received the type at RAF Benson in May
1959), moved to Aden from Kenya.
Its STOL abilities were put to the test
during an armed rebellion of tribesman in
the mountainous Radfan area, west of Aden,
where they were the only aircraft able to
supply the army’s local HQ and its 1,200ft
(366m) airstrip. More than 600 sorties were
carried out.
The 6,000 UK forces were withdrawn in
November 1967, signalling the retirement of
both squadrons’ Twin Pioneers.
Twin Pioneers and Pioneers equipped
209 Sqn at Seletar, Singapore in 1959 to
support forward areas, which during the Malay
confrontation were con ned spaces. Pioneers
operated into the smallest airstrips and Twins
the larger ones.
A revolt in Brunei, though 800 miles
(1,287km) distant from Singapore, called for
a combined operation which included Twin
Pioneers landing troops and supplies. The
Royal Malay Air Force’s Twins assisted. In
late March 1958, the rst of four Series 1 Twin
Pioneers (FM1001-4) had been handed over
to the Malayan government at Prestwick and
with eight Pioneers formed the nucleus of its
air force. It received 11 Twin Pioneer Series
3s, starting with FM1061 on October 5, 1961
and completed with the delivery of FM
on June 30, 1963. They were gradually retired
from 1969.
The RAF’s 209 Sqn Pioneers and Twins
were disposed of in December 1968 following
defence cuts.The nal 20 Twin Pioneers (including
the 11 for the Royal Malay Air Force) were
completed as Series 3s, powered by Alvis
Leonides 531/8 piston engines, each
developing 640hp, compared with 550hp
of the previous series. Many of the earlier
Series 1s and all the RAF CC.1s were
modi ed to this standard as it provided
a 15% increase in power. Despite this
improvement, Twin Pioneer production ended
in mid-1963.
In total 87 were built. Of the 33 civil
examples ten were lost to crashes, while
this fate befell 12 of the 54 RAF and RMAF
military aircraft.P R ES ERVAT I O N
By the mid-1970s only a small number of Twin
Pioneers were still in use around the world.
The ETPS’s XT610 eventually joined Air
Atlantique as G-APRS and is currently stored
at Coventry for possible restoration.
The RAF’s XP925 was registered as
G-AZHJ and along with G-APHY (formerly
VR-OAF of Borneo Airways) and two more
ex-RAF machines; G-AYFA (ex-XM825) and
G-BBVF (ex-XM961) joined Flight One at
Staverton, Gloucestershire, on aerial surveys.
G-BBVF is now preserved at the Museum of
Flight, East Fortune, Scotland.
The RAF’s CC.1 XL993 had made its
nal ight to RAF Henlow, Bedfordshire,
for storage on April 6, 1969 and is now on
display at the RAF Museum Cosford, while
RMAF FM1001 and FM1064 are preserved inMalaysia. The former at the Royal Malaysian
Air Force Museum in Kuala Lumpur and the
latter at the Taman Bangai Transport Park in
Melaka.
Four former RMAF aircraft were delivered
to Bankstown, Sydney in 1975 and were
involved in tourist ights as VH-EVA-VD. One,
VH-EVB (formerly FM1066), is still ying
after restoration at Wedderburn Air eld, south
of Sydney. VH-AIS is stored at Brad eld,
Queensland, and 9M-ARU is preserved by the
Australian Aviation Museum at Bankstown,
Sydney.
The Twin Pioneer had great potential
but this, unfortunately, was never realised.
Engine performance proved to be a problem- certainly, if there had been a suitable
turboprop engine available, then the type
might have emulated the sales of the DHC
Twin Otter which rst ew ten years later.
SAL did investigate alternative powerplants
and re-engining, but the Wasp-powered
Series 2 was not a success.
Build costs remained high because
Scottish Aviation never fully installed a
manufacturing production line. The rm’s
nancial weakness kept the size of production
batches small, limiting economies of scale.
Crucially, these factors led to a far higher
sales price than originally envisaged, making
it too expensive for many potential customers.
Though the Twin Pioneer was a successful
design, its legacy for the company was that
Scottish Aviation never again manufactured an
aircraft entirely of its own design.
20 Aviation News incorporating Jets February 2018Malaysian Airways acquired six Twin Pioneers, two from Borneo
Airways and four ex-RMAF aircraft. All were sold to Aerial
Agriculture in Australia during 1972-3. Key-Don Hannah CollectionG-BCWF, originally G-APRS and XT610, ew with
Staverton-based Flight One on aerial survey work
from 1975 until the early 1990s. Key Collection16-20_pioneerDC.mfDC.indd 20 05/01/2018 15: