Airspeed Ambassador

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Airspeed Ambassador

Ambassador at Bristol Airport in 1965
Type	airliner
Manufacturer	Airspeed Ltd
Maiden flight	10 July 1947
Primary user	BEA
Number built	23

The Airspeed Ambassador was a twin piston engined airliner that first flew on July 10, 1947 and served in very small numbers through the 1950s.

1 History
2 Civil Operators
3 Military Operators
4 External links

[edit] History

It had its origin in 1943 as a requirement identified by the Brabazon Committee for a twin-engined, short to medium-haul DC-3 replacement. Airspeed Ltd was asked to prepare an unpressurized design in the 14.5 tonne gross weight class using two Bristol Hercules radials. By the time the British Ministry of Aircraft Production ordered two prototypes from Airspeed, immediately after the end of the Second World War, the design had grown substantially. The Ambassador would be pressurized, have more powerful Bristol Centaurus radials, and have a maximum gross weight of almost 24 tonnes.

It offered seating for 47 passengers and, having a nose wheel undercarriage, looked far more modern than the Commandos, DC-3s, Lancastrians and Vikings that were common on Europe's shorter airline routes. With three low fins it shared something of the character of the larger trans-continental Lockheed Constellation. British European Airways operated up to 20 Ambassadors between 1952 and 1958, calling them "Elizabethans" in honour of the newly crowned Queen. It also helped the growth of Dan-Air, an important airline in the development of package holidays.

The popularity of this splendid aircraft was soon eclipsed however by the arrival of turboprops such as the Vickers Viscount and, some years later, the Lockheed Electra, which featured more relaible engines and faster speeds. The coming of these turboprops and the dawning of the jet age caused the Ambassador to fall out of favor, along with negative publicity.

Two Ambassadors unfortunately made the headlines due to crashes. First, an Ambassador crashed on takeoff from Munich on 6 February 1958, in what was later termed the Munich air disaster. This crash garnered tremendous public attention in the UK as it was carrying team members, staff, and journalists with the Manchester United football club.

A second headline-making accident was a spectacular fatal crash landing at London Heathrow Airport on 3 July 1968 by a BKS Air Transport Ambassador in which several horses being carried died, a parked Trident jet was damaged beyond repair and another Trident had its tail torn-off before the airliner hit terminal buildings & came to rest. The accident was later found to have been caused by failure of a flap actuating rod in the Ambassador's port (left) wing. Coincidently, the Trident with the damaged tail (G-ARPI) was subsequently repaired and later involved in an (unconnected) fatal accident in June 1972, when, operating as British European Airways Flight 548, it entered a deep stall due to premature retraction of the leading-edge droops and crashed in a field near reservoirs in Staines, Middlesex, killing all on board.

One Elizabethan (G-ALZO c/n 5226) has been preserved by the Duxford Aviation Society at Duxford Cambridgeshire in eastern England.