Airspeed Viceroy

Infobox Aircraft
name=AS.8 Viceroy


caption=AS.8 Viceroy in Spanish colour scheme
type=Racing Monoplane
manufacturer=Airspeed (1934) Ltd
designer=N.S. Norway / A. Hessell Tiltman
first flight=1934
introduced=1934
retired=
status=Unknown
primary user=
more users=
produced=1934
number built=1
unit cost=
variants with their own articles=
developed from=Airspeed Envoy

The Airspeed AS.8 Viceroy was a British racing version of the Airspeed AS.6 Envoy built by Airspeed (1934) Limited at Portsmouth. The Viceroy was built to order for Captain T. Neville Stack and Sidney Lewis Turner, to compete in the England-Australia MacRobertson Air Race. Only one aircraft, registered G-ACMU, was built.

Design and development

The Viceroy was a modified Airspeed Envoy. Modifications included:

*Main landing gear was strengthened to allow higher weight takeoff

*An auxiliary petrol tank was installed in the aft fuselage. Its capacity was 270 Imp gallon/1,227 litres.

Operational history

The Airspeed Viceroy started the race from RAF Mildenhall, England, but after several reliability problems including with the mainwheel brakes, it was withdrawn from the race at Athens. The pilots concluded that it would be unsafe to proceed and they would probably be unable to finish the race. The aircraft returned to Portsmouth and was then stored until July 1936 when it was sold the following month by the French concern, SFTA and departed to France en route to the Spanish Civil War.

Documentation regarding the Viceroy's service with the Spanish Republican forces is sketchy. The intention was to convert the aircraft into a bomber and photographs suggest that it did receive new markings and was stationed at an airbase, but further information is not available as to its actual service. [ [http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://usuarios.lycos.es/mrval/GC150101.HTM&prev=/search%3Fq%3DAirspeed%2BViceroy%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ie%3DUTF-8 Airspeed AS.6 Envoy/AS-8 Viceroy (1)] ]

pecifications

aircraft specification

plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop
crew=
length main= 34 ft 6 in
length alt= 10.52 m
span main= 52 ft 4 in
span alt= 15.95 m
height main= 9 ft 6 in
height alt= 2.90 m
area main= 339 ft²
area alt= 31.49 m²
empty weight main=
empty weight alt=
loaded weight main=
loaded weight alt=
max takeoff weight main= 6,300 lb
max takeoff weight alt= 2,858 kg
engine (prop)= Armstrong-Siddeley Cheetah IV
type of prop= radial piston engine
number of props= 2
power main=280 hp
power alt= 209 kw
max speed main= 210 mph
max speed alt= 338 km/h
range main= 1,400 miles
range alt= 2,253 km
ceiling main=
ceiling alt=
climb rate main=
climb rate alt=
loading main=
loading alt=
power/mass main=
power/mass alt=
armament=

ee also

aircontent

related=

similar aircraft=

lists=

see also=
*MacRobertson Air Race

References

* "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985)". Orbis Publishing.
* Jackson, A.J. "British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 1". London: Putnam, 1974. ISBN 0-370-10006-9.

External links

* [http://www.dc3airways.com/1934-entrants.html MacRobertson air race 1934 entrants]