Armstrong Whitworth
A.W.16 A-2
(c/n 722)
The A.W.16 was a private venture designed to meet
the requirements of both N.21/26 and F.9/26.
Two protoypes were built
in 1931. The one above is carrying the class B civil registration
A-2.
It was later
G-ABKF and went to South Africa with the Alan Cobham circus. The
naval one was
tested at
Martlesham Heath with the serial S1591, and may be the one
illustrated below (even though
Armstrong Whitworth's
inscription on the
back of the photographic
print indicated that it was an
A.W.35
Scimitar!) Both
prototypes were initially powered by the supercharged
540 hp Armstrong
Siddeley Panther IIIA
engine with double Townend ring cowling,
although the second prototype
(above) was re-engined
with a 565 hp
Panther VII during the course of
its trials at the A &
AEE in
1933. 17 production examples of the A.W.16 were
destined for the
Chinese Kwangsi Air Force,
but only four or five were
delivered. I
searched through my late father-in-law's
scrapbooks for an
illustration of one
of these old biplanes but
couldn't find one. Some Kwangshi aircraft
passed to
the KMT controlled Chinese
Air Force (in which my wife's
father was an officer of some
note) in
1937 but he basically
"didn't want to know" anything outside
of KMT controlled
parameters!
In all it appears that some 18
A.W.16s were built., and, in addition to the Chinese examples
mentioned above, a
number were delivered to a Balkan air arm, and three to unidentified
customers
