the 1956 Farnborough Air Show.
Despite ’OEN’s appearance in De
Kroonduif colours in April 1956, it was not until
the January 1957 that an order for three was
signed by the airline.
Between January 4 and 6, 1957, three
Twin Pioneers left Prestwick, one to the Far
East and Australia, one for North and South
America and one to make a continental tour
before heading to Switzerland.
First away, with an 18,000-mile (28,968km)
itinerary before it, was G-AOEP on the long
journey to Australia, visiting 34 destinations en
route and returning three months later. Next
came G-AOEN, which left on the American
tour, only returning home in May 1959. The
final departure was of G-AOEO, which arrived
in Zürich in mid-January 1957.
It was chartered for three months’
evaluation by Swissair. Regular services from
Zürich to Davos, St Moritz (the highest airport
in Europe at 5,650ft), La Chaux-de-Fonds,
and Geneva were operated.
Despite the aircraft’s apparent suitability
for this alpine country, Swissair had to reduce
the passenger capacity slightly when single-
engined performance weaknesses were
revealed when operating at altitude.
The airline mooted re-engining the Twin
Pioneer with a Palas booster jet or turboprops,
but SAL rejected these proposals and ’OEO
returned to Prestwick without an order.
In April, the prototype ’NTP cleared
fully instrumented tropical trials at Adenfor operation in high temperatures and the
permissible gross weight was raised to
14,000lb (6,350kg).
During late May 1957, ’OEO operated a
ten-minute shuttle between Issy, the Paris
helicopter airport, and the air show at Le
Bourget, 15 miles away. It was noteworthythat the Twin Pioneer was on the same route
as the Vertol 44 helicopter, carrying the same
number of passengers and using the same
landing areas. The Vertol, naturally, made a
good deal more noise.
By August 1957 the order book was
growing and De Kroonduif took delivery of
the first three Twin Pioneers (JZ-PPX-PPZ)
handed over to a customer on June 26, 1957.
One of them, JZ-PPX, crashed into the seanear Papua New Guinea a few weeks later,
on August 30 after both wings came off during
pilot training.
The cause was eventually identified as
structural failure of a wing strut. Longer-life
fittings were being installed in all aircraft,
but one unmodified example ’OEO left on a
sales tour with David Mclntyre, co-founder
of SAL and designer of the Twin Pioneer
on board. While crossing the Libyan desert
on December 7, 1957, the left outer wing
detached and all six occupants were killed.
A week later all Twin Pioneers were
grounded but, after tests, the company
announced that the modification already
incorporated in production aircraft was entirely
satisfactory and the aircraft was completely
cleared to resume flying in January 1958.
These two accidents badly affected sales
and, as the selling price rose, so did SAL’s
debt to FCI which climbed to £3m (and
eventually reached £5m). The aircraft never
gained its potential owing to the crashes,
which resulted in bad publicity, and the loss of
a key figure in the programme.CIVIL SALES
By January 1958, 12 civil full production Twin
Pioneers Series 1 had flown, and in August
1957 OE-BHV was handed to the Austrian
state forestry service and survey bureau, fitted
with cameras for aerial mapping. This was
the first example intended for survey work.
In December 1957, the Kuwait Oil Company
took delivery of two (G-APHX-Y) and the latter
went on to fly passenger services between
Portsmouth and the Channel Islands with JF
Airlines.
The Iranian Civil Aviation Club received
three (EP-AGA-GC) in January 1958 and
they eventually found new homes in Ecuador,
Norway and Iceland respectively. Borneo
Airways received its first two aircraft (VR-
OAE-F) in April 1958, and a further aircraft,
VR-OAG joined the airline in late 1959.
The previous June (1958) EP-AGG went to
the Red Lion and Sun Organisation, Iran’s
Red Cross equivalent, fitted to carry 16
passengers, a VIP kit or six stretchers.
Production of Series 1 Twin Pioneers
continued with G-APPH and ’PIR, whichKLM’s subsidiary in the Dutch East Indies, De Kroonduif, initially received three Twin Pioneers
JZ-PPX-Z in 1957. BAE Systems18 Aviation News incorporating Jets February 2018Borneo Airways received three Twin Pioneers VR-OAE-G in
1957-8, and VR-OAE is seen flying over Prestwick. BAE Systems‘Here was a
16-passenger, twin-
engined, feederliner
which could unstick
at 60mph from 250ft
of tarmac and land
with a ground roll of
a mere 180ft’
16-20_pioneerDC.mfDC.indd 18 05/01/2018 15: