Armstrong Whitworth Atalanta

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstr...worth_Atalanta

The Armstrong Whitworth AW.15 Atalanta was a 1930s British four-engine airliner
built by Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Limited at Coventry.

The AW.15 Atalanta was designed to meet a 1930 Imperial Airways requirement for
an airliner for its African lines, in particular for the service between Kisumu
in Kenya and Cape Town, South Africa. The specification called for an airliner
that could carry nine passengers, three crew and a load of freight for 400 mi
(640 km), cruising at 115 mph (185 km/h) at 9,000 ft (2,740 m). As Imperial
Airways had decided to standardise on four-engined aircraft to prevent the
failure of a single engine causing forced landings, the specification required
four engines. The prototype, G-ABPI, was named Atalanta and first flew on 6 June
1932, flown by Alan Campbell-Orde.

The Atalanta was a high-wing monoplane with four 340 hp (250 kW) Armstrong
Siddeley Serval III ten-cylinder (two rows of 5 cylinders each) radial engines.
Its composite construction included steel, plywood and fabric; the undercarriage
was fixed but was streamlined to minimize drag. The overall design of the
aircraft was rather modern, and somewhat closed the performance gap between
British and American airliners.

The aircraft had few design flaws and any teething problems were quickly
overcome. The prototype was flown to Croydon Airport for acceptance by Imperial
Airways, and on 26 September 1932, it flew a commercial service from Croydon to
Brussels and Cologne.

The Atalanta could carry up to 17 passengers but Imperial Airlines limited the
seating to nine for the planes on the Indian route and 11 on the African route.

On 20 October 1932, the prototype was damaged in a test flight due to fuel
starvation. Armstrong Whitworth was embarrassed by the accident and renamed the
third production machine (G-ABTI, Arethusa) as Atalanta, hoping nobody would
notice the swap.


Role
airliner

Manufacturer
Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Limited

First flight
5 June 1932

Introduction
1933

Retired
1942

Primary users
Imperial Airways
Royal Air Force
Indian Air Force

Number built
8

Imperial Airways ordered eight aircraft which had all been delivered by 1933.
The first service was flown from Croydon Airport to Brussels and then Cologne on
26 September 1932. The prototype G-ABPI left Croydon Airport on 5 January 1933
on a proving flight to Cape Town, South Africa. Three other aircraft joined it
in South Africa to fly the service between Cape Town and Kisumu, although they
proved to be too small for the traffic. On 1 July 1933, an Atalanta flew the
first direct air mail service between London and Karachi. Two Indian-registered
and two British-registered aircraft operated a Karachi-Calcutta service with was
later extended to Rangoon and Singapore.

On 29 May 1933, G-ABTL flew through to Melbourne, Australia (arriving on 30
June) on a route survey flight.

Imperial withdrew the Atalanta from its African routes in 1937, with two being
leased by Wilson Airways for operations in Kenya until July 1938. The African
Atalantas were then transferred to India.

Three aircraft were lost before the Second World War and the remaining five
aircraft were taken over by BOAC. In March 1941, they were impressed into use by
the Royal Air Force in India, being used to ferry reinforcements to Iraq in
response to the Rashid Ali uprising. In December 1941 they were handed over to
the Indian Air Force for use on coastal reconnaissance duties, armed with a
single .303 in (7.7 mm) machine gun operated by the navigator. The last patrol
was flown on 30 August 1942 and the two survivors were transferred to transport
duties where they continued in use until June 1944.

Specifications

General characteristics
Crew: 3
Capacity: 9–17 passengers
Length: 71 ft 6 in (21.79 m)
Wingspan: 90 ft 0 in (27.43 m)
Height: 14 ft 0 in (4.27 m)
Wing area: 1,285 ft² (119.38 m²)
Empty weight: 14,832lb (6,728 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 21,000 lb (9,526 kg)
Powerplant: 4 × Armstrong Siddeley Serval III 10-cylinder two-row air-cooled
radial engine, 340 hp (254 kw) each

Performance
Maximum speed: 156 mph (136 knots, 251 km/h) at 3,000 ft (910 m)
Cruise speed: 118 mph (103 knots, 190 km/h) at 9,000 ft (2,740 ft)
Range: 640 miles (557 knots, 1,030 km)
Service ceiling: 14,200 ft (4,328 m)
Rate of climb: 700 ft/min (3.6 m/s)
Climb to 9,000 ft (2,740 m): 21 min 30 sec




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