zetec2:
By the way, the MTOW was normally 97,000 lbs (not 85,000 lbs). When MOS (Military Operating Standards) was authorised then this went up to 105,000 lbs. At that weight, the aircraft was well outside Perf A limits so an engine failure on take-off was not considered.
I was on the Argosy from 1962 until the end of 1971 and served on 105, 114, 267 (twice) and also managed 5 ARDETs in Bahrain.
Generally speaking, it would have been a much better aircraft (performance wise) with Dart 12s and reversing props but it was very reliable piece of kit and we took it into places (such as Bait al Falaj) that it was never designed for. Coming out of Bait at 105,000 lbs was guaranteed to get your attention.
I did a fair amount of bundu-bashing with it to such places as Fahud, Ibri, Firq, Buraimi, Tawi Hamad, Tarif, Heima, Jebel Dhana, Das and Azaiba. It never let me down once.
The 90hp Rover APU was also a wonderful bit of kit. It gave us huge independence and the only thing that ever used to need changing was the glo-plug. On the odd occasion that it needed changing, the flight engineer usually had a spare in his toolkit.