TWIN PIONEER SALES TOURS AIRFIELDS ARE FOR SISSIES!

TWIN PIONEER SALES TOURS

AIRFIELDS ARE
FOR SISSIES!
When Scottish Aviation sent its new Twin
Pioneer on demonstration tours, it really put

the aircraft through its paces

WORDS: DAVID DORMAN

D uring the first weekend SAL management, who believed they specially-converted Westland Wallace
of January 1957, there were on to a potential winner with the biplanes. They were determined to
was frenetic activity at aircraft. create a new company “to establish the
Scottish Aviation (SAL)’s aviation industry in all its branches in
BELOW: Twin Prestwick airfield as the workforce Furthermore, all three were sent as Scotland”, their initial target being to its capabilities. SAL’s first foray into ability to operate from locations much
Pioneer G-AOEO at demonstrated their ability to recover far away from each other as is possible train much-needed pilots for the RAF. aircraft design and production post- closer to city centres than conventional
Davos, Switzerland, from Hogmanay by preparing three to imagine, compounding the logistical The new company bought 157 acres of 1945 was in response to Air Ministry aircraft.
Twin Pioneers for simultaneous challenges that faced Noel Capper, land at Prestwick, but also acquired a specification A4/45, which led in 1947
where passengers demonstration tours. Such tours have SAL’s chief test pilot, who was tasked further 190 acres adjoining it for future to the first flight of the Pioneer. A Flight review of the Twin Pioneer
were taken by long been part of the promotional with planning this exodus. One aircraft expansion of the airfield. (known affectionately as the ‘Twin
armoury of manufacturers, introducing was sent to the Far East and Australia, This light military communications Pin’) in 1955 concluded that the type’s
horse-drawn sledge their aircraft to customers in a bid another despatched to North and Over a five-year period to 1941 aircraft was designed to carry four versatility and economy had scarcely
from aircraft to for sales. To undertake three at once South America, and the third was the company passed out 1,334 pilots, passengers and a pilot. By operating started to be appreciated and that the
hotel or ski-lift. demonstrated in Europe. nearly 2,000 air observers and some from rough surfaces and small landing aircraft was in a class of its own, with
1,200 wireless operators. In addition, strips not exceeding 300ft in length, it worldwide appeal. Market demand
AEROPLANE What had led to this dramatic leap SAL set up a repair and modification was able to serve and supply isolated seemed healthy, enquiries were coming
of faith? factory and developed Prestwick into troop contingents. The RAF took 40 of in from across the world, and the
was a bold statement of intent by the an established airport. All land-based the total of 58 Pioneers built between initial aim was to manufacture a first
Scottish Aviation had been Lease-Lend aircraft from North 1952 and 1962, and the aircraft served batch of 200 aircraft. The prototype,
established in 1935 by Gp Capt America flew to Prestwick, where SAL with distinction, operating from G-ANTP (c/n 501), first flew on 25 It was an arduous, gruelling ABOVE: The Shah
David Fowler McIntyre and Douglas serviced and modified those types to rudimentary short airstrips in Malaya June 1955 and the type certificate was undertaking, much of it in intense of Iran stepping
Douglas-Hamilton, Marquis of British operational standards. in jungle warfare conditions. awarded in November 1956. tropical heat. A total of 83 sectors were down from the
Clydesdale. They had achieved flown, and Blair’s logbook indicates Twin Pioneer after
international fame two years earlier During the war the company The Twin Pioneer scaled up the On the back of this optimism, and that some 40 demonstration flights the demo flight in
when they became the first men to fly added formal design approvals to exceptional STOL performance of the with the SAL motto ‘The World O’er’ were carried out. Just over 169 hours Tehran. AEROPLANE
over the summit of Mount Everest in smaller Pioneer, enabling a commercial (taken from Robert Burns) seeming were logged. Various SAL executives TOP: A splendid
load of 16 passengers to be carried in particularly appropriate, the sales took part in stages of these tours Charles E. Brown
the 19ft-long cabin over ranges of up tours got under way. First away on 4 including David McIntyre. portrait of Twin
to 500 miles. The three tour aircraft January for a planned 18,000-mile tour Pioneer prototype
were Series 1s with the 550hp Alvis was G-AOEP (c/n 504), the fourth The first substantive demonstrations G-ANTP, taken on
Leonides 514/8 engines. The definitive prototype. Remarkably this aircraft took place in Tehran on 16-17 January. 17 August 1955, less
production version — designated the made its first flight on 27 December Among the passengers carried was His than eight weeks
Series 3 — was powered by the 640hp 1956, so it only had a few hours on Imperial Majesty, The Shah of Iran, after its maiden
Leonides 531. It offered maximum the clock. Resplendent in Scottish who flew in the aircraft from a polo flight. AEROPLANE
space for freight, while other variants Aviation’s blue and white livery, the
included an air ambulance for nine aircraft bore the company’s crest of the
stretcher cases and two ‘walking lion rampant and the Hamilton family
wounded’ and two attendants, a crop- heart motif on the nose and outer fins.
duster/sprayer, and a survey version.
‘It was an arduous, gruelling undertaking,
So slow and docile was the Twin much of it in intense tropical heat’
Pioneer that SAL boasted, and indeed
demonstrated, that the aircraft could Piloted by Capts Roy Smith and field in the centre of the city, hosted by t
take off at “bicycle speeds”. John Blair, G-AOEP was away for just David McIntyre. Possibly as a direct
over three months, the tour finishing result, by the beginning of 1958 the
The aircraft’s market was seen to at Melbourne on 6 April. In the truest Iranian Civil Aviation Club had taken
be for use in areas where geographical sense of the phrase, this was to be a delivery of three Twin Pioneers.
conditions made the construction of sales tour; the aircraft was planned to
airfields impractical, or where traffic be sold wherever an opportunity arose. The next series of flights took place
density or the economic situation did in Karachi and at Delhi’s Safdarjung
not justify capital expenditure on it.
SAL also believed that it could be used
on inter-city operations because of its

AEROPLANE AUGUST 2015 www.aeroplanemonthly.com 45

TWIN PIONEER SALES TOURS

ABOVE: A classic airport, followed by a demo flight to use these airstrips to save them days
setting for a ‘Twin on 31 January between Calcutta and and even weeks of travel on foot or by
Rangoon. For the next few days until boat.
Pin’ — G-AOEP at 6 February ’EP conducted demos
Long Atip, Sarawak. between Rangoon and Bangkok, SAL believed that the tobacco, coffee
Bangkok and Phnom Penh, and and pepper crops grown here could
AEROPLANE Phonm Penh to Saigon. now be transported easily by air, swiftly
and in bulk, giving these communities
ABOVE MIDDLE: Next stop was Malaya, where the the opportunity to market their
Every sales tour to earlier Pioneer had been so successful produce and radically improve their
Australia has an air- with the RAF. Local demos were development.
carried out between 8-14 February
to-air taken over from RAF Butterworth in Penang, In the Philippines, Zamboanga,
Sydney Harbour Kuala Lumpur and the short, narrow Cebu and Manila were on the itinerary,
Army airstrip at Seremban, normally while Jakarta, Den Pasar (Bali),
and the Twin used by Auster light aircraft, where the Koepang (Timor) — all in Indonesia
Pioneer was no ‘Twin Pin’ demonstrated its capabilities — were visited before the aircraft flew
in a variety of communications and to Darwin, Australia on 22 March.
exception. transport roles. Further demonstrations There the Twin Pioneer went to the
were carried out to the military at Northern Territories, Queensland, New
VIA ALAN ROBERTSON Singapore, Seletar and RAF Changi. South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania,
operating eight local demonstration
v flights from Charleville to Brisbane, jungle. This example left Prestwick on and Tobago, St Vincent and the Desirade and Marie Galante took demonstrations are sketchy. A much- ABOVE: Members
Tamworth to Sydney, Sydney to 15 January and was flown to Montréal Grenadines, St Lucia, British Guiana, place. Some sorties were also operated needed two-week break was taken in of the local
Between 14 February and 21 March, Canberra, short flights in and around by Capt Clyde Pangborn, an American Barbados, Grenada, Martinique and to unusual airstrips, such as the Lima, Peru. population stand
’EP transited to and was demonstrated Melbourne, including the local airfields freelance ferry pilot. While all the Guadeloupe, Surinam and French racecourse on St Vincent and the beach by G-AOEP at
extensively in the British territories of of Berwick and Moorabbin, and three tour aircraft were equipped with Guiana. on Harbour Island in the Bahamas. The aircraft operated in different Ranau, North
North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei, as Launceston to Hobart in Tasmania. additional 30-gallon tanks in each airfield conditions, ranging from Borneo. Note the
well as the Philippines and Indonesia. wing, ’EN also had a long-range tank This element of the sales tour is G-AOEN visited nine South remote jungle strips to downtown specially-shaped
Twelve demos were carried out with The final flight was 6 April’s in the fuselage for the North Atlantic notable for the number of inter- American countries from 20 March city airports such as Buenos Aires bales of tobacco
nearly 17 hours recorded, though some two-hour five-minute sector from crossing. island flights undertaken, both until late June, starting in Venezuela Aeroparque and Rio de Janeiro’s Santos in the foreground,
of the flights in Borneo particularly Launceston to Moorabbin. On 1 internationally and also linking and finishing in Brazil. En route Dumont, and from coastal airfields to designed to be
were only of short duration. May G-AOEP became the first ‘Twin The weather contrast between the communities from one island it took in every nation except high Andes runways. Even in La Paz, carried on a man’s
Pin’ to be sold when it was bought first and second tours could not have grouping, such as in Guadeloupe Uruguay. Over 72 flying hours were at over 13,000ft elevation, the aircraft back — SAL’s
by Consolidated Zinc Pty Ltd and been more marked. On one overnight where flights to the islands of logged, but logbook details of actual took off in less than 1,200ft. vision was that
stay at Seven Islands in Québec in future the bale
‘The Twin Pioneer offered people in Province, Canada, the aircraft had to shape would
Borneo a change in their fortunes, able to withstand -67.5 degrees of frost. change to be more
appropriate for air
save them days or even weeks of travel’ ‘Cap’s’ logbook shows the tour transportation.
starting on 5 February at Montréal’s
Dorval airport, finishing nearly four VIA ALAN ROBERTSON
months later on 28 June at Santos
Dumont airport, Rio de Janeiro. Over TOP: An
100 flights are recorded, but many of unidentified
the demonstrations are noted as ‘local individual with
flights’ and not broken down in detail, G-AOEN at Seven
so the real numbers were higher. Total Islands, Québec
hours add up to 144 but, again, the Province, Canada
actual figure would have been greater. in temperatures
of -67.5 degrees.
Demonstration time in North
America was limited, being confined VIA ALAN ROBERTSON
to flights in Washington DC and Fort
The landing strips there were re-registered VH‑BHJ. It remained in Rucker, the US Army Aviation base LEFT: British
frequently only 45ft wide, considerably Australia until being written off in a in Alabama, between 8-14 February. Army personnel
narrower than the 76ft 6in wing hurricane in Western Australia during Thereafter, for nearly a month ’EN was inspecting the
span of the Twin Pioneer, and had December 1960. flown around the Caribbean, part of Twin Pioneer at
been hacked out of the jungle by the Central America and northern South Seremban airstrip
Borneo Evangelical Mission for use Noel Capper (‘Cap’) himself America. It took in the Bahamas, in Malaya.
by single-engined light aircraft. To commanded the second aircraft, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic,
the local population the much bigger G-AOEN (c/n 502), for the Americas Puerto Rico, Antigua, Trinidad VIA ALAN ROBERTSON
Twin Pioneer offered the promise of a tour, alongside another pilot, Mr T.
change in their fortunes, with its ability Holiday, who had recently joined SAL t
after flying Pioneers in the Malayan
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TWIN PIONEER SALES TOURS

ABOVE: Who One notable occurrence was in airstrip on the frozen lake at St Moritz a household name. That evening, an “Since the war he struggled,
needs a runway? Colombia with a demonstration to (altitude 6,090ft) and Davos. Trips SAL Dakota took off for Libya carrying sometimes against great opposition,
Santa Rita, a remote community in the were also undertaken to Zermatt, where Mr T. D. M. Robertson, the company’s for the establishment of an aircraft
The aircraft at Andes situated a one-and-a-half-day a 1,200ft snow strip had been created general manager, plus Noel Capper, industry in Scotland, which is now an
Santa Rita airstrip pony ride from the nearest road. The by driving a truck repeatedly over the other executives and technicians. Their accomplished fact with an approved
in the Colombian villagers had created a landing strip for white powder. mission was to retrieve the bodies and design organisation. He was a man of
Andes — no sign of single-engine aircraft. When the ‘Twin to start their own crash investigation. vision and dynamic personality and his
the priest and the Pin’ landed, the local priest rushed At the Paris Salon later that year, the death in the prime of this life is a sad
champagne bottle, down with a bottle of champagne to aircraft demonstrated its short-field The cause was quickly established, loss not only to the company, but to
celebrate an innovation he believed city centre credentials by operating being traced to a fatigue failure in the Scotland and aviation.”
though. could lead to more development of a shuttle service between Issy-les- main strut’s fitting to the port wing and
the area. Moulineaux heliport, to the south of collapse of the front ‘vee’ brace tube. Sadly this crash was not the first for
VIA ALAN ROBERTSON the Eiffel Tower, and Le Bourget. SAL engineers had already established the Twin Pioneer. In August 1957 one
that the T2 tube material used was a of three sold to De Kroonduif NV of
‘After the two Twin Pioneer crashes in potential problem and specified T50 Dutch New Guinea had crashed off
1957, prospective deals evaporated’ as the preferred alternative. Most the Biak coast after only 250 flying
aircraft had been updated but not ’EO. hours. The only witness, a native
BELOW: Less With the tour completed, ’EN But it was a December 1957 demo Colleagues had urged McIntyre to have fisherman, reported that a wing had precisely those which lacked the means so it was not a commercial success for ABOVE: A classic
gruelling returned to the UK in time to appear tour to North Africa that was to prove the material changed — a two-day job fallen off — this had led directly to the to purchase it. Where economic aid Scottish Aviation. Technically, though, shot of the ‘Twin
at that year’s Farnborough show. It so devastating for SAL, the aircraft — but he was not prepared to accept investigation of the T2 strut by SAL. was provided to these nations, more it was a successful design, and the Pin’ on the lake at
demonstration ended its days two years later on a and the family and friends of David the delay. often than not it was used to build aircraft did the job it was St Moritz.
flying was demonstration flight to Africa where McIntyre. On 7 December, G-AOEO The proximity of these two crashes airfields for larger aircraft such as intended to do.
it suffered an engine failure at Luabo, crashed in the Libyan desert, 360 This accident was one of the first in the early stages of deliveries was war surplus Dakotas, which in Chile ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The author VIA ALAN ROBERTSON
undertaken by the near the Zambezi in Mozambique, and miles south of Tripoli, while on an oil recognised examples of metal fatigue. particularly damaging to the aircraft’s and Peru were given away by the US would like to thank Alan Robertson,
ill-fated G-AOEO was written off after a forced landing. survey demonstration flight. On board SAL had already dedicated a ‘Twin Pin’ prospects. Prospective deals evaporated, government at $1 each, or, in another Dougal McIntyre, John Hope, Ian TOP: On the sand
at the 1957 were McIntyre, pilot Roy Smith, flight to a three-year programme of airframe and existing buyers asked for their case in Australia second-hand Ansons Adams, John Chalmers and Tony beach at Harbour
The third departure from Prestwick engineer Raymond Clapham and three fatigue tests. When ’EO crashed it had Twin Pioneers to be deferred and acquired for £15. Merton-Jones for their help in Island in the
Farnborough show. was G-AOEO (c/n 503) on 4 January, passengers. only flown 564 hours, whereas tests deposits returned, although by this compiling this article. Bahamas.
flown by Capt Tommy Hope. The had shown the T2 material to have a time the RAF had placed its first order. Total production of the Twin
AEROPLANE aircraft was operated by Swissair from News of the tragedy made safe life of over 2,000 hours. But this Pioneer finally reached only 87 units, VIA ALAN ROBERTSON
26 January until the end of March on international headlines and caused deep figure only took into account normal SAL responded with further
winter sports flights between a 1,200ft shock in Scotland where McIntyre was utilisation where the aircraft would demonstration tours in the next
take off, climb to 3,000ft, cruise at few years and through to 1964 with
that altitude and then land. ’EO was production aircraft, but that is another
flying a very different pattern as a story.
demonstrator: taking off and landing
more frequently, seldom cruising any v
higher than 1,000ft, where stresses
were greater due to turbulence at low Both the Pioneer and Twin
altitudes, and operating in the extremes Pioneer were conceived when the
of the Libyan desert. When the fatigue British Empire was starting to wane.
calculations were re-run to simulate McIntyre’s visions were for the
the operating conditions in which ’EO Pioneers to be the workhorses doing
was flying when it crashed, the results the ‘grunt’ work in remote areas from
showed the metal fracturing after as rough terrain, but also city centre
little as two hours’ flying. services, while his grandiose plans for
giant flying boats linking the far-flung
Paying tribute to his friend and Empire never came to fruition.
colleague, Douglas, Marquis of
Clydesdale, said: “Gp Capt McIntyre SAL was beset by constant financial
always played the prominent part in the difficulties. These led to progressive
inception and meteoric development decisions to reduce the size of
of the company and the airport at manufacturing batches, meaning
Prestwick before and during the war significant economies of scale could
year. On him fell the organisation and never be realised, and the Twin Pioneer
management of the first Atlantic air was never fully ‘productionised’. The
service from this end, and during his price per aircraft rose to £60,000, but
nine months in control, not a single margins were always very narrow.
serious accident occurred.
Fundamentally, the countries that
needed this type of aeroplane were

SCOTTISH AVIATION’S 80TH

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the founding of Scottish Aviation on 9 August 1935.
2015 is also is the 60th anniversary of the first flight of the Twin Pioneer.

Scottish Aviation eventually became the Scottish Division of British Aerospace in 1977 and
is now BAE Systems Regional Aircraft, while the aerostructures business has become part of
Spirit Aerosystems. Both entities still operate from Prestwick.

Over time, some 1,000 aircraft were produced at Prestwick, while thousands more aircraft
and engines passed through for overhaul, as well as many hundreds of major aircraft
assemblies.

Today, BAE Systems Regional Aircraft is responsible for ongoing engineering and customer
support and continued airworthiness for over 500 regional aircraft with some 170 operators
‘the world o’er’.

AEROPLANE AUGUST 2015 www.aeroplanemonthly.com 49