History of the Argosy
Developed from an Air Ministry specification that called for a medium range freighter,
the Argosy (G-AOZZ) first flew on January 8th 1959 and a full British and US
certification was achieved in December 1960.
The fourth aircraft to fly, appeared to
the public for the first time at the Paris
Air Show in 1959. The Argosy featured
a fully pressurised fuselage pod, with
front and rear loading doors with the
flight deck situated above and clear of
the cargo bay. The twin boom design
allowed for a completely unobstructed
loading configuration.
In 1964 an improved Argosy, series 200
flew in March of that year. An enlarged
freight hold and wider doors permitted
the carriage of six 2.74m (108 in.) cargo pallets. In addition a redesigned wing saved 181kg
(400lb) in weight and thus the range was increased. BEA operated five of the uprated
Argosy aircraft.
The Royal Air Force Transport Command operated 56 Argosy C.Mk1s built by Hawker Siddeley
in the role of Medium Range Tactical Transport aircraft. Operational squadrons included No’s 114
and 267. The RAF also operated Argosy E.Mk1 Radar Calibration Aircraft
In addition to Riddle and BEA, other Argosy operators included Transair, IPEC (Australia), Safe Air
(New Zealand), ABC (UK), Universal Airlines (USA) Capitol Airlines (USA), Zantop Air Transport,
Sagittair, Duncan Aviation, Otrang Range Air Services and Philippine Air Lines.
