Argonaut G-ALHH
undergoing work
at BOAC’s London
Airport maintenance
facility in 1953.
KEY C
• G-ALHO
Amazon demonstrates
the type’s original
silver colour scheme.
KEY C BOAC Argonaut
G-ALHD Ajax
gets airborne at the
start of a sector.
The Argonauts
were named after
characters from Greek
mythology or stars.
KEY C
Over Ordering
BOAC identified a need for 20 aircraft but in his
autobiography, Sir Miles Thomas, then Deputy Chairman,
recalled travelling with Chief Executive Whitney Straight to
complete the order with the Minister. The two agreed to pitch
the requirement slightly higher in anticipation of having the
number cut back, deciding to submit “a silly, odd sort of number
and then they will be impressed by the fact that we have done
some precise reckoning instead of some round guessing!”, and
requested an order for 23. In the event, the request was reduced
by just one, allowing BOAC two more than they had originally
specified although, in terms of the Argonauts’ financial impact
on BOAC, it would prove a case of the more, the merrier.
Although based on the TCA specification, the Argonaut’s
smaller capacity and greater power was recognised by BOAC
as being ideally matched to the multi-sector schedules and the
often hot-and-high airports of its long, thin ‘Empire routes’ to
the Middle East, Far East and Africa.
In BOAC service the Argonaut was designed to cruise at
217–235kts (250–270mph) at 20,000ft (6,096m) with a
range, when fully loaded, of 2,400 miles (3,862km). However,
in service the BOAC Argonauts generally cruised at around
16,000ft (4,877m), which suited the short/medium haul hops of
the airline’s routings.BOAC signed the purchase agreement on September 30,
1948, committing to 22, to be delivered over 20 months between
September 1948 and May 1950. Although deliveries began six
months behind schedule, when G-ALHC Ariadne arrived at
London Airport on March 29, 1949, they proceeded apace and
were completed six months ahead of the original contracted date.
For the final delivery flight, on November 11, 1949, G-ALHY
Arion carried a special consignment of food parcels – collected
by the United Emergency Fund for Britain – a gift from the
people of Windsor, Ontario, to the underprivileged of Windsor
in England, and Christmas gift parcels for the Scottish National
Institute for War Blinded.Route Proving
On June 14, 1949, Captain APW Cane departed from
London Airport in G-ALHD Ajax at the start of a 26,100-mile
(42,000km) 25-day route proving tour to the Far East.
Stops included Cairo, Bombay (Mumbai), Colombo, Tengeh
(Singapore), Hong Kong, Tokyo, Okinawa, Manila, Bangkok,
Delhi, Karachi, Tehran, Abadan, Basra, Baghdad, Nicosia and
Malta, and in addition to the BOAC complement the tour
included representatives of Canadair, Rolls-Royce and Marconi,42 AIRLINER Classics 2018
IN terms of the Argonauts’
financial impact on BOAC, it
would prove a case of the more,
the merrier