Profiles and Logos
The Avro Tudor was designed to specification 29/43, a commercial adaptation of the Lincoln bomber, prior to this civilian transport aircraft development had been ceded to the United States. The Tudor I was designed by Roy Chadwick using the Merlin engines and wing of the Lincoln married to a new circular cross section fuselage and tailplane. The Tudor was to become the first British pressurised civilian transport, however it retained the tailwheel configuration of its parent, this was a disadvantage as the new American aircraft had tricycle undercarriages.
The prototype first flew on 14th June 1945. The aircraft was intended to be used on the North Atlantic route with a capacity of 24 passengers in day configuration and 12 in night sleeper configuration. However the aircraft suffered from a number stability problems that proved to be uncomfortable for passengers. A larger tailplane was added as well as wing to fuselage fairings and engine nacelles to reduce buffeting. The aircraft did not meet the expected performance standards and only 12 Tudor 1s were built, 3 were scrapped and the others were converted to Tudor 4 and Tudor 4B Super Traders.
The Tudor 4s had a 5ft 9in fuselage stretch. In March 1949 the types certificate for passengers was withdrawn and the aircraft were used for freighter work where they remained in service until 1959.