing design (albeit with a totally new fuselage in the case of the Avro York), the Avro Tudor was a brand new design from the drawing board of A.V. Roe Chief Designer Roy Chadwick. Design work started in 1943 and because the aircraft was being designed primarily for use by BOAC on the North Atlantic route it was decided that it must have a fully pressurized cabin in order to allow it to cruise in comfort above the worst of the weather. Pressurization of airliners was something new at that time so careful calculations were made to ensure the optimum pressure differential between the cabin and the outside air at 25,000ft. When the Tudor I made its maiden flight on June 14th 1945 it was Britain’s first pressurized airliner and gave Avro optimism that the aircraft would be a sales success for the company. Unfortunately things didn’t work out that way. There were handling issues which took some time to resolve, the range was not as good as had been hoped, and the cabin heating system (vital for an aircraft capable of cruising at 25,000ft.) proved to be unreliable. Also, the profitability of the aircraft was doubtful considering in its initial form the capacity was for only 24 day or 12 sleeper passengers. Unfortunately BOAC caused many problems for Avro by continually changing their design requirements, which in turn led to many delays in the aircraft entering service. On January 21st 1947 the first BOAC Tudor I G-AGRF ‘Elizabeth of England’ was officially christened by Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth, but it was never to enter scheduled service with BOAC and shortly afterwards BOAC cancelled their order. BSAA believed the aircraft could be operated profitably and approached Avro to produce a version for them with no Flight Engineer’s position and a slightly reduced seat pitch to allow a greater passenger load. Four of the original Tudor I airframes were converted to this specification for BSAA and designated Tudor IV. They were fitted with 32 seats, and the first of them (‘Star Panther’) flew on April 9th 1947. BSAA also took delivery of a Tudor I which retained the Flight Engineer’s position and was fitted with 28 passenger seats. This was designated Tudor IVB and was named ‘Star Ariel’. A larger capacity but shorter range version of the aircraft was later produced (as the Tudor II). It was significantly longer than the earlier Tudors and with specific modifications requested by BSAA it became the Tudor V. Sadly BOAC once again changed their requirements for this aircraft so many times that it proved very costly for Avro and significantly delayed its entry into service. By the time BSAA took delivery of their six Tudor Vs it was too late for them to enter passenger service (as the Tudor was prohibited from carrying passengers after the unexplained disappearance of Star Ariel) but the aircraft were used successfully as fuel freighters on the Berlin Airlift. |
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Tudor I Dimensions Span (ft & inches) - 120' 0" Length (ft & inches) - 79' 6" Height (ft & inches) - 20' 11" Wing Area (sq ft) - 1,421 Weights Tare weight (lbs) - 47,960 All-up weight (lbs) - 71,000 Performance Maximum speed (mph) - 260 Cruising speed (mph) - 210 Initial climb (ft/min) - 700 Ceiling (feet) - 26,000 Range (miles) - 3,630
Tudor IV Dimensions Span (ft & inches) - 120' 0" Length (ft & inches) - 85' 3" Height (ft & inches) - 20' 11" Wing Area (sq ft) - 1,421 Weights Tare weight (lbs) - 49,441 All-up weight (lbs) - 80,000 Performance Maximum speed (mph) - 282 Cruising speed (mph) - 210 Initial climb (ft/min) - 800 Ceiling (feet) - 27,400 Range (miles) - 4,000
Tudor IVB Dimensions Span (ft & inches) - 120' 0" Length (ft & inches) - 85' 3" Height (ft & inches) - 20' 11" Wing Area (sq ft) - 1,421 Weights Tare weight (lbs) - 50,322 All-up weight (lbs) - 82,000 Performance Maximum speed (mph) - 282 Cruising speed (mph) - 210 Initial climb (ft/min) - 635 Ceiling (feet) - 23,500 Range (miles) - 3,500
Tudor V Dimensions Span (ft & inches) - 120' 0" Length (ft & inches) - 105' 7" Height (ft & inches) - 24' 3" Wing Area (sq ft) - 1,421 Weights Tare weight (lbs) - 46,300 All-up weight (lbs) - 80,000 Performance Maximum speed (mph) - 295 Cruising speed (mph) - 235 Initial climb (ft/min) - 740 Ceiling (feet) - 25,550 Range (miles) - 2,330
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