Avro Jetliner

The C-102 Jetliner was a medium-range jet airliner built by Avro Canada in 1949. It was beaten into the air by only 13 days by the De Havilland Comet, thereby becoming the second jetliner in the world, yet the name "Jetliner" was more catchy and for many years all such aircraft were colloquially given that name. The aircraft was considered good for busy routes along the US eastern seaboard and garnered intense interest, notably from Howard Hughes who even offered to start production under license. However continued delays in Avro's night fighter project, the Avro CF-100, led to an order to stop working on the project in 1951, and the prototype Jetliner was later cut up for scrap. Given the success of the Sud Aviation Caravelle in the same general short and medium-range role, it appears this decision was shortsighted to say the least.

The C-102 had been designed to the Trans Canada Airlines (TCA) requirement of 1946. The requirement called for a 36 seat aircraft with a cruising speed of 425 miles per hour (684 km/h), a range of 1,200 miles (1900 km), an average distance between stops of 250 miles (400 km) and longest single flight of 500 miles (800 km). The difference between the range and maximum airport distances were to allow for the required 45 minutes stacking and flight to get to a 120 mile (190 km) distant alternate airport in a 20 mph (30 km/h) headwind. The aircraft also needed to be able to operate from existing 4,000 ft (1200 m) runways.

Initially it was planned that the plane be powered by two Rolls-Royce Avon engines, then still in early testing and known as the AJ65. However, the British were not willing to release the new engines to a foreign company for a civilian airliner after the embarrassment of the Rolls-Royce Nene engine being sold to the USSR. Consequently, the decision was made to replace the two engines with four less powerful engines. This in turn led to TCA pulling out of the program due to the increased maintenance costs, leaving it without an initial customer. Nevertheless Avro continued with its plan to build the jet, selecting the Rolls-Royce Derwent to replace the Avon.

Two years later the first prototype, CF-EJD (-X), started making taxiing tests, and first flew August 10, 1949, only 25 months after the design had started and only 13 days after the first flight of the Comet. On the second flight on August 16 the landing gear failed to extend, and the plane had to make a belly-landing. However the damage was minor, and the plane was in the air again in three weeks.

In April 1950 the Jetliner carried the world's first jet airmail from Toronto to New York in 58 minutes--half the previous record. The flight was highly publicized and the crew was welcomed with a ticker tape parade through the streets of Manhattan. So new was the concept of jet power that the plane was made to park far from the terminal, and pans were placed under the engines in case they dripped any "self-igniting fuel". The plane suffered a mysterious "cracking" sound on the trip and was forced to stay on as the pilots refused to fly it back, but this delay allowed it to be presented to a number of potential customers, where it was competing against considerably slower designs like the DC-6 and war-surplus DC-3s. On its return (on the back of a train) the "cracking" problem was traced to the spar area around the engines, which was made much stronger. It was later learned the problem was actually too close tollerances between the engine nacelle and the spar, simply making a looser fit would have had the same effect.

At the time, in mid-1950, the Cold War was starting and the Canadian authorities were in the midst of expanding the military. Avro was involved in designing the first dedicated jet-powered night fighter for the RCAF at the time, the Avro CF-100 Canuck. The project was somewhat delayed, and their work on the Jetliner caused some controversy. After the plane returned it still had no immidiate sales prospects, so C.D. Howe (the "minister of everything") ordered the project stopped in December 1951.

However it only a few months later that Howard Hughes first learned of the design. He leased the prototype and had it flown to Culver City in California for testing, and flew it for a few circuits when it arrived. He became a believer, imagining TWA and National delivering passengers from New York to vacation spots in Florida in half the time of the competition. He became desperate to buy 30 Jetliners, but Avro had to repeatedly turn him down due to limited manufacturing capabilities and overwork on the CF-100 project. Hughes then started looking at US companies to build it for them, Convair proved interested and started studies on gearing up a production line. This work was soon stopped by the USAF who complained that Convair already had more than enough work of their own, mirroring the Jetliner's fate in Canada.

The project was almost restarted in 1953 when CF-100 production was in full swing, but this never happened. In 1955 TCA ordered 51 Vickers Viscount turboprop aircraft from Vickers-Armstrong in England. These were the first turbine powered aircraft in regular service in North America. They continued in service until 1969.

The Jetliner was later used as the aerial photo platform for the CF-100 project, and construction work on the partially built second prototype was abandoned. On December 10, 1956 the Jetliner was ordered surplussed, and although it was donated to the National Research Council they had no room for storage and took only the nose section for cockpit layout design. The rest of the Jetliner was cut up on December 13, 1956. The only surviving parts are the nose and cockpit section in the Canadian Aviation Museum in Ottawa.

Specifications

Width: 98 ft (29.9 m)

Length: 82 ft 5 in (25.1 m)

Height: 26 ft 5 1/2 in (8.1 m)

Empty weight: 37,000 lb (16783 kg)

Maximum takeoff weight: 65,000 lb (29484 kg)

Cruise speed: 420 mph (676 km/h)

Maximum speed: 500 mph (805 km/h)

Initial climb: 2,220 ft/min (677 m/min)

Service ceiling: 40,300 ft (12300 m)

Range: 1,250 miles (2000 km)

Engines: 4 x Rolls-Royce Derwent 5/17 engines with 3,600 lbf (16 kN) thrust

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