Today
we’re taking a look at the Armstrong Whitworth Argosy. The Argosy was the first of three
airliner designs that the company built for Imperial Airways during the interwar period,
the other two being the Atlanta and the Ensign. Despite its blocky appearance,
the Argosy was one of the best success stories to come out of the earlier years of commercial
aviation following the first world war. Its origins can be traced back to the early
1920s. In 1922, Imperial Airways issued a new specification for a transport aircraft for its
middle-eastern routes. The specification had an emphasis on range and endurance,
calling for an aircraft powered by three air-cooled radials, with a range of 500 miles,
and the capability of flying against a headwind of 30mph. The choice of three engines reflected a
growing trend in civil aviation, as the emerging airlines of the day strove to increase safety,
and this would be cemented by policy in 1925 when Imperial Airways mandated
that they would only use multi engine designs. Seeing the potential of the commercial transport
industry, Armstrong Whitworth submitted a design for what would be their very first airliner,
and considering their lack of experience it was fairly ambitious. It was a large,
three-engine biplanes, with a capacity for up to twenty passengers. And although Imperial
Airways abandoned the initial middle-eastern specification, owing to changes in routes and
other development, they considered the Armstrong Whitworth proposal for their European routes.
In response to this interest, Armstrong Whitworth finalised the design,
and submitted it as the Argosy. It was a typical example of post-war
construction – which is a nice way of saying that it was a flying rectangle. It was big, blocky,
and not hugely majestic no matter what way you looked at it. But it would prove to be reliable.
The angular box-shaped fuselage, which carried a biplane tail with three fins and rudders,
was of steel-tube construction covered with fabric. The wings, except for the centre section,
were of wooden construction, fabric covered, and had ailerons on all four planes. Both the
top and bottom centre section had steel spars, the top one being supported above the fuselage
on tubular steel struts, while the bottom served as part of the support structure
for the undercarriage and engines. These engines were three direct-drive
Armstrong-Siddely Jaguars, which initially produced 385hp and drove two-blade propellers.
The fuel was stored above the fuselage between it and the upper wing centre section. This gave
the aircraft a range of approximately 310-330 miles, depending on loading.
The two-wheel undercarriage consisted of two V-Struts under the wingengines,
each having oleo-damped, coil-spring shock absorbers and axles hinged to a pyramid
of steel struts under the fuselage. Moving inside. The cabin section of the
fuselage had a wooden floor which also served to brace the structure, but doped fabric was
used to line the walls and roof of the cabin, which in consequence made it somewhat noisy,
particularly for the passengers who had the misfortune to be abreast of the engines.
Two pilots sat side-by-side in the nose of the aircraft. Twenty passengers were seated in a
spacious compartment measuring 29 feet long, 4 foot 6 inches wide, and 6 foot 3 inches high.
There was a central gangway and an opening window beside each seat. At the rear of the cabin was
a lavatory and behind that a large baggage compartment with an exterior door. Another,
smaller baggage compartment was also located under the pilots cockpit, probably to store mail
and other light parcels, though there isn’t much information on what it was actually used for.
Following review, the design was approved by Imperial Airways, who ordered two aircraft
in 1925, and a third was ordered and financed with the support of the British Air Ministry.
The first aircraft was complete in under a year, and it made its first flight on the
16th of March 1926 with Imperial Airways test pilot, Captain F.L Barnard at the controls.
Initial flight testing ran through until the 24th of March without incident, though little details
on their results can be found, and by this point the second Argosy had also flown. This became the
first aircraft to be accepted by Imperial Airways, the date of acceptance for the original seems to
be unknown, and the third Argosy financed by the ministry was delivered in March of 1927.
As was tradition for the time, these three aircraft were each named after cities,
and they were called: City of Glasgow, City of Birmingham, and City of Wellington – which
would later be renamed as City of Arundel. City of Birmingham made the types first
commercial flight, taking passengers from Cryodon to Paris on July 16th 1926. In October, the City
of Glasgow was demonstrated before representatives of the Dominion Conference, who were suitably
impressed by its imposing size, an it received a favourable report in Flight magazine, which
stated ‘…the way this machine leaps off the ground and climbs almost like a scout is truly amazing.’
The Argosy was off to a good start, and things quickly got better when Imperial Airways took a
look at their balance sheets. The Argosy resulted in a significant boost to their traffic figures,
particularly on the London-to-Paris route where it could carry more passengers than its French
rivals. It was also cheaper to operate. The cost per mile travelled for the Agosy was just 9p,
compared to 14p for the Handley Page W10, and 21p for the De Havilland DH.34.
As the Argosy had the roomiest cabins of the Imperial Airways fleet, it was put to use in
testing a more luxurious service in the Spring of 1927. Known as their Silver Wings service,
this luxury lunch-time flight from London to Paris boasted a cabin steward and a buffet. The service
operated in both directions, departing at noon with a flight time of around two-and-a-half hours.
The fare for this journey was quoted at 4 pound and 15 shillings, a one pound increase from the
fare for the ordinary morning service flights. A less successful venture of the Argosy was its
use in an attempt to supplant the rail services to Scotland. This took the form
of a race between the City of Glasgow and the famed locomotive The Flying Scotsman.
This took place on the 15th of June 1928, with the aircraft departing from Croydon airport, and the
train from Kings Cross. Making intermediate stops, to simulate planned stops along the
proposed air route, the Argosy only made it to the aerodrome outside Edinburgh 15
minutes before the Scotsman pulled into Waverly station. Not surprisingly, no more was heard of
the suggested air service to Scotland, at least until aviation technology had improved somewhat.
Meanwhile, the Argosy had thoroughly impressed Imperial Airways on their European services.
Operating routes to Paris, Brussels, Cologne, and others, the Argosy’s had tallied 4,862
flight hours by mid-December of 1928 – which was the eqvuivelant of some 437,000 miles of
air travel. For the 1920s this was a significant achievement, all the more so as the Argosy became
the Airline’s first aircraft that truly paid for itself thanks to its cheap operating costs.
This success resulted in a follow up order for three, quickly increasing to four,
Argosys by the end of the year. These became known as the Argosy MK.II, and they featured a number
of improvements. The engine was now a Jaguar Mk.IVA, which was geared and produced 410hp.
This new powerplant, combined with an increased fuel capacity of 360 gallons,
increased the Argosy’s range from 330 miles to 520. The Argosy Mk.II also featured innovations
such as automatic wingtip slots, and a different method of operating the ailerons via servo flaps.
These flaps, which looked like small rudders, were pivoted on the ends of outriggers, which
themselves pivoted on a vertical axis positioned between the wing spars. Though somewhat untidy
in appearance, it allowed control loads to be adjusted to varying degrees of lightness
without the risk of over-balancing, and it also provided some measure of automatic stability in
that any sideslipping caused the servo flap to apply corrective force to the aileron.
The four Mk.II Argosys were delivered in 1929 as the City of Edinburgh, City of Liverpool,
City of Manchester, and the City of Coventry. Following this, the original three Argosys were
re-engined with the Jaguar Mk.IVa as well. The Argosy would find itself in service until
1935. During this time, it would feature in some of the prominent,
milestone events that marked the expansion of British commercial aviation. It was one of the
first aircraft used in the first Empire Air Mail route -which ran from London to Karachi-,
and it also featured in the first route from London to Cape Town, with the Argosy operating
on the 1,000 mile leg from Cairo to Khartoum. On one occasion the Argosy also flew royalty. In
1931, the City of Glasgow, with its interior suitably modified to be more “stately”,
took the Prince of Wales and Prince George from Paris to the Great Park at Windsor.
After many years of service, during which no passengers had been injured,
the one and only fatal accident involving an Argosy occurred on the 28th of March
1933. While en route from Brussells to London, the City of Liverpool caught fire in the air.
After descending from about 2,000 feet, with smoke pouring out of the rear of the cabin, the fuselage
broke in two and the aircraft crashed, killing all three crew members and the twelve passengers. From
the evidence of the wreckage, it was clear that the fire originated in the lavatory on in the
extreme rear of the cabin, and Imperial Airways concluded that the cause was either deliberate
sabotage, or an accidental blaze caused by a passenger. Either way, the fabric coverings of
the cabin certainly increased its flammability. With the larger Handley Page Hp 42 entering
service, the Argosys were brought back from the African routes in 1933, and they were finally
withdrawn from European services in 1934, being considered obsolete. The last to see active use
was the City of Manchester, which was sold to United Airways in July 1935, who used it for
joyrides until the end of the following year, after which, at some point, it was scrapped.
Though not built in huge numbers, the Argosy has been a big success for Imperial Airways,
and a huge success for Amrstrong Whitworth seeing as it was their very first airliner. But the
airline’s experience with the Argosy, and other three-engine designs, had proven that this number
of engines did not provide complete immunity from forced landings due to engine failures. And so,
Imperial Airways sought out newer, four-engine designs, and Armstrong Whitworth would produce the
Atlanta. But that’s a story for another day. As always thank you all so much for watching,
and a big thank you of course to the Patreons. Now I’ve run into a couple of last-minute roadblocks
with the next two planned videos, so the schedule for the next week or so may be a bit chaotic,
so just a heads up. A big thank you of course to our wing commander tier patreons,
our highest tier members, uh I don’t really have anything else to update people on this weeks,
its all gone by in a bit of a blur honestly, so I just wanted to say thank you once again, your
continued support has been absolutely amazing, and I’ll catch you all next time. Goodbye.