PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Aerovan crash, Manchester, 1957
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Old 16th Mar 2013, 12:37
  #28 (permalink)  
POBJOY
 
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Aerovan-Aerocar

I knew there was another 'similar' type around at the time as it appeared on the cover of some very old copies of Flight/Aeroplane.
This was the Portsmouth Aerocar.
Slightly more adavanced with retract gear and partial metal construction,but apparently never made it into production.
Same 150hp Cirrus engines (with vp props),and looks quite smart with the gear up.
The 'brochure' shows a better cruise speed than the A-Van,with a s-eng climb at max wt of about 230 ft-min.(an Islander at max is similar (in practice).
The Company still exists in the same area,but went on to an engineering only base,having been an airline operator pre war.
The A-Car design seems to have been sound,but no doubt the market very uncertain at the time.
It would be interesting to see what it could have done if the 0-540 lyc was available.
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