Monday, February 16, 2015

Avro Tudor airliner, 1945


From the people who brought you the Avro Lancaster bomber of WW2.

This was Britain's first pressurised airliner, which enabled it to fly much higher (today aircraft are normally pressurised to the atmospheric pressure that exists at 5,000 ft). The Ministry of Supply ordered 14 Tudor I's for BOAC, and increased the production order to 20 in April 1945. However, it had numerous deficiencies, such as a dated tailwheel undercarriage layout. Potential customers preferred aircraft like the DC-4 Skymaster, and few orders were forthcoming. Only twelve Tudor I's were built, of which three were scrapped, while others were variously converted to Tudor IVB and Tudor Freighter I's. 

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