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Airspeed Low Volume Production

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For a description of the format and data included in Production Tables, see here.

This page covers Airspeed aircraft with low production volumes and/or registration/serial allocations. For higher volume production, see the individual type Production Details.

Type Description and Production Data

A.S.1 Tern A.S.8 Viceroy A.S.27 A.S.39 Fleet Shadower A.S.45 Cambridge A.S.49 A.S.60 Ayreshire C.1
AS.1 Tern
Single seat monoplane sailplane of wooden construction with a fabric-covered two-spar cantilevered tapered wing with no dihedral. A plywood leading edge was fitted but only as an aerodynamic fairing and not as primary structure. The trapezoidal-section fuselage had plywood lower sides and fabric-covered top decking as well as a generous cockpit in the leading edge of the centre-section.

AS.1 Tern Specification
Span Length Height Wing Area Empty Wt Max AUW
50 ft 24 ft 7 in 201 sq ft 223 lb 415 lb
15.24 m 7.49 m 18.67 m2 101 kg 188 kg

Production Details
C/n Initial
Registration		 Notes
 2 aircraft built by Airspeed Ltd., York. First flew August 1931.
 1  BGA0190  Initially retained by Airspeed. To Graham Andrew Little, Alan Herbert Reffell and Dr. Alan Fleming McGlashan, Southdown G.C., May 1933.
 2    To John Noble, Dunstable, incomplete, in 1936. Completed by Dart Aircraft, Dunstable, in 1937. To Fred Gardiner, Dunstable.
 3    Not completed
Total Production  2
Total Production (Not Completed)  1
AS.8 Viceroy
A two seat cantilever low wing monoplane with retractable landing gear, it was an Envoy derivative for the England to Australia MacRobertson Trophy Race. The fuselage was of wooden structure with plywood skin forward and fabric aft, the wings, with dihedral on outer sections and taper from root to tip, were of convention wooden structure with fabric covering. Two 290 h.p.Armstrong-Siddeley Cheetah VI supercharged powerplants.

AS.8 Viceroy Specification
Span Length Height Wing Area Empty Wt Max AUW Cruise Speed Maximum Speed Range Service Ceiling
54 ft 4 in 34 ft 6 in 9 ft 6 in 339 sq ft 3900 lb 6300 lb 190 mph/ 165 kn 210 mph/ 182 kn 1400 mi
16.56 m 10.52 m 2.9 m 31.49 m2 1769 kg 2858 kg 306 km/h 338 km/h 2253 km

Production Details
C/n Initial
Registration		 Notes
 1 aircraft built by Airspeed Ltd., Portsmouth. First flew September 1934.
 18  G-ACMU  To Thomas Neville Stack, London, and Sydney Lewis Turner, Croydon. Flown by Stack and Turner in MacRobertson Race. To Spanish Republicans, later
     named 'Arturo Gonzalez Gil'.
Total Production  1
AS.27
Initially designed as a slow speed single seat coastal patrol and general purpose aircraft featuring a biplane 'Irving' wing arrangement. One 225 h.p. Wolseley Aries or 250 h.p. Wolseley Scorpio powerplant
The A.S. 27 was redesigned as a 'Special defence' single seat high wing cabin monoplane to Specification 38/35. The tapered wing feaured single strut bracing and was fitted with slots ahead of the ailerons and plain flaps inboard. One 350 h.p.Armstrong-Siddeley Cheetah X powerplant. Non built.

AS.27 (Monoplane) Specification
Span Length Height Wing Area Empty Wt Max AUW Cruise Speed Maximum Speed Range Service Ceiling
50 ft 34 ft 6 in 292 sq ft
15.24 m 10.52 m 27.13 m2

Production Details
Serial Range C/n Batch
Qty		 Conv. Canc'd Notes
 2 aircraft ordered from Airspeed Ltd., Portsmouth, to Contract 486768/36. Cancelled.
 K8846 - K8847        2  
Total Production 2
AS.39 Fleet Shadower
Three crew high wing long range fleet spotter to Specification S.23/37 to meet the requirements of OR.52. The braced monoplane wing was of spruce with plywood covering, had dihedral and was slightly swept. All fuselage was of all metal stressed skin construction with the pilot in enclosed cockpit forward of the wing, the observer in enclosed nose compartment and the radio operator in cabin below wing. The fixed tailplane had split elevators and the triple fins had twin rudders. The non retractable undercarriage was of the divided type, with each main wheel supported by oleo leg to wing forward spar, and a radius rod and axle to fuselage lower longeron. Four 140 h.p. Pobjoy Niagara V powerplants.

AS.39 Fleet Shadower Specification
Span Length Height Wing Area Empty Wt Max AUW Cruise Speed Maximum Speed Endurance Service Ceiling
53 ft 4 in 40 ft 10 ft 5 in 4592 lb 6935 lb 113 mph/ 98 kn 126 mph/ 109 kn 6 hr 14700 ft
16.26 m 12.19 m 3.18 m 2083 kg 3146 kg 182 km/h 203 km/h 4481 m

Production Details
Serial Range C/n Batch
Qty		 Conv. Canc'd Notes
 2 aircraft ordered from Airspeed Ltd., Portsmouth, to Contract 7504047/38. First flew October 1940.
 N1323, N1326    1    1  N1326 not completed.
Total Production 2
AS.45 Cambridge
2 seat low wing cantilever monoplane advanced trainer to Specification T.4/39 to meet the requirements of OR.68. The fuselage was of steel tube construction with the pupil and instructor seated in tandem within enclosed cockpit, while the wing, which housed the inward retracting main gear, had dihedral and was of wooden structure with stressed plywood skin covering. The cantilever tailplane was located at the top of fuselage, with a small fin above fuselage. Elevators and rudder were horn balanced. One 730 h.p. Bristol Mercury VIII powerplant.

AS.45 Cambridge Specification
Span Length Height Wing Area Empty Wt Max AUW Cruise Speed Maximum Speed Range Service Ceiling
42 ft 36 ft 1 in 11 ft 6 in 290 sq ft 228 mph/ 198 kn 680 mi 24800 ft
12.8 m 11 m 3.51 m 26.94 m2 367 km/h 1094 km 7559 m

Production Details
Serial Range C/n Batch
Qty		 Conv. Canc'd Notes
 2 aircraft ordered from Airspeed Ltd., Portsmouth, to Contract B.32277/39. First flew February, 1941
 T2449, T2453    2      
Total Production 2
AS.49
Single seat intermediate fighter trainer to Specification T.24/40 to meet the requirements of OR.97, featuring a low set cantiveler wing and fixed undercarriage. For simplicity and conservation of strategic materials, it was to be built largely of wood with a two spar, ply-covered, wing in three sections, and a ply covered fuselage. One 295 h.p. de Havilland Gipsy Six IIIS or 250 h.p. de Havilland Gipsy Six IV powerplant. Non built, but reached the mock-up stage.

AS.49 Specification
Span Length Height Wing Area Empty Wt Max AUW Cruise Speed Maximum Speed Range Service Ceiling
25 ft 7 in 22 ft 98 sq ft 2540 lb 202 mph/ 176 kn 228 mph/ 198 kn 390 mi
7.8 m 6.71 m 9.1 m2 1152 kg 325 km/h 367 km/h 628 km

Production Details
Serial Range C/n Batch
Qty		 Conv. Canc'd Notes
 1 aircraft ordered from Airspeed Ltd., Hatfield (1), to Contract B.156034/40. Cancelled.
 BH727 (BS750)        1  See note 2
 50 aircraft ordered from Airspeed Ltd., Hatfield (1), to Contract Acft/67. Cancelled.
 BS827 - BS848        22  
 BS863 - BS890        28  
Total Production 51
AS.60 Ayreshire C.1
Medium range military transport variant of the Ambassador to Specification C.13/45 to meet the requirements of OR.165. The wings and empennage of the Ambassador were combined with a new, square section, fuselage featuring large, outboaed opening, clamshell doors beneath the deep section rear fuselage. Two 2000 h.p. Bristol Centaurus 130 powerplants.

AS.60 Ayreshire C.1 Specification
Span Length Height Wing Area Empty Wt Max AUW Cruise Speed Maximum Speed Range Service Ceiling
47000 lb
21319 kg

Production Details
Serial Range C/n Batch
Qty		 Conv. Canc'd Notes
 30 aircraft ordered from Airspeed Ltd., Christchurch, to Contract Acft/5958. Cancelled.
 VP219 - VP248        30  
 10 aircraft ordered from Vickers-Armstrongs (Supermarine) Ltd, to Contract 6/Acft/783. Cancelled (See note 3).
 VS227 - VS236        10  
Total Production 40

Notes

  1. The Airspeed design team had been relocated to the de Havilland design office, Hatfield.
  2. Serial BH727 was originally incorrectly allocated to the non-existant de Havilland submission to T.24/40. The allocation should have been to Airspeed and serial BS750 was subsequently allocated for their use. The design reached mock up status but was destroyed in an air raid.
  3. The contracts ledger gives Contract 6/Acft/783/CB.10 to Vickers-Armstrongs (Supermarine) Ltd for 10 Airspeed Ayreshire C.1s, but this contract number actually covered an order from CB.7 for Mosquito T.3s and NF.38s [3]

Production References

  1. Airspeed Aircraft Since 1931, H.A. Taylor (Putnam, 1970)
  2. Impressments Logs, Peter W. Moss (Air Britain Publications, 1962-66)
  3. Air Britain Archive, 2003/3 (Air-Britain Publications)
  4. Air Britain RAF Aircraft Register Series, Various Volumes (Air-Britain Publications)

Page Revision History

Revised at Version 2.0.0
  • Page completely rewritten to include Type Details and Specifications.
Revised at Version 1.4.0
  • Improved Type Descriptions and Added Specification details.
  • Added user details for A.S.1 Tern and A.S.8 Viceroy
  • AS.4 Ferry moved to its own page