Avro Canada Jetliner
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| C102 Jetliner | |
|---|---|
 Model of an Avro Canada C102 |
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| Type | jet airliner |
| Manufacturer | Avro Canada |
| Designed by | James C. Floyd |
| Maiden flight | 10 August 1949 |
| Introduced | prototype only |
| Primary user | Trans Canada Airlines (intended) |
| Number built | one (second prototype cancelled while in production) |
The Avro C102 Jetliner was a Canadian prototype medium-range jet airliner built by Avro Canada in 1949. It was beaten into the air by only 13 days by the de Havilland Comet, thereby becoming the second jetliner in the world, yet the name "Jetliner" was more catchy and for many years all such aircraft were colloquially given that name. The aircraft was considered suitable for busy routes along the US eastern seaboard and garnered intense interest, notably from Howard Hughes who even offered to start production under license. However continued delays in Avro's all-weather interceptor project, the Avro CF-100, led to an order to stop working on the project in 1951, with the prototype Jetliner later cut up for scrap.
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[edit] Design and development
The C102 had been designed by Chief Designer James C. Floyd for the Trans Canada Airlines (TCA) requirement of 1946. The requirement called for a 36-seat aircraft with a cruising speed of 425 miles per hour (684 km/h), a range of 1,200 miles (1,900 km), an average distance between stops of 250 miles (400 km) and longest single flight of 500 miles (800 km). The difference between the range and maximum airport distances was to allow for the required 45 minutes stacking and flight to get to a 120 mile (190 km) distant alternate airport in a 20 mph (30 km/h) headwind. The aircraft also needed to be able to operate from existing 4,000 ft (1,200 m) runways.
Although bearing some resemblance to the Avro Tudor (which spawned the experimental Avro Ashton) [1], from the outset, Floyd's design was conceived as a commercial jet airliner. Initially it was planned that the plane was to be powered by two Rolls-Royce Avon engines, then still in early testing and known as the AJ65. Due to civil certification uncertainties with the Avon, the decision was made to replace the two engines with four less powerful engines. This, in turn, led to TCA pulling out of the program due to the increased maintenance costs, leaving it without an initial customer. Nevertheless, Avro continued with its plan to build the jet, selecting Rolls-Royce Derwents to replace the Avons.
[edit] Testing
Two years later, the first prototype, CF-EJD (-X), started making taxiing tests, and first flew 10 August 1949, only 25 months after the design had started, and only 13 days after the first flight of the DH Comet. On its second flight, on 16 August, the landing gear failed to extend, and the plane had to make a belly-landing. However, the damage was minor, and the plane was in the air again in three weeks.
In April 1950, the Jetliner carried the world's first jet airmail from Toronto to New York in 58 minutes– half the previous record. The flight was highly publicized and the crew was welcomed with a ticker tape parade through the streets of Manhattan. So new was the concept of jet power that the plane was made to park far from the terminal, and pans were placed under the engines in case they dripped any "self-igniting fuel." The Jetliner suffered a mysterious "cracking" sound on the trip and was forced to stay on, as the pilots refused to fly it back. This delay allowed it to be presented to a number of potential customers, where it was competing against considerably slower designs like the DC-6 and war-surplus DC-3s. On its return, (on the back of a train), the "cracking" problem was traced to the spar area around the engines, which was made much stronger. It was later learned the problem was actually too-close tolerances between the engine nacelle and the spar, simply making a looser fit would have had the same effect.
At the time, in the mid-1950s, the Cold War was starting and the Canadian authorities were in the midst of expanding the military. Avro was involved in designing the first dedicated jet-powered all weather fighter for the RCAF at the time, the Avro CF-100 Canuck. The project was somewhat delayed, although the company's continuing work on the Jetliner caused some controversy. After the plane returned, it still had no immediate sales prospects, therefore C.D. Howe, (the "minister of everything"), ordered the program stopped in December 1951. The second prototype Jetliner, well on its way in the main assembly hangar, was broken up at that time.
Nevertheless, only a few months later, the enigmatic Howard Hughes first learned of the design and leased the Jetliner prototype for testing, flying it for a few circuits when it arrived in Culver City, California. He became a believer, imagining TWA and National delivering passengers from New York to vacation spots in Florida in half the time of the competition. He became desperate to buy 30 Jetliners, but Avro had to repeatedly turn him down due to limited manufacturing capabilities and overwork on the CF-100 project. Hughes then started looking at US companies to build it for them; Convair proved interested and started studies on gearing up a production line. C.D. Howe again stepped in and insisted that Avro concentrate on its Orenda turbojet and CF-100 jet fighter programs.
The project was almost restarted in 1953, when CF-100 production was in full swing, but this never happened. In 1955, TCA ordered 51 Vickers Viscount turboprop aircraft from Vickers-Armstrong in England. These were the first turbine-powered aircraft in regular service in North America. They continued in service until 1974.
[edit] Cancellation
The Jetliner was later used as the aerial photo platform for the CF-100 project. On 10 December 1956, the Jetliner was ordered surplused, and although it was donated to the National Research Council, they had no room for it in storage and took only the nose section for cockpit layout design. The rest of the Jetliner was cut up on 13 December 1956. The only surviving parts are the nose and cockpit section in the Canada Aviation Museum in Ottawa.
[edit] Specifications Avro C102 Jetliner
General characteristics
- Length: 82 ft 5 in (25.1 m)
- Wingspan: 98 ft (29.9 m)
- Height: 26 ft 5 1/2 in (8.1 m)
- Empty weight: 37,000 lb (16,783 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 65,000 lb (29,484 kg)
- Powerplant: 4× Rolls-Royce Derwent 5/17 turbojet, 3,600 lbf (16 kN) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 500 mph (805 km/h)
- Cruise speed: 420 mph (676 km/h)
- Range: 1,250 miles (2000 km)
- Service ceiling 40,300 ft (12,300 m)
- Rate of climb: 2,220 ft/min (677 m/min)
[edit] References
- ^ Winchester 2005, p. 68.
- Floyd, Jim. The Avro Canada C102 Jetliner. Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 1986. ISBN 0-919783-66-X.
- Milberry, Larry. Aviation In Canada. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd., 1979. ISBN 0-07-082778-8.
- Winchester, Jim. X-Planes and Prototypes. London: Amber Books Ltd., 2005. ISBN 1-904687-40-7.
[edit] External links
[edit] See also
Comparable aircraft Avro Ashton - de Havilland Comet
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