BOAC estimated
that operating a f leet
of Argonauts would
save the corporation
£5m over f ive years
compared with
persevering with
the star-crossed
A v r o Tu d o r.
BA H C A • G-ALHW,
Aeolus, climbs out
from Entebbe. One of
four Argonauts sold to
the Royal Rhodesian
Air Force (R R AF),
Aeolus, which had
previously carried
out Royal f lights, was
handed over with a
VIP interior layout.L • The Argonaut
f light deck owed much
to its DC-4 origins.
In the left seat is
Captain APW Cane,
who commanded the
25-day route-proving
journey to the Far
East in June 1949.
BA H C T • G-ALHX,
Astraea, operating
a service for West
African Airways
Corporation. BA
H C A • By
1953/54, when the
Argonauts had taken
on much of the former
Hermes routes.dressing table supplied with Elizabeth Arden cosmetics.
In addition to two cargo holds below decks a third, smaller
storage area was positioned immediately in front of the men’s
dressing room on the port side and there was a separate
diplomatic mail locker.
The BOAC Argonauts were flown with an operating crew
of four: Captain, First Officer, Navigation Officer and Radio
Officer. BOAC positioned the Radio Officer on the port side
in place of the original third pilot’s place while the Navigator’s
station – essentially a fold-down table – was on the starboard
side by the emergency door. In the cabin two Stewards and one
Stewardess attended to passengers and prepared meals of ‘first-
class restaurant standard’ from pre-cooked deep-frozen food.
From 1952, with the introduction of Coronet Tourist class,
BOAC’s Argonauts were reconfigured in a two-class layout
with 12 First class seats – plus lounge area and bar – in the aft
cabin, and 30 Tourist class seats in the forward cabin. First class
was arranged in three rows of four abreast seats at 53in (135cm)
pitch while Tourist class seats were set out in six rows of five
abreast at 39in (99cm) pitch. Later some of the aircraft were
converted to a 54-seat all-economy layout.
From the outset the Argonauts were known for their high
cabin noise levels, caused by the deep, pulsating throb of the
engines – despite insulating fibreglass in the cabin walls and
flooring – and passengers in the front cabin additionally endured
wearying vibration from the slipstream of the inboard propellers.
The Argonaut’s powerplants had exhaust stacks on both sides
of each engine and in 1952/53 cross-over exhausts were fitted
in an effort to reduce cabin noise by directing the gasses to the
outboard side of the engines, although noise remained an issue.
Former BOAC Steward, Howell Green, flew the Argonaut
mostly on the East Africa run. He recalls, “There was a lot of
noise and vibration from those Merlins. You got used to it, but
it was quite ‘rattly’. We flew quite low – through the Alps rather
than over them – and crossing the Sahara the thermals could
give you a wild ride.”Workhorse
The fleet soon settled into operations and by 1954 average
daily utilisation had more than doubled to 9.6 hours; the
efficient Argonauts generating one-third of BOAC’s total
revenue. Shorter turnaround times en route and the elimination
of most night stops to the Far East kept the fleet aloft, while
BOAC’s strateg y of ‘planned maintenance’ – to smooth out
peaks and troughs in down time – and engineering efficiencies
led maintenance and overhaul per aircraft per day to drop from
ten to seven hours.
Many flight crew believed the Merlin engines were more
reliable when kept working hard and they were therefore usually
at full power for take-off and climb. However, this reduced the
time between overhauls, and in order to conserve engine life,
crews were instructed to reduce rpm and boost rates.
By late-summer of 1950 Argonauts were operating all of
BOAC’s Eastern passenger flights except for Sydney, which was
served by Constellations.
The Argonaut earned a place in history on January 31,
1952 when HRH Princess Elizabeth and HRH the Duke of
Edinburgh left London Airport for Kenya aboard Argonaut
G-ALHK Atalanta (in Greek mytholog y the only female
Argonaut), at the start of a Commonwealth tour. The trip was
cut short by the death of King George VI and the new ueen
returned to London Airport, stepping off the same aircraft in
front of the world’s press on February 7.http://www.airlinerworld.com 45