G-AGRE  Avro 688 Tudor 1                 (c/n  1253)

                                 

                                     The following is a brief dissertation on the Avro Tudor saga......................:

                                     The Brabazon Committee, set up during WW II to decide what types of transport aircraft would be
                                     be needed in the late 1940s, had issued, as one of its requirements, a blueprint for a long distance air-
                                     liner capable of serving the North Atlantic routes.  A.V. Roe & Company came up with the type 688
                                     which was based on the wings and engines of the Lancaster bomber/York transport designs.  The new
                                     aircraft had a circular fuselage cross section and was pressurized.   While the program was in progress
                                     a series of events occurred which basically ended the life of the Tudors as regards employment with
                                     the state controlled airlines (BOAC, BSAA) was concerned.  (Several of the later marques were to go
                                     on and lead useful lives with private carriers, whilst four of them performed admirably during the Berlin
                                     Air Lift).
                                     Anyway, the events were:  (i)  The original design was deemed not to have the capacity BOAC
                                     required for its trans-Atlantic routes.   (ii) The prototype of the stretched version, G-AGSU, was
                                     lost in a tragic crash at the company's airfield.  (iii) On 30 January 1948 a Tudor Mk 1, G-AHNP
                                     "Star Tiger" of British South American Airways mysteriously disappeared in the infamous "Bermuda
                                     Triangle" while on a flight from the Azores to Bermuda.  No trace was ever found.  (iv)  One year later,
                                     on 17 January 1949 the aircraft depicted above in BOAC Speedbird livery before being seconded to
                                     BSAA, (who named it "Star Ariel") also disappeared in the same general area whilst flying between
                                     Bermuda and Kingston, Jamaica.  Again, no trace was ever found.  These disasters, along with a less
                                     than sparkling economic performance, led to the Tudors not being pursued by BOAC.   BSAA did
                                     operate the Mark IV model, but that airline was dissolved in 1949 and merged into BOAC who, by
                                     that time, had committed to American and Canadian  aircraft.