Today we’re taking a look at the Armstrong Whitworth Atlas, which was the first RAF
aircraft designed specifically for the role of co-operating with troops on the ground.
In the early 1920s this sort of dedicated aircraft type didn’t exist. The Army and the
RAF appreciated the value of army co-operation aircraft – not to be confused with close air
support, which was more offensive in nature- but these aircraft consisted of planes that had been
converted for use in this role, rather than being designed for it from the outset. The mainstay of
what could be considered current army co-operation aircraft were modified versions of the Bristol
F.2B Fighter and the ageing Airco D.H.9A. However by the mid 1920s things were starting
to change, and the Air Ministry issued its first specifications for the development of
an army co-operation aircraft. The first two specifications were 8/24
and 30/24, these would lead to the development – or partial development – of several prototypes:
the de Havilland Dingo, the de Havilland Hyena, the Vickers Vespa, and the Bristol Boarhound.
There was, however, a bit of a glaring oversight with these two specifications: they did not take
into account the service conditions to be found in hotter climates, particularly the Middle East,
and so specification 20/25 was drawn up as a replacement.
During this time, Armstrong Whitworth had begun work on a private venture
aimed at meeting said new 20/25, but this was *not* the Atlas.
This was in fact the almost identical looking Armstrong Whitworth Ajax.
The Atlas and the Ajax were so alike that its easy to come to the false conclusion that the Ajax
was the prototype for the Atlas, but according to Armstrong Whitworth records this was not the
case. Did the design of the former influence that of the latter? It certainly seems so, but they
were not directly related. For whatever reason, only four examples of the Ajax would be built,
and not long after construction had started on the first, work had also begun on the Atlas.
The first of both the Ajax and Atlas aircraft were completed as private ventures,
and when the prototype Atlas took off for the first time on the 10th of May 1925,
it did so with civil markings. The first Ajax to be complete took to the skies not long after this,
and it was quickly followed by a second. Of these two, the first would go on to feature
publicly at the 1926 Paris air show, and the second would be used as a testing aircraft.
Two further Ajax models were built not long after this, and these would be listed on company
record as development for a so-called day bomber, rather than an army co-operation aircraft – that
role had been passed on to the Atlas – and not much is known of the Ajax apart from this.
By this point the Air Ministry had modified their specification to accommodate updates in
competing aircraft designs, and specification 33/26 would see the Atlas compete against
the Bristol Boarhound and the Vickers Vesper. The Atlas was built in the traditional manner,
the design calling for no real innovations. It had an all-metal fuselage structure, mainly comprised
of steel tubing, which was wire braced and had ball and socket joints between the longerons
and the ends of the struts. Most of the fuselage was clad in fabric, with the exception of a small
area at the front that was clad in duraluminium panelling. The wings were made of wood, with the
wing structure built around two main spars, and like the fuselage this was also fabric covered.
The powerplant selected was a 14-cylinder Armstrong Siddely Jaguar 4C, which gave 450hp,
and it was expected that the plane would have a top speed of between 135 and 145 mph.
Compared to some other biplane designs at the time, the Atlas could be considered a
little on the chunky side, but the same could also be said for the Boarhound and the Vesper,
and this was to accommodate the many pieces of equipment – particularly
radio – demanded by its intended role. Provision was made for the fitting of
three different types of radio, and it also carried a hook on a long pole
that was used for picking up hand-written messages that soldiers on the ground would hang from a
chord suspended between two poles. This act became somewhat of a party trick for the Atlas, and it
was something that formations of aircraft would do during the yearly RAF displays at Hendon.
For reconnaissance duties, the Atlas could be outfitted with a variety of camera equipment.
This was located behind the observer’s cockpit and the equipment could also be remotely controlled
by the pilot if they were flying solo. The intended armament for the Atlas consisted of
two machine guns: a fixed Vickers firing through the propeller arc, and a rear mounted Lewis gun,
as well as four 120lb bombs that could be carried under the wing.
After its initial flights and manufacturer trials were complete,
the Atlas prototype went to Martlesham Heath for official trials in November of
1925. The reports from these trials were highly favourable, stating that the aircraft was stable,
had good longitudinal and lateral control, and was in general very easy to fly. There
were only two main points of criticism: the rudder was felt to be rather heavy,
and the aircraft could not be sideslipped at a steep angle. Despite these two issues,
the report was favourable enough that the aircraft was ordered into production as the Atlas Mk1.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to improve the sideslipping and rudder issues,
the prototype Atlas went back for modifications that would then be immediately applied to the
first batch of production models. The rudder was given a greater range of movement, and at the same
time the incidence, sweepback and dihedral angles of the wings were increased by varying amounts.
Following this, the prototype went back to Martlesham for re-evaluation,
and it was immediately apparent that the changes had ruined the planes handling capabilities.
Overall, its flying qualities appeared to have deteriorated, and the aircraft
was now prone to sudden stalls and wing drops. This prompted a rapid return to the production
shop at Whitley for even more modifications. This time a new all-metal wing structure was fitted,
with some minor variations to the control surfaces as well,
but once again the performance results at Martlesham would be both disappointing
and alarming. Not only did it continue to stall suddenly, the only warning being an
incipient wing drop, but it also now displayed the highly unwelcome tendency to over-bank in turns,
which often led to an uncontrolled spin unless the airspeed could be maintained.
All of these factors combined to make take-off and landing an unnecessarily terrifying affair
for what was meant to be a very simple aircraft to fly, and seeing as the first Atlases entered
RAF service whilst these experiments were still going on, they inherited many of these problems.
In the first nine months of service, Atlases suffered eleven accidents during take-off
and landing – almost all following stalls- and two of these even led to fatalities.
These tragic events spurred on even greater efforts to fix the issues,
as the RAF was contemplating ditching the Atlas altogether, and a series of further
modifications were made that brought the aircraft to an acceptable level of control and safety.
Unfortunately, there is not an exact record of the modifications that were finally
incorporated, but some of these involved further adjustments to the dihedral angle of the wing,
the washout of the wingtips, and the fitting of automatic wingtip slats.
Further modifications and testing indicate that there was still
some lingering dissatisfaction about the Atlases stalling characteristics, but the plane was no
longer an accident waiting to happen, and that seemed enough to satisfy the military concerns.
The first Atlases delivered to the RAF went to No.13 Squadron for service trials,
and the first units to enter service operationally joined No.26 Squadron in the summer of 1927.
Between 1927 and 1930 four other home-based Squadrons would receive Atlases,
as well as No.208 Squadron which was based in Egypt.
In spite of the early problems and criticisms encountered at Matlesham, the Atlas redeemed
itself during its service life -after a rocky start- by being safe, easy to fly, and reliable.
Some models were also exported. Six were built to order for the Royal Canadian Air Force between
1927 and 1929, and they would be joined by another ten that were purchased later on in 1934.
Two aircraft were sold to Greece -who would also produce a cheaper version under licence-, one went
to Japan, one to Egypt, and fourteen were sold to China, the latter being the newer Atlas Mk2.
Making its first public appearance at the Hendon air show in 1932, the Atlas Mk2 was offered as
a multi-purpose aircraft that could be used as a two-seat day fighter, a daytime bomber, or an army
co-operation aircraft. The main changes that set it aside from the mark 1 was a new set of wings,
a more powerful 535hp Armstrong Siddely Panther engine, a redesigned fuselage,
and a larger fixed tailfin section. Despite being an overall improvement, especially
in the area of stall characteristics, the Atlas 2 was not taken on by the RAF and its only export
success was the order that went to China. A good part of this can be attributed to the realisation
that the age of the biplane was drawing to its end. Armstrong Whitworth did make attempts to
market the Atlas against the monoplane. In the early 1930s they published a brochure on the
Atlas 2, explaining why they believed the biplane was superior to the emerging monoplane designs,
citing the compactness, manoeuvrability, and better stalling characteristics of biplanes…but
this did little to change the situation. A one-off model, the Aries, was also built.
Flying for the first time in May of 1930, it was an attempt to improve upon the Atlas with an
emphasis on maintenance. It had a new wing structure, featuring a warren-truss, which reduced
the need for bracing wires, and the sides of the fuselage were fitted with large, easily detachable
panels for easy access to the internal equipment and machinery. Though the design showed promise,
there was no follow up order, and not much else is known about this elusive plane.
Though the Mk2 model could be considered a bit of a bust,
and the Aries didn’t really result in anything, the Mk1s had a fairly long service life.
Along with being used as an army co-operation aircraft, some 175 units were built as trainers,
coming with a set of dual controls, and at least two Atlases were built as seaplanes. One of these
was used by the RAF High Speed flight during their training period leading up to the 1931 Schneider
Trophy race. There is also evidence of the Royal Canadian Air Force experimenting with the Atlas as
a seaplane as well, which would make sense given their large coastline and multiplicity of lakes,
but I couldn’t find much information on that particular endeavour.
The other Canadian Altases served for a long time, and with much distinction. They made
regular appearances at RCAF training exercises, and they would even see limited use during the
second world war before being replaced by Westland Lysanders. After almost fifteen
years of from the first Atlas entering service, and a production total of 478 aircraft later,
the last Canadian Atlas was retired from service in 1942, thus bringing an end to many years of
reliable, if unspectacular, operations. As always thank you all very much for watching,
and a special thank you of course to the patreons, with a special shoutout to Kevin,
Delliardo, Bane, FB, Christopher R, Tronathon, Erik Hindman, and John Austin Jr for their
support as wing commander tier patrons. Thank you all so much, and I’ll catch you all next time.