On This Day in 1934…

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Avro 642Today we celebrate the anniversary of a lesser known aircraft, the Avro 642/2m Eighteen twin-engined commercial airliner, which first flew from Woodford on 12th April 1934, piloted by F.B. Tomkins.

The Avro 642 Eighteen was an evolution of the Avro 618 Ten, which was itself a derivative of the Fokker F.VIIb/3m. Imaginatively named because it could carry 18 people (2 pilots & 16 passengers), only two examples of the Avro 642 were built, the second being a four-engined variant which was sold to the Indian Government & used by Viceroy Lord Willingdon.

Avro 642 2Avro 642/2m Eighteen G-ACFV with the original semi-circular nose.

The Avro 642/2m was aerodynamically much cleaner than the Avro Ten & powered by two 460 hp Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar VID radial engines. It originally featured a glazed semi-circular nose but this was damaged in a gale & replaced with a more conventional stepped windscreen.

 

 

Avro 642 3Avro 642/2m Eighteen G-ACFV with the reconfigured nose.

The aircraft was registered as G-ACFV & delivered to Midland & Scottish Air Ferries Ltd at Renfrew in April 1934. It was wrecked in an accident at Cerrig-y-Druidion in Wales on 4th June 1934 but was rebuilt by Commercial Air Hire Ltd of Croydon, carrying out newspaper delivery flights between 1935-36. Later in 1936 it was reregistered as VH -UXD when it was bought by W.R. Carpenter & Co Ltd bought for mail services in New Guinea. There it continued in service with Mandated Airlines Ltd until being destroyed by the Japanese on 11th March 1942.

Avro 642 4Avro 642/2m Eighteen registered as VH-UXD at Brisbane in 1936.

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