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British Aircraft Manufacturing Eagle

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

Contents

Type Description
Production Details

Type Description

  • B.K.1 Eagle 1
  • Three-seat low-wing monoplane with a retractable undercarriage, featuring folding wings and an enclosed cabin for the pilot and two passengers. The fuselage and wing were both of wooden construction, plywood covered with the exception the fabric covered elevators. The adjustable pilot’s seat was centrally-placed on top of the front spar with a two-seat bench behind it above the rear spar. Entry was by a door on either side into which sliding windows were fitted and roof lights gave a good view upwards and to some extent rearwards. To the right of the pilot was the winding mechanism for the manually retracted undercarriage. Behind the rear seat was an ample luggage compartment. The wing, which had a 3-degree dihedral, contained an 18-gallon fuel tank on each side in the centre section between the two spars. The undercarriage main legs were attached to the front spar, retracting outwards into the outer wing sections. To fold the wing, an angled section of the outer wing trailing edge was raised to reveal the hinge point around which the outer wing was rotated. The horn-balanced rudder was a tall, rounded unit, the base of which was angled above the extended rear fuselage. The tailplane was wire-braced and below it was a castoring tailwheel. One 130 h.p. de Havilland Gipsy Major powerplant except as noted.
  • B.K.1 Eagle 2
  • As Eagle 1 but with a more rounded, increased chord, mass balanced rudder and built-up top decking resulting in a deeper rear fuselage. From c/n 121 the lengthways central cabin roof member was removed and the windscreen structure simplified, the sliding windows in the doors were given rounded front corners, a chain-operated undercarriage retraction system replaced the former cable system, and Dunlop hydraulic brakes added.

B.K.1 Eagle 2 Specification
Span Length Height Wing Area Empty Wt Max AUW Cruise Speed Maximum Speed Range Service Ceiling
39 ft 3 in 26 ft 6 ft 9 in 200 sq ft 1450 lb 2400 lb 130 mph/ 113 kn 148 mph/ 129 kn 650 mi 16000 ft
11.96 m 7.92 m 2.06 m 18.58 m2 658 kg 1089 kg 209 km/h 238 km/h 1046 km 4877 m

Production Details

B.K.1 Eagle 1 Production
C/n Initial
Registration		 Notes
 4 aircraft built by the British Klemm Company, Hanworth, Middlesex, between April and July 1934
 1  G-ACRG  To British Klemm Aeroplane Co Ltd, Hanworth. Converted to Srs II in 1935 and regd to John Fox, Guildford in July that year.
 2  G-ACPU  To Eric Leslie Gandar Dower, Hove. 200 h.p. de Havilland Gipsy IV. Impressed as DR609 under contract H.546122/41.
 25  G-ACTR  To British Klemm Aeroplane Co Ltd, Hanworth. To J.N. Laurie, Gloucester, NSW as VH-USI December 1934.
 30  G-ACVU  To F/O Geoffrey Shaw, Nunthorpe; named 'The Spirit of WM Shaw & Co Ltd'.
Total Production  4
B.K.1 Eagle 2 Production
C/n Initial
Registration		 Notes
 9 aircraft built by the British Klemm Company, Hanworth, Middlesex, between October 1934 and April 1935.
 105  CR-MAI  To Arocando Torre do Valle, Portuguese East Africa (now Mozambique); named 'Gaza IV'.
 106  VH-USP  To Adastra Airways Ltd, Mascot, NSW, Australia. To WM O'Hara, Malang, Java in March 1936 as ZK-AEA named 'Zealandia'.
 107  G-ACZT  To Border Flying Club Ltd, Kingstown Aerodrome, Carlisle.
 108  EC-CBB  To Juan Ignacio Pombo Alonso-Pesquera, Spain; named 'Santander'. Departed for Mexico but crashed in Brazil, May 1935 (see c/n 115).
 109  VH-UTI  To Percy Knapman, Exeter, NSW, Australia.
 110  G-ADEJ  Retained by British Klemm Aeroplane Co Ltd, Hanworth. (Initially allocated to Lord Willoughby de Broke but replaced by c/n 111).
 111  G-ADES  To John Henry Peyto Verney, the Rt Hon Lord Willoughby de Broke, Kineton. To Er Muller, Basle-Birsfelden, Switzerland in March 1936 as CH-442.
 112  G-ADFB  To British Klemm Aeroplane Co Ltd, Hanworth.To Katsutaro Ano, Japan in May 1935 as J-BOOB; named 'Seikai'.
 113  VH-UTG  To Adastra Airways Ltd, NSW, Australia.
 29 aircraft built by the British Aircraft Manufacturing Company, Hanworth, between May 1935 and July 1938.
 114  EC-CBC  To Lineas Aereos Postales Espanolas [LAPE], Madrid, Spain. (Ferried as EC-W46).
 115  EC-CBB  To Juan Ignacio Pombo Alonso-Pesquera, Mexico City (gift of Spanish Government in replacement of c/n 108).
 116  G-ADYY  To Hubert Holliday, (MD of and nominee for) Vacuum Oil Co Ltd, Hanworth Regd VP-TAM in July 1945 to unknown owner.
 117  YR-ADA  To Ing. N.Marinesco, Rumania. To Jacques Vandroy, Bergues in February 1937 as F-AQDA.
 118  G-ADID  Initially retained by BAMCo, Hanworth. To William Cecil Potter, Staines, September 1937. Impressed as HM500.
 119  G-ADJS  To Villiers Hay Development Co. Ltd, Heston. Impressed as DR610 under contract H.546122/41.
 120    See Note 1
 121  G-ADGJ  To British Aircraft Manufacturing Co Ltd, Hanworth. To Bhavnagar State, India in June 1936 as VT-AHT.
 122  G-ADJO  To Major John Carne Hargreaves, Alexandria, Egypt.
 123  VP-KBS  To George Blowers, Nairobi, Kenya.
 124  G-ADPN  To Flt Lt John George Denholm [Jack] Armour, London.
 125  G-ADPO  To Air Hire Ltd, Heston.
 126  G-AEER  To John Peter Wakefield, Kendal, Westmorland.
 127  G-AEGO  To Reginald Branston, Cambridge. Impressed as HM506.
 128  VH-UUY  To Adastra Airways Ltd, NSW, Australia.
 129  VR-SAP  To Penang Flying Club.
 130  G-ADVT  To Lilian Hartigan Gibbs, nominee on behalf of British American Air Services Ltd, Heston. Impressed as DP847.
 131  G-AEKI  To John Weston Adamson, Coxwold, Yorks. Impressed as ES948 under contract H.546122/41.
 132  G-AENE  To Luke Theodore Lillingston, Leicester. To Jacques Leclerc, Roubaix in September 1937 as F-AQNE.
 133  G-AEFZ  To Sir Alasdair Workman MacRobert, Caterham. Impressed as ES944 under contract H.546122/41.
 134  CF-AYH  To Geoffrey V. Priestley, Toronto.
 135  ???  Reportedly supplied without CofA to Maharajah of Cochin but no Indian regn issued.
 136  F-APDG  To Pierre Wolf, Constantine, Algeria.
 137  G-AERB  To Sir Derwent Hall Caine, London and Thomas Herbert Clayton, Ashford, Middlesex . To Marcel Heyndrick, Tourcoing in October 1938 as F-ARRB.
 138  G-AFAX  To Hector Oliver Hamilton, London. Fitted with a fixed undercarriage. To John D Hodder, Parkes, NSW in March 1940 as VH-CAN.
 139  CF-BBF  To AS Grayden, Montreal.
 140  VP-KCI  To William George Drummond Hay Nichols, Mombasa, Kenya. Impressed as K9.
 141  G-AFIC  To F/O Arthur Edmund Clouston, Farnham. To Rai Bajrang Bahadur Singh, Bhadri Raj, District Partabgarh, Oudh in October 1938 as VT-AKO.
 Impressed in India as MA945.
 142  G-AFKH  To Luis Fontes, Caversham, Reading. To Ernst Spahni, Switzerland in 1939 as HB-EBE.
 143  G-AFIS  To Spikins (Twickenham) Ltd. To HH The Nawab of Sachin, Dumas, Sachin State in January 1939 as VT-AKP. Impressed in India as AW183.
Total Production  38

Production Summary

All Aircraft By Type
Type Built New Conv Canc'd Total
 B.K.1 Eagle 1 4 4
 B.K.1 Eagle 2 38 38
42 (0) 0

Notes

  1. Apparently c/n 120 was not used to emphasize an airframe change at c/n 121; cabin framing and glazing was modified and the undercarriage retraction system was changed from cable to chain.

Production References

  1. British Civil Aircraft Since 1919, Vol 1, A.J. Jackson (Putnam, 1973)
  2. British Light Aeroplanes 1920 - 1940, Arthur W.J.G. Ord-Hume (GMS Enterprises, 2000)
  3. Air Britain Archive, 2012/4 (Air-Britain Publications)
  4. British Isles Civil Aircraft Register 1919-2011 (LAAS International)
  5. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/BK_BAMco.pdf

Page Revision History

Revised at Version 2.0.0
  • Added Type Description and Specification details.