ARMSTRONG WHITWORTH ATLAS

The 'Atlas' was a British single engined biplane designed and built by Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. It served as an Army cooperation aircraft for the Royal Air Force in the 1920's and 30's. It was the first purpose designed army cooperation aircraft to serve with the RAF.

Contents

Development

Operational history

Variants

Operators

Military

Civil

Specifications (Atlas I)

References

External links

Related content

Development

The 'Armstrong Whitworth Atlas' was designed by a team lead by John Lloyd, chief designer of Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft as a replacement for the DH.9A and the Bristol Fighter as an army cooperation aircraft for the RAF, in parallel with the related aircraft, the Armstrong Whitworth Ajax and Armstrong Whitworth Aries. The Atlas was intended to meet the requirements of Specification 20/25.
The prototype Atlas, ''G-EBLK'' was built as a private venture, first flying on 10 May 1925 . It was delivered to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A & AEE) at Martlesham Heath where it was evaluated against the Bristol Boarhound, de Havilland Hyena, Vickers Vespa and Shorts Chamois. It proved to be superior to the other competitors, with
better performance and handling, and so was recommended for production.
While the performance was generally good, the prototype could not be sideslipped steeply, and this resulted in a re-design where metal, swept wings, with differing wing section, were fitted. When tested again, the Atlas was found to have lost its good handling, having dangerous stall charteristics. The Atlas has already been ordered for service, however, and suffered a number of accidents during take off and landing in the first few months of operation until modified with automatic slats and increased sweepback. This cured the poor handling.
The production Atlas had a steel tube fuselage with fabric covering with single bay swept metal wings. It could be fitted with a hook under the fuselage to pick up messages and could carry a 460 lb bombload under the wings.

Operational history

The first batch of 37 aircraft were ordered in 1927, entering service with 13 Squadron RAF and 26 Squadron in that year. Once the initial handling problems had been solved by the fitting of slats, the Atlas proved well suited to the army cooperation role, serving both at home and overseas, with 208 squadron, being the first squadron to operate Atlases outside Britain, replacing Bristol fighters at Heliopolis, Egypt in 1930 ^[1]

Variants

★ 'Atlas I' Army cooperation aircraft - 271 built for the RAF.

★ 'Atlas Trainer' Daul control trainer version of Atlas I - 175 built.

★ 'Atlas II' Cleaned up, more powerful version, powered by 525 hp Armstrong Siddeley Panther. Rejected in favour of Audax by RAF . 15 built for Kwangsi Air Force, China .

★ 'Ajax' minor differences from Atlas I - 4 built for RAF.

★ 'Aries' improved Atlas I with easier access for maintenance and increased dimensions - one built

Operators

Military

;Canada

★ Royal Canadian Air Force
;

★ Kwangsi Air Force
;
;Greece

★ Hellenic Air Force
;
;

★ Royal Air Force

★
★ No. 2 Squadron RAF

★
★ No. 4 Squadron RAF

★
★ No 13 Squadron RAF

★
★ No. 16 Squadron RAF

★
★ No. 26 Squadron RAF

★
★ No. 208 Squadron RAF

★
★ No 1 Flying Training School RAF

★
★ No. 3 Flying Training School RAF

★
★ No. 5 Flying Training School RAF

★
★ RAF College Cranwell

Civil

;

★ Air Service Training Ltd.

Specifications (Atlas I)

References

1. .
Atlases were also used for communications duties and as an advanced trainer, with 175 dual control trainers built .
The Atlas continued in service in the Army co-operations role until replaced with the Hawker Audax, a variant of the Hawker Hart, with the last operation squadron, 208, re-equipping in 1935. It was also replaced in the advanced trainer role in 1935, by the Hawker Hart Trainer.
Four civil registered Atlas trainers were used by Air Service Training Ltd for advanced and reserve flying training. They were scrapped in 1938. British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 1, , A.J., Jackson, Putnam, 1974,


★ The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985), , , , Orbis Publishing, ,

External links

Virtual Aircraft Museum

British Aircraft Directory

RCAF.com - Canadian Atlases

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