Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer
 

Enjoying the threads on the Beverly and Miles a/c got me wondering if anybody had any stories about the "Twin Pin" which I have an interest in as my father worked for SAL at Preswick and was involved in some of the flight tests for it.


G

When I was but a lad in Singapore in from '67 to '69, I was in the Changi troop of the Air Scouts - we were given a Twin Pin when it was retired. As a joke, the groundcrew had made a giant key to be inserted into the side of the fuselage, with 'Turn 360 times for one hours' flight' written on it!

They weren't far off; that beast could easily hover in a headwind!

Twin Pin
 

Buy the video 'UK Airshows 2002' by D&D and you will see the Coventry-based TP arriving (I didn't use the word landing deliberately!) at G-VFWE in May02 @ Kemble.

Wonderful stuff.

(the conditions were not good, especially for such crosswind- sensitive machines. The pilot actually did an excellent job in difficult circumstances. DOES THAT GET ME OFF THE HOOK??!!)

HP

Yet another funny old aeroplane, the 'Twin Pin'. We had one, complete with crew, 'on loan', to fill in for our Devon while it was away in Singapore being 'major-ed'. Went round most of our Indo-Chinese stamping grounds with it and ended up giving a 'demo' flight at Vientiane for Air America who, apparently thought of buying some at the time.
We spent the day before the 'demo' cleaning and polishing and, for the 'piece de resistance' did a short landing on the limited length laterite before the main PSP strip proper. UNFORTUNATELY there had been a heavy downpour and the laterite was full of puddles. We landed, very short, and turned 90 degs to show just how short the rollout had been but nothing could be seen through the mud plastered windows!! :mad:
Air America eventually got Dornier 27s and 28s.

There's two out of the three still airworthy in the world flying at Coolangatta Airport, in south-east Queensland in Australia.
A mate of mine runs the operation - Graham Booth.
Boothy is one of the few people in Aus still able to fly the things, and he just loves 'em. I've been lucky enough to fly in VH-EVB a few times to help him out, and although not exactly fast it's good fun to pole around.
They certainly mark their spot when they park, with oil dripping from the Alvis engines! :)

Air Atlantique's Twin Pioneer, based at Coventry, is certified for Public Transport and available for pleasure flying and charter if your interested. Check out the following sites if you are interested.

www.airatlantique.co.uk

www.classicairshow.co.uk

The Twin-Pin first flew on 25th June 1955, carried 16 pax max powered by two Alvis Leonides 570 h.p. engines, cruising speed 159 mph at 11000'.

Engine serviceability: If you could overcome the oil leaks then it wasn't a bad kite. Take Offs remarkable, a few yards and away, even crossways on the peri-track! Flew in one to Puttalam from Katunayake.

Interesting to see some still flying.......

I know the whereabouts of John Gibson, who told me some years ago that he was involved in the certification of the TwinPin...(Boscombe T/P at the time...).
Will buy him a pint and get him to contribute a few thousand words on the subject!

I recall observing the pilot of a 21 Sqn Twin Pin in flight who flicked a fag end out of his side window. Try that in a Herc!

With a reasonable wind, and everything hanging off the wing, a TP could land in a very short distance indeed.

J.F. Airlines, later Jersey Ferry Airlines, operted a brace of Twin Pins (G-APHX/Y) from Portsmouth Airport in 1971 and 1972. So far as I am aware these were the only Twin Pioneers ever to operate fare-paying scheduled passenger services in the UK.

more here......
 

Cornish Jack;

Air America did get some Twin Pins eventually - albeit through one of their subsidiaries, Continental Air Services....

http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/airameric.../Bird&CASI.htm

Looks like your demo paid off after all!

GROW45
 

There were two operated by Kuwait Airways for the Kuwait Oil Company in the1960's. I think that they ended up in U.K. eventually. What happened in between is very interesting but you would need to contact the Kuwait Prision Service to get the details! I have fond memories of the machine esp. the Bicycle mechanism which operated the flaps.
There is a great video of a Twin Pin airtest but I would need to contact the author before releasing details. If you are interested post a reply.
Rgds. FaPo Gai.

Nopax, thanx
Thank you for that! Amazing what info comes to light 40 years later :) The plank wing fleet at Boscombe still had a Twin Pin when I arrived there in the mid 70s but it was stood on its nose by one of the ETPS 'studes' doing some over enthusiastic braking. :( That was another of its remarkable features - the brakes.

twin pin
 

CJ
Thats the aircraft that Air Antique use. The Single Pioneer was even more fun ,in a breeze it could get airborne across the runway.I think there may still be one sitting in the tops of the trees at a strip in MALAYSIA, one way in and same route out with no overshoot,after you turn the corner!!

Thanks for that Sycamore.
Re. the Single Pin take-off across the runway, had that demo'd on my only trip in one in Aden. Master Pilot 'Bim' Ward was in charge and (from memory) he got it back to 17 knots indicated during the flight. He reckoned that the stick forces were about the same as the Lancaster. They had rather a lot of forced landings due to engine failures when they first arrived - later discovered to be down to lack of efficient sand filters allowing sand to be converted to glass on the plugs. (From recent reports on mil. equipment, plus ca change :( )

Wasn't there a story about an over-enthusiastic short take-off in a Single Pin at Farnborough one year, which resulted in a circuit and landing minus an elevator?

Who remembers the Farnborough demonstration of the single Pioneer in 1951(?) where it was manhandled to a take off position with the tail wheel off the edge of the runway, and the main wheels right on the edge, intending to depart across the runway.
Unfortunately the marshalling team failed to ensure that the tail plane was clear of all obstructions, and when the take off was commenced a runway marker light contacted the leading edge of one side of the tail plane.
The resultant impact removed that side of the tail plane completely, plus attached elevator, but nothing daunted, the plane became airborne ACROSS the runway, and was demonstrated very briefly minus half the horizontal tail. It also landed safely afterwards
It appeared as if all three tail fixtures; fin, and left and right tail plane were inter-changeable in the interests of simplicity, but the method of attachment left something to be desired.:)

The 2 Twin Pins in Australia are currently for sale.

This is the link to the advertisement.

http://www.aviationtrader.com.au/cgi...d=02tnov70.pdf

Thanks for the stories.

FaPoGai - I would certainly be interested to see the air test video if you can get the OK to release it. The only film I have seen of one was recently on BBC Scotland's Flying Scots documentary when they showed the famous bicycle race where a Twin Pin took of at a slower ground speed than a man on bicycle was cycling at.

Conc - Hadn't realised there was an Air Atlantique show this year. Will certainly try and make it this year -missed the last one. You mentioned their Twin Pin is on a PT CofA. Anybody know if they would rent it out for an instructional hour if I ever get a twin rating? Cost would no doubt be horrendous but might be great fun.


Grow45