Avro designed the 748 in a bid to re-enter the civil market in the 1950s in anticipation of a decline in its military aircraft business (following Britain's famous 1957 Defence White paper).
A special military variant with a rear loading ramp and a "kneeling" undercarriage was the HS-780 (HS-748MF) which was known in British military service as the Andover C1. The standard HS-748 was named the Andover CC2. Later some C1s were converted for photo duties as the C1(PR) and radar calibration duties as the E3 and E3A. A few ex British and New Zealand military C1s entered commercial service.
The HS-748 proved to be a quite successful turboprop airliner and remains popular both as an airliner and freighter in civil and military use.
The British Aerospace ATP was an airliner produced by British Aerospace, designed as an evolution of the Hawker Siddeley HS 748. The fuel crisis and increasing worries about aircraft noise led business planners at British Aerospace to believe that there was a market for a short-range, low-noise, fuel-efficient turboprop aircraft.
The Indian Ministry of Defence had expressed an early interest in the 748 which resulted in an agreemnet to assemble and build the aircraft under licence. The first four aircraft, Series 1, were built by Kanpur (Indian Air Force Manufacturing Depot), with the first flight made on November 1 1961. Due to a poor production rate, the production was taken over from the fifth aircraft by Hindustan as the HAL-748, who first produced the Series 2 and later the Series 2M with the front fuselage freight door. The last one was delivered in September 1984, to the Indian Air Force.
A special military variant with a rear loading ramp and a "kneeling" undercarriage was the HS-780 (HS-748MF) which was known in British military service as the Andover C1. The standard HS-748 was named the Andover CC2. Later some C1s were converted for photo duties as the C1(PR) and radar calibration duties as the E3 and E3A. A few ex British and New Zealand military C1s entered commercial service.
The HS-748 proved to be a quite successful turboprop airliner and remains popular both as an airliner and freighter in civil and military use.
Development
BKS Air Transport Avro 748 Series 1 at Manchester in 1964
Aerolineas Argentinas Avro 748 Series 1 at Aeroparque Jorge Newbery, Buenos Aires, in 1972
The original 748 design was started in 1958 after the infamous Duncan Sandys 1957 Defence White Paper ended most military manned aircraft development in the UK, and Avro decided to re-enter the civilian market.
The Vickers Viscount had the larger end of the short-haul market neatly wrapped up, so Avro therefore decided to design to a smaller regional airliner powered by two Rolls-Royce Dart turboprop engines and intended to replace the many DC-3 Dakotas that were by then reaching the end of their economic lifespan.
Avro was not the only company to see the potential for a DC-3 replacement, and by this point the Fokker F27 Friendship was well advanced. Avro therefore decided to compete by producing a design with better short-field performance, allowing it to operate from smaller airports and those with rough surfaces.
The first Avro 748 flew from the company's Woodford, Cheshire aircraft factory on 24 June 1960, and testing of the two prototypes quickly proved the type's short field performance. 18 Avro 748 Series 1 aircraft were produced, the first for Skyways Coach-Air being delivered in April 1962. However, the majority of the series 1 were delivered to Aerolíneas Argentinas. By this point, Avro's individual identity within the Hawker Siddeley Group had ended and the design became known as the HS 748.
The 748 Series 1 and Series 2 was licence-produced in India by Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) as the HAL-748. HAL built 89 aircraft in India, 72 for the Indian Air Force and 17 for the Indian Airlines Corporation.
The ICAO designator as used in flight plans is A748.
Basic price for a new Avro 748 Series 1 in 1960 was £176,000, with the corresponding Avro 748 Series 2 being £196,000.
Sukesha Mishra
Marketing Trannie at AeroSoft
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