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weight and performance calculations for the Armstrong Whitworth A.W.155 Argosy Mk.I
Armstrong Whitworth A.W.155 Argosy Mk.I
role : passenger aircraft
importance : ***
first flight : 16 March 1926 at Hendon operational : 16 July 1926
country : United-Kingdom
design :
production : 7 aircraft
general information :
3-engine design to give better safety, to be used on the Imperial Airways routes.
It flew routes London - Paris, London – Cologne and London - Brussels.
The passengers were carried in a luxury way, on the “silver wing “ service to Paris. Two seats were removed on those flights and replaced by a bar and a steward who served drinks during the flight. Later the more powerful Argosy Mk.II was also used for flights all the way to Karachi, India and to Cape Town, South Africa.
It was in service upon till 1934.
users : Imperial Airways
registrations : Mk.I : G-EBLF, G-EBLO, G-EBOZ Mk.II : G-AACH, G-AACI, G-AACJ,
G-AAEJ
crew : 2 passengers : 20
engine : 3 Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar III air-cooled 14 -cylinder radial engine 385 [hp]
(287.1 KW)
dimensions :
wingspan : 27.64 [m], length : 20.07 [m], height : 6.05[m]
wing area : 175.22 [m^2]
weights :
max.take-off weight : 8165 [kg]
empty weight operational : 5443 [kg] useful load : 2000 [kg]
performance :
maximum speed :177 [km/u] op 500 [m]
cruise speed :159 [km/u] op 500 [m]
service ceiling : 4000 [m]
range : 652 [km]
description :
3-bay biplane with fixed landing gear and tail strut
two spar upper and lower wing
2 engines attached to the wings 1 in the fuselage, landing gear attached to the wings,
fuel tanks in upper wing centre section. Luggage storage behind the passenger cabin in
the tail. In passenger cabin there was a toilet.
Construction : steel tubes, plywood, fabric
airscrew :
three fixed pitch 2 -bladed tractor airscrews with max. efficiency :0.67 [ ]
estimated diameter airscrew 3.27 [m]
angle of attack prop : 11.88 [ ]
fine pitch
reduction : 1.00 [ ]
airscrew revs : 1820 [r.p.m.]
pitch at Max speed 1.62 [m]
blade-tip speed at Vmax and max revs. : 315 [m/s]
calculation : *1* (dimensions)
wing chord : 3.70 [m]
mean wing chord : 3.17 [m]
calculated wing chord (rounded tips): 3.41 [m]
wing aspect ratio : 8.72 []
estimated gap : 3.09 [m]
gap/chord : 0.97 [ ]
seize (span*length*height) : 3356 [m^3]
calculation : *2* (fuel consumption)
oil consumption : 38.8 [kg/hr]
fuel consumption(cruise speed) : 223.5 [kg/hr] (304.9 [litre/hr]) at 67 [%] power
distance flown for 1 kg fuel : 0.71 [km/kg] at 2000 [m] cruise height, sfc : 387.0 [kg/kwh]
estimated total fuel capacity : 1416.28 [litre] (1038.13 [kg])
calculation : *3* (weight)
weight engine(s) dry : 1083.0 [kg] = 1.26 [kg/KW]
weight 233.6 litre oil tank : 19.85 [kg]
oil tank filled with 6.5 litre oil : 5.8 [kg]
oil in engine 4.8 litre oil : 4.3 [kg]
fuel in engine 5.9 litre fuel : 4.31 [kg]
weight 129.6 litre gravity patrol tank(s) : 19.4 [kg]
weight self-starter : 7.0 [kg]
weight cowling 11.5 [kg]
weight airscrew(s) (wood) incl. boss & bolts : 127.9 [kg]
total weight propulsion system : 1263 [kg](15.5 [%])
***************************************************************
fuselage skeleton (steel tubes) : 7.47 [cm]): 1153 [kg]
cabin layout : pitch : 87 [cm] (1+1) seating in 10.0 rows
weight 20.0 windows : 18.00 [kg]
weight toilet : 8.0 [kg]
passenger cabin width : 1.78 [m] cabin length : 8.70 [m] cabin height : 1.90 [m]
weight cabin furbishing : 174.00 [kg]
bracing : 164.7 [kg]
fuselage covering ( 76.1 [m2] doped linen fabric) : 23.3 [kg]
weight instruments. : 2.5 [kg]
weight 2 fire extinguisher : 3.0 [kg]
weight lighting : 1.1 [kg]
weight controls : 9.9 [kg]
weight seats : 110.0 [kg]
weight three 429 [litre] main fuel tanks empty : 102.9 [kg]
weight air conditioning : 30 [kg]
weight fuel lines : 6 [kg]
weight engine mount and firewall : 14 [kg]
total weight fuselage : 1821 [kg](22.3 [%])
***************************************************************
weight wing covering (doped linen fabric) : 159 [kg]
total weight ribs (211 ribs) : 485 [kg]
weight engine mounts : 29 [kg]
load on front upper spar (clmax) per running metre : 1289.1 [N]
load on rear upper spar (vmax) per running metre : 678.0 [N]
total weight 8 spars : 476 [kg]
weight wings : 1120 [kg]
weight wing/square meter : 6.39 [kg]
weight 12 interplane struts & cabane : 326.0 [kg]
weight cables (180 [m]) : 135.0 [kg] (= 750 [gram] per metre)
diameter cable : 11.1 [mm]
weight fin & rudder (8.9 [m2]) : 58.0 [kg]
weight stabilizer & elevator (19.7 [m2]): 127.3 [kg]
total weight wing surfaces & bracing : 1795 [kg] (22.0 [%])
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wheel pressure : 4082.5 [kg]
weight 2 wheels (1480 [mm] by 191 [mm]) : 301.5 [kg]
weight tailskid : 24.6 [kg]
weight undercarriage with axle 97.9 [kg]
total weight landing gear : 424.1 [kg] (5.2 [%]
*******************************************************************
********************************************************************
calculated empty weight : 5303 [kg](65.0 [%])
weight oil for 4.9 hours flying : 190.4 [kg]
calculated operational weight empty : 5494 [kg] (67.3 [%])
published operational weight empty : 5443 [kg] (66.7 [%])
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weight crew : 162 [kg]
weight fuel for 2.0 hours flying : 447 [kg]
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operational weight empty: 6103 [kg](74.7 [%])
weight 20 passengers : 1540 [kg]
weight luggage & freight : 460 [kg]
operational weight loaded: 8103 [kg](74.7 [%])
fuel reserve : 62.4 [kg] enough for 0.28 [hours] flying
operational weight fully loaded : 8165 [kg] with fuel tank filled for 49 [%]
published maximum take-off weight : 8165 [kg] (100.0 [%])
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calculation : * 4 * (engine power)
power loading (Take-off) : 9.48 [kg/kW]
power loading (operational without useful load) : 7.09 [kg/kW]
total power : 861.3 [kW] at 1820 [r.p.m]
calculation : *5* (loads)
manoeuvre load : 2.9 [g] at 1000 [m]
limit load : 2.5 [g] ultimate load : 3.8 [g] load factor : 1.4 [g]
design flight time : 3.27 [hours]
design cycles : 1222 sorties, design hours : 4000 [hours]
operational wing loading : 342 [N/m^2]
wing stress (3 g) during operation : 160 [N/kg] at 3g emergency manoeuvre
calculation : *6* (angles of attack)
angle of attack zero lift : -1.37 ["]
max. angle of attack (stalling angle) : 11.70 ["]
angle of attack at max. speed : 1.40 ["]
calculation : *7* (lift & drag ratios
lift coefficient at angle of attack 0° :0.12 [ ]
lift coefficient at max. angle of attack : 1.14 [ ]
lift coefficient at max. speed : 0.24 [ ]
induced drag coefficient at max. speed : 0.0038 [ ]
drag coefficient at max. speed : 0.0440 [ ]
drag coefficient (zero lift) : 0.0402 [ ]
calculation : *8* (speeds
stalling speed at sea-level (OW): 80 [km/u]
stalling speed at sea-level (MTOW): 92 [km/u]
landing speed at sea-level: 93 [km/hr]
min. drag speed (max endurance) : 106 [km/hr] at 2000 [m](power :36 [%])
min. power speed (max range) : 118 [km/hr] at 2000 [m] (power:39 [%])
max. rate of climb speed : 106.9 [km/hr] at sea-level
cruising speed : 159 [km/hr] op 2000 [m] (power:64 [%])
design speed prop : 168 [km/hr]
maximum speed : 177 [km/hr] op 500 [m] (power:93 [%])
climbing speed at sea-level : 314 [m/min]
calculation : *9* (regarding various performances)
take-off speed : 110.4 [km/u]
emergency/TO power : 420 [hp] at 2071 [rpm]
static prop wash : 177 [km/u]
take-off distance at sea-level : 118 [m]
lift/drag ratio : 9.79 [ ]
max. theoretical ceiling : 5858 [m] with flying weight :5648 [kg] line 3370
climb to 1000m with max payload : 6.38 [min]
climb to 2000m with max payload : 16.02 [min]
climb to 3000m with max payload : 30.33 [min]
published ceiling (4000 [m]
practical ceiling (operational weight) : 5418 [m] with flying weight :6103 [kg] line 3385
practical ceiling fully loaded (mtow- 30 min.fuel) : 3943 [m] with flying weight :8053 [kg]
max. dive speed : 449.6 [km/hr] at 2943 [m] height
turning speed at CLmax : 122.9 [km/u] at 50 [m] height
turn radius at 50m: 55 [m]
time needed for 360* turn 10.2 [seconds] at 50m
load factor at max. angle turn 2.37 ["g"]
calculation *10* (action radius & endurance)
published range : 652 [km] with 2 crew and 1594.7 [kg] useful load and 88.1 [%] fuel
range : 363 [km] with 2 crew and 2000.0 [kg] useful load and 49.1 [%] fuel
max range theoretically with additional fuel tanks for total 3533.9 [litre] fuel : 1846.5 [km]
useful load with range 500km : 1889 [kg]
production : 300.91 [tonkm/hour]
oil and fuel consumption per tonkm : 0.87 [kg]
Fatal accidents:
28 March 1933 A.W.155 Mk.II G-AACI operated by Imperial airways on a flight from Brussel – Haren apt. to London crashed near Diksmuide, Belgium after a fierce on board fire. All 12 passengers and 3 crew-members died in the crash.
Not much remained of Argosy “City of Liverpool” G-AACI
Literature :
Piston-engined airliners page 6
Sabotage! ‹ HistoricWings.com :: A Magazine for Aviators, Pilots and Adventurers
Praktisch handbook vliegtuigen deel 2 page
DISCLAIMER Above calculations are based on published data, they must be
regarded as indication not as facts.
Calculated performance and weight may not correspond with actual weights
and performances and are assumptions for which no responsibility can be taken.
Calculations are as accurate as possible, they can be fine-tuned when more data
is available, you are welcome to give suggestions and additional information
so we can improve our program. For copyright on drawings/photographs/
content please mail to below mail address
(c) B van der Zalm 05 February 2021 contact : info.aircraftinvestigation@gmail.com python 3.7.4