British Aircraft Double Eagle
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
| {{Infobox aircraft begin
| name=B.A.IV Double Eagle | image=B. A. Double Eagle.jpg | caption=Double Eagle in 1936 }}{{Infobox aircraft type | type=Twin-engined utility monoplane | national origin=United Kingdom | manufacturer=British Aircraft Manufacturing Company | designer= | first flight=1936 | introduced= | retired= | status= | primary user= | number built=3 | developed from= | variants with their own articles= }} |
The British Aircraft B.A.IV Double Eagle was a British twin-engined six-seater monoplane designed and built by the British Aircraft Manufacturing Company of London Air Park, Hanworth, England.
Design and development
The Double Eagle was a twin-engined high-wing monoplane with a retractable landing gear, the main gear retracting backwards into the engine nacelles.Jackson 1973, page 295 The first aircraft (Y-1) was powered by two 130 hp (97 kW) de Havilland Gipsy Major engines, and it first flew from Hanworth on 3 July 1936, later registered G-ADVV. The second aircraft (G-AEIN) was fitted with two de Havilland Gipsy VIs. Three aircraft were built, although one citation is claimed to say that only two Double Eagles were produced, and that both were impressed by the RAF.British Multi-Engined Support Aircraft of WW II, ed. Hooks M, Kelsey 2013{{Dubious|date=March 2015|reason=Jackson ref comprehensive}}
Operational history
In 1940, the first aircraft (G-ADVV) was impressed into the Royal Air Force as ES949, and was finally used as an instructional airframe by Armstrong-Whitworth, and later Parnall.
On 29 September 1936, the second aircraft (G-AEIN), piloted by Tommy Rose, took off in the Schlesinger Race (from Portsmouth to Johannesburg). It was retired when it suffered damage at Almaza Airfield (Cairo), due to collapse of the undercarriage.
{{cite magazine |date=8 October 1936|title=One Out of Nine|magazine=Flight|pages=2707|url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1936/1936%20-%202707.html}} In 1940, it was impressed into the RAF as ES950, and ended its life in 1941 as an instructional airframe.
The third aircraft (ZS-AIY) was sold to the Aircraft Operating Company in South Africa as an aerial surveying aircraft, and was then re-registered ZS-AOC. In 1940, it was impressed into service with 60 Squadron of the South African Air Force as serial number 1415.{{cite web|title=South African Air Force (Unofficial)|url=http://www.saairforce.co.za/the-airforce/squadrons/12/60-squadron|work=60 Squadron|accessdate=19 September 2011}}
Operators
Specifications (with Gipsy Major)
{{Aircraft specs
|prime units? = imp
|crew=1
|capacity=5
|length m=9.1
|length ft=29
|length in=10
|span m=12.5
|span ft=41
|span in=0
|empty weight kg=907
|empty weight lb=2000
|gross weight kg=1588
|gross weight lb=3500
|eng1 number=2
|eng1 name=de Havilland Gipsy Major
|eng1 kw=97
|eng1 hp=130
|max speed kmh=265
|max speed mph=165
|cruise speed kmh=232
|cruise speed mph=145
}}
See also
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References
{{commons category|British Aircraft Double Eagle}}
=Notes=
{{reflist}}
=Bibliography=
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite book |last= Jackson|first= A.J.|title= British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 1|year= 1973|publisher= Putnam|location= London|isbn=0-370-10006-9 }}
{{refend}}
{{British Aircraft Manufacturing aircraft}}
Category:1930s British civil utility aircraft