Avro Tudor

The all-metal tail unit had a dorsal fin integrated with the fuselage, and a 43 ft (13 m) twin-spar [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] with inset divided [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The control surfaces were mass-balanced, and each had controllable trim and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The circular cross-section fuselage was an all-metal semi-[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] structure, of 10 ft (3.0 m) diameter, fitted with [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]-filled inner and outer skins above floor level.

The hydraulically-operated main-wheel units were similar to those of the Lancaster, had single Dunlop wheels and retracted rearward into the inboard engine nacelles.

The twin tailwheels retracted rearward into the fuselage and were enclosed by twin longitudinal doors.

Operational history

Tudor I

The Tudor I was intended for use on the North Atlantic route.

At the time, the US had the Douglas DC-4 and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], which could both carry more passengers than the Tudor's 12, and also weighed less than the Tudor's weight of 70,000 lb (32,000 kg).

The Tudor's tailwheel layout was also a drawback.

Despite this, the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] ordered 14 Tudor Is for [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], and increased the production order to 20 in April 1945.

The Tudor I suffered from a number of stability problems, which included longitudinal and directional instability.

To cure this, a larger tailplane was fitted, and the original finely curved fin and rudder were replaced by larger vertical surfaces.

BOAC added to the delays by requesting more than 340 modifications, and finally rejected the Tudor I on 11 April 1947, considering it incapable of North Atlantic operations.

It had been intended that 12 Tudors would be built in Australia for military transport, but this plan was abandoned.

Twelve Tudor Is were built, of which three were scrapped, while others were variously converted to Tudor IVB and Tudor Freighter Is.

As a result of all the Tudor I's delays, BOAC - with the support of the Ministry of Civil Aviation - sought permission to purchase tried and tested aircraft such as the Lockheed Constellation and the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] for its
Atlantic routes instead of the Tudor.

Despite BOAC's reluctance to purchase Tudors, the Ministry of Supply continued to subsidize the aircraft.

Tudor II


The passenger capacity of the Avro 688 was considered unsatisfactory, so a larger version was planned from the outset.

Designated the Avro 689 (also Avro XXI), the Tudor II was designed as a 60-seat passenger aircraft for BOAC, with the fuselage lengthened to 105 ft 7 in (32.18 m) compared to the Tudor I's 79 ft 6 in (24.23 m) and the fuselage increased by 1 ft (0.30 m) to 11 ft (3.4 m) diameter, making it the largest UK airliner at the time.

At the end of 1944, while it was still in the design stage, BOAC, Qantas and South African Airways decided to standardise on the Tudor II for Commonwealth air routes, and BOAC increased its initial order for 30 examples to 79.

The prototype Tudor II G-AGSU first flew on 10 March 1946 at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The changes in design had however resulted in a loss of performance and the aircraft could not be used in hot and high conditions which resulted in Qantas ordering the Constellation and South African Airways, the Douglas DC-4 instead, with
the total order reduced to 50.

During further testing, the prototype was destroyed on 23 August 1947 in a fatal crash which killed Roy Chadwick; air accident investigators later discovered that the crash was due to incorrect assembly of the aileron control circuit.


The engines on the second prototype were changed to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] radials and the aircraft became the prototype Tudor 7, which did not go into production. Unimpressed by the type's performance during further tropical trials, BOAC did not operate the Tudor II and only three production Tudor IIs were built.

Six aircraft were built for [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] as the Tudor V.

The second Tudor II to be completed, G-AGRY, went to Nairobi for tropical trials as VX202, but these were unsatisfactory and Tudor II orders were reduced to 18.

Eventually, only four Tudor IIs were completed including the prototype.

From 1946 on, the potential purchase of US aircraft by operators such as BOAC led to criticism of government policy, because of the damage that could potentially be caused to Britain's civil aircraft industry by a failure to buy the Tudor.

L.G.S. Payne, the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]'s aeronautical correspondent, said that British government policy had led to the
development of aircraft which were uncompetitive in price, performance and economy.

He blamed the Ministry of Supply's planners for this failure, since the industry had effectively been nationalised and argued that the government should pursue the development of jet aircraft instead of "interim types" such as the Tudor.

BOAC cancelled its order for Tudors in 1947, instead taking delivery of 22 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] which they renamed
C-4 Argonauts, and used them extensively between 1949 and 1960.

Six aircraft ordered as Tudor IIs were intended to be modified with tricycle landing gear, for use by BSAA as freighters, and designated the 711 Trader.

They were not built, but a parallel design using the same landing gear was produced as the jet-powered [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Tudor III


Two Tudor Is, G-AIYA and G-AJKC, were sent to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] for completion as VIP transports for cabinet ministers.

They could accommodate 10 passengers and had nine berths.

They were re-registered as VP301 and VP312, and both were acquired by [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in September 1953, VP301
being reconverted into a Tudor I.

In 1955, G-AIYA and the Tudor I G-AGRG were lenghtened to Tudor IV standard.

Together with the un-lengthened Tudor I G-AGRI, which had become a 42-seat passenger aircraft, they were used on the Air Charter Ltd Colonial Coach Services between the UK, Tripoli and Lagos.