FLIGHT, 23 February 1951
234
B.E.AIs
ELIZABETHANS
. . .
to set the scale when one remarks that, for a similar stage-distance
and utilization, and under the same conditions of operation, the
cost of the Elizabethan per C.T.M. are some 17 per cent below
those of a standard DC-3 operated, like the Elizabethan, with
three flying crew but with only one steward compared with the
Elizabethan's two.
Incidentally, on this latter point, B.E.A.'s policy is to operate
with one steward and one stewardess in each Elizabethan—
thereby offering the passenger whichever type of service he or she
prefers.
A final point. Some people may have wondered why we in
B.EA. have changed from the manufacturers' name "Ambassador" to the new aircraft class-name "Elizabethan." There
are three reasons. First, B.EA's policy is to try to introduce
some individuality into its fleet by naming its aircraft after famous
Names of the B.E.A. " E L I Z A B E T H A N " Class
Reg.
G-ALZN
Name
Elizabethan
Reg.
G-ALZY
Name
Sir Philip Sidney
G-AMAD
Sir Francis Drake
G-ALZZ
Edmund Spenser
G-ALZP
Sir Richard
Grenville
Sir Walter Raleigh
G-AMAA
Sir Francis Knollys
G-ALZR
G-ALZS
William Shakespeare
G-ALZT
Sir John Hawkins
G-ALZU
Lord Burghley
G-ALZV
Earl of Leicester
G-ALZW
Sir Francis
Walsingham
Sir John Norris
G-ALZX
G-AMAB
Sir Francis Bacon
G-AMAC
Sir Robert Cecil
G-ALZO
G-AMAE
Christopher
Marlowe
Earl of Essex
G-AMAF
Lord Howard of
G-AMAG
G-AMAH
Sir Thomas Gresham
Sir Christopher
Hatton
Efftngham
THE
An unusually revealing study of an Elizabethan power plant, the heart of
which is a bristol Centaurus 661 eighteen-cylinder sleeve-valve engine.
persons in British history. Individual names of 20 accredited
ministers were, in fact, sought, but the list arrived at did not
produce 20 historic names which would be widely recognized.
Secondly, there are so many individual features built into
B.E.A.'°- version of the Ambassador that a separate class-name
seemed desirable to distinguish the B.E.A. version from the many
others which we may hope will be flying before long with other
airlines throughout the world. And, finally, the name "Elizabethan " was an obvious winner from the many submitted in the
B.EA. aircraft-names staff competition.
And so, in the tradition of Imperial Airways' famous old
Argosies and Heracles of the 1920s and 1930s, British European
Airways looks forward to reintroducing the British " Silver
Wing" service with a new aircraft finer than any which has yet
flown between London and Paris.
The names of Drake, Raleigh and Hawkins will be seen again
over the narrow seas.
DART-AMBASSADOR
IT is clearly evident that the Ambassador is amen able to a
great deal of further development or design " stretch ", and we
now are enabled to publish a preliminary note on a possible
version—in which B.EA. axe naturally interested as a future
possibility—with four Rolls-Royce Dart R.Da3 turboprops.
Slotted flaps and additional centre-section fuel tanks (already
provided for in the design and increasing the total capacity to
1,600 gal) are foreseen, but the present fuselage would, at least
in the initial stage of development, be retained. In I.C.A.N.
conditions, at its normal all-up weight of 54,5001b, the DartAmbassador would reach 50ft in 990yd and at 25,000ft would
cruise at 325 m.p.h., the corresponding ajn.p.g. being 1.215.
With a payload of 11,6451b the stage distance (with S.B.A.C.
fuel allowances for V.F.R.) is estimated to 1,080 miles. The
appearance of the Dart-Ambassador is shown, for the first time,
in the Flight copyright drawing below.