The T-27 Tucano was manufactured in two versions, the Brazilian version was manufactured by
Embraer and the British version by Short Brothers from Northern Ireland.
They may look similar but they are actually very different aircraft so much so that there
is only 25% commonality of parts and the British Tucano received over 900 modifications when
compared to the original Brazilian design.
In this video let’s talk about the main differences between these two aircraft including
their design, performance, armament, history and how you can distinguish one from the other.
First is important to go over the origins of each aircraft because this will explain
why they have different designs.
The Brazilian version, the Embraer 312 or simply known as the T-27 Tucano was developed
to replace the T-37 jet advanced trainer thanks to an American embargo on parts of the T-37.
Included in its primary missions, the Brazilian Tucano was also supposed to be used as an
advanced trainer aircraft for aerial gunnery training and be used as front-line aircraft
on counter insurgency operations.
Overall the Brazilian version was much more popular with 475 units produced and was exported
to several other countries.
If you are interested in the origins of the Tucano I recommend watching this other video
I made about the subject.
Now the British version, known as Short 312 or Tucano Mk.1 by the RAF, had a different
mission right from the start.
This aircraft was meant to replace the already old and expensive Jet Provost as an advanced
trainer aircraft and unlike the Brazilian version, this new British trainer was never
meant to be used as weapons delivery platform in neither operations nor during the training
phase.
In the competition amongst manufacturers, Embraer in partnership with Short Brothers
was declared winner but the standard Brazilian Tucano wasn’t powerful enough to meet some
of the requirements, instead they had to implement several modifications in order to meet the
requirements of the RAF.
In total, only 160* units of the Short Brothers Tucano were manufactured and they were later
exported to both Kenya and Kuwait.
As you will see in the armament section of the video, only Kenya and Kuwait can carry
armements in the British version of the Tucano because the aircraft operated by the RAF don’t
even have hardpoints.
When the RAF issued the competition for a new trainer some of its requirements included:
being able from brake release on the runway, a maximum speed of 270 knots (500 km/h), a
cruise speed at sea level of 210 knots (388 km/h), a stall speed of 60 knots and an operational
ceiling of at least 25,000 feet.
While the standard Tucano could meet requirements such as the stall speed and the operational
ceiling, the performance in other areas such as climb rate and speed just wasn’t there.
Embraer together with Short did try to upgrade the power plant from a 750hp engine to one
of 850hp, however the Tucano was still unable to meet the requirements.
After that the two companies decided to go for an event more powerful engine, the Garrett
TPE 331-12B engine rated at 1,100hp and fitted with a Hartzell four-bladed constant pitch
propeller, this being the most notable difference between the Brazilian and British aircraft.
Of course with a more powerful engine in place the nose section of the aircraft had to be
redesigned and you can see that the intake of the two aircraft is slightly different.
What is more obvious is the placement of the exhaust, in the original Tucano made by Embraer
the exhaust is directed to the sides of the aircraft and on the British model the exhaust
gases are directed downwards.
The cockpit of the aircraft also had to be redesigned.
First, the canopy on the British Tucano was reinforced to the point where it could withstand
a bird strike at speeds exceeding 400km/h whereas the Brazilian Tucano’s canopy would
only protect the pilot if the bird strike happened during takeoff or landing.
This is because unlike the Brazilian Air Force, the RAF wanted to train its pilots on high
speed navigation exercises at low altitude, thus protection against bird strikes was mandatory.
Inside the cockpit, the British Tucano received instruments made in the UK and that were also
arranged in a different configuration than the Brazilian Tucano.
Another major difference between the two aircraft was the installation of a dive brake underneath
the fuselage of the British Tucano, something the Brazilian model didn’t have.
These were the major changes to the aircraft but others include redesigned wingtips for
improved manoeuvrability, a new oxygen system, new data recorder and several other modifications
to strengthen the aircraft’s structure and increase its service life.
To put things into perspective let’s take a look at some numbers and make a performance
comparison between the two aircraft.
The two aircraft have slightly different sizes with the British model having a shorter wingspan.
But with the strengthening of its structure, the British plane has doubled its service
life to 12,000 hours when the Brazilian model was only meant to fly for 6,000 hours.
Thanks to its 1,100hp engine, an increase of 350hp when compared to Embraer’s aircraft,
the Short Tucano has an overall superior performance in almost everything including maximum take
off weight, higher rate of climb, higher service ceiling, higher speeds, higher resistance
to the g-forces and even longer Zero-G time - however Embraer’s original design still
holds some advantages, for once it is considerably lighter, has a higher power to weight ratio
and a longer range thanks to the less powerful engine which in turn drinks less fuel.
It is also important to keep in mind that fuel capacity on the two planes is the same,
a total of 183 gallons (694 litres) from the wing tanks.
Both aircraft can also carry two external fuel tanks of 87 gallons (330 litres) each
in the inner pylons, therefore the maximum fuel they can carry with external tanks is
357 gallons (1354 litres).
And lastly, let’s also talk about the armaments of the two aircraft.
First it is important to keep in mind that since the aircraft was designed as a trainer
plane it is not fitted with internal canons or machine guns, instead all weapons are carried
in underwing pods.
I should also mention again that the Tucanos operated by the RAF don’t even have the
provisions to carry armament in pods and this is why you will never see a Tucano from the
Royal Air Force carrying bombs or equipped with machine guns.
Therefore in this armament comparison keep in mind that the Short Tucano here is the
model flown by either Kuwait and Kenya, not the UK.
So both models have provisions for four hardpoints, two under each wing.
The Embraer Tucano can carry 2,204 lbs (one ton) of ordinance while the Short Tucano has
less than half of the carrying capacity at total of 1,000 lbs.
The two aircraft models can be equipped with two FN Herstal Twin MAG Pods, one under each
wing, and each pod has two MAG 58P 7.62mm machine guns, thus the aircraft can be equipped
with a total of 4 machine guns.
As for the ammunition capacity, I got some conflicting information, one source said each
gun had 250 bullets and other one stated 500 bullets so please keep that in mind as we
go here.
If a larger caliber machine gun is required, both aircraft can be equipped with two 250-round
M3P machine guns, one in each pod.
There is also a heavy machine gun pod which combines one 12.7mm gun with three 70mm unguided
rockets.
Additionally the Embraer Tucano can be fitted with two C-2 pods, each pod carrying one MAG
58P 7.62mm machine gun with 250 bullets each.
The two planes can also be equipped with pod that carries seven 70mm rockets, but only
the Embraer Tucano can be equipped with seven 37mm rockets or eight 127mm rockets.
Both aircraft use similar types of bombs, including the Mk 81 and Mk 82 - but since
the Embraer Tucano can carry a heavier payload it can pack more firepower.
Moreover only the Brazilian version can carry incendiary bombs, with each one weighing roughly
460 lbs.
All in all, the Short Tucano reigns supreme when it comes to performance, but not so much
when it comes to weapon delivery as the Embraer version can carrier heavier armaments.
But despite all this technical information you might ask yourself - then how do you distinguish
the two aircraft visually?
There two main clues in distinguishing the Embraer and Short version of the Tucano, The
first one is the exhaust system.
In the Embraer version, the exhaust is directed to the sides of the aircraft while in the
Short version the exhaust gases exit from underneath the fuselage.
The second way of distinguishing the two aircraft is to take a look at the canopy.
Since the Short aircraft had its structure reinforced in order to be able to handle bird
strikes at high speeds, you can see a metal frame between the two pilots in the Short
version, a feature that is not present in the Embraer aircraft.
And this concludes the video on the main differences between the Brazilian and British variants
of the Embraer T-27 Tucano trainer aircraft.
You can check my sources in the description and I hope this video been informative for
you.
Thank you for watching and I’ll see you next time.