Britten Sheriff

The Britten Sheriff was a light twin-engine aircraft developed in the United Kingdom in the 1970s.

Development

Aircraft engineer John Britten, who had been instrumental in founding Britten-Norman, left the company in February 1976.^[1] After that, he began development of an economical four-place light twin aircraft, the Sheriff. It was a low-wing cantilever monoplane with twin tails and a tractor engine in a nacelle on each wing. Of all-metal construction (with a fiberglass nose section on the fuselage), it was fitted with fixed tricycle undercarriage and accommodated the pilot and three passengers under a bubble canopy.

Britten planned two versions of the aircraft, a two-place trainer and a four-place touring aircraft. Target price of the trainer was ₤25,000 and of the touring version was ₤29,000. By comparison, at that time the price of the Piper Seneca was around £58,000, so Britten's plan was daring.

Britten died in 1977, and work on the prototype aircraft, partly completed, came to a halt. The prototype (registered G-FRJB) was never completed, and in 1986, was acquired by East Midlands Aeropark at East Midlands Airport. As of 2009 the prototype is preserved there and under restoration.^[2]

Specifications (as designed)

Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1982–83^[3]

General characteristics

• Crew: One pilot
• Capacity: 3 passengers
• Length: 22 ft 11 in (6.98 m)
• Wingspan: 33 ft 0 in (10.06 m)
• Wing area: 150 ft² (13.94 m²)
• Empty weight: 1,885 lb (855 kg)
• Gross weight: 2,950 lb (1,338 kg)
• Powerplant: 2 × Lycoming O-320-D1A horizontally-opposed four-cylinder piston engine, 160 hp (119 kW) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 173 mph (278 km/h)
• Cruise speed: 158 mph (254 km/h)
• Range: 668 miles (1,075 km)
• Rate of climb: 1,300 ft/min (6.6 m/s)

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Britten Sheriff.

• Taylor, John W. R. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1982–83. London:Jane's Yearbooks, 1982. ISBN 0-7106-0748-2.

See also